Data on Use of Skills Development Fund and Reviews of Course Fee Subsidy and Qualifying Age

Ms See Jinli Jean asked the Minister for Education (a) for the past three years, what is the breakdown by sector for the (i) percentage of workforce utilising the Skills Development Fund (SDF) and (ii) average ratio of the SDF utilised to the Skills Development Levy (SDL) collected, for full-time, part-time and casual workers respectively; and (b) how does the Ministry expect the average ratio of the utilisation of the SDF to the SDL for the different sectors and workers to change in view of broad-based technology-intensification.

Ms See Jinli Jean asked the Minister for Education in respect of Skills Development Fund usage, whether the Ministry will consider (i) enhancing course fee subsidy level for individual sponsored learners and (ii) lowering the minimum age for them to qualify for course fee subsidy.

The Skills Development Fund (SDF) is a consolidated fund that supports local workforce development. It is made up of the Skills Development Levy (SDL) contributions from employers and top-ups by the Government from time to time. On average, over the past three years from FY2020 to FY2022, around $290 million SDL contributions have been collected from employers annually.

The SDF is one of the sources of funds for Government spending on upskilling and reskilling of Singaporeans. From FY2020 to FY2022, the Government spent an average of around $1.02 billion annually, including $370 million from the SDF, to support workforce upskilling in grants to institutions, training providers and companies. Besides the SDF, the Government draws from funding from the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund (LLEF), the National Productivity Fund (NPF), as well Ministries' budgets, for instance for sector-specific investments, such as the TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA), for the tech sector.

SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) administers the SDF and works closely with other Government agencies to support upskilling of the local workforce across all sectors. It is not meaningful to compare SDF utilisation across sectors, which have different manpower and skills needs. Many of the courses that the SDF supports are also not sector-specific. For instance, courses on Critical Core Skills and digital adoption are relevant across multiple sectors. We do not differentiate applicants based on employment status and do not collect data on whether the learner is a full-time, part-time or casual worker.

Today, SSG's course fee subsidies go up to 70% of course fees for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents below the age of 40; and up to 90% for Singaporeans aged 40 and above. The level of subsidy is tiered, with higher subsidies for programmes that deliver stronger manpower outcomes.

Currently, we have no plans to raise the levels of these subsidies. There is no need to lower the age criteria, as there is no minimum qualifying age to tap on the subsidies. We will continue to use SDF prudently and work with other Government agencies and the industry to support meaningful lifelong learning and upskilling of Singaporeans.