Update on Use of Additional Funds Received by National Research Foundation and Increase in Disbursements for Its Manpower Horizontal Programme in FY2023

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Prime Minister (a) how does the National Research Foundation plan to expend the additional S$0.9 billion received by the National Research Fund in FY2023, given the relatively small increment of S$34 million in total disbursement to approved organisations from FY2022 to FY2023; and (b) what accounted for the 11-fold increase in disbursements for the Manpower Horizontal Programme in FY2023 and whether this rate of increase is expected to persist.

The Government is committed to fund investments in Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) through economic cycles. Resources are regularly allocated to ensure sustained and assured funding for ongoing and new RIE programmes over the long term. This includes RIE programmes supported by the National Research Fund, such as the Competitive Research Programme and the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) Programmes, where funding is disbursed over a number of years.

The top-up of S$0.9 billion to the National Research Fund was made in FY2022, for the year ended 31 March 2023. The increase in disbursements from RIE2025 was partially offset by the decrease in disbursements from a previous RIE tranche, resulting in a relatively small increment for total disbursements from FY2021 to FY2022. Nevertheless, the total disbursement in FY2022 was S$0.66 billion and we expect to be on track to spend the total budget committed towards our RIE programmes.

The 11-fold increase in disbursements for Manpower Horizontal from S$1.2 million in FY2021 to S$13.8 million in FY2022 was mainly due to the RIE SGUnited Jobs programme, which contributed to about 80% of the increase in disbursements. The RIE SGUnited Jobs programme provided two-year RIE-related training opportunities at NUS, NTU and A*STAR for jobseekers during COVID-19. It was open to hiring in FY2020 and FY2021, with most of the trainee claims disbursed in FY2022. As hiring ceased in FY2021, disbursements related to the programme will taper off as well, after all claims have been checked and paid.