Follow-up Actions to Investigate and Claw Back Any Over-disbursement of Funds for Ineligible Grant Claims by Seven Childcare Centre Operators

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis asked the Minister for Social and Family Development in respect of AGO’s audit finding where ineligible grant claims submitted by seven operators of childcare centres were approved for disbursement (a) whether the Early Childhood Development Agency has conducted a comprehensive review of all grant claims to determine the extent of over-disbursement; (b) whether the over-disbursements have been fully clawed back; and (c) what measures have been implemented to prevent the recurrence of such errors in future.

The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) has taken immediate steps to recover the over-disbursed funds and issued stern reminders to operators with ineligible grant claims. ECDA expects to fully recover all over-disbursements by September 2024.

As noted in Auditor-General's Office's (AGO's) report, ECDA has existing processes and controls across the various grant management and disbursement stages to ensure proper administration of the Anchor Operator (AOP) and Partner Operator (POP) schemes. These include internal standard operating procedures (SOPs) to verify the eligibility and accuracy of claim amounts prior to disbursements and annual audits by ECDA-appointed auditors to ascertain the accuracy of grant claims made by AOPs and POPs.

ECDA has reviewed and tightened its SOPs to enhance verification of grant claims before disbursement. To strengthen controls on the detection of ineligible grant claims, ECDA has also expanded the scope of its commissioned audits. Earlier this year, ECDA updated its Funding Guidelines for AOPs and POPs to make clearer the eligibility criteria for claims. ECDA will also be leveraging data analytics to better detect ineligible claims as part of enhanced checks on disbursed monies.