Handouts will not be pegged to CPI
THE Government has revised Public Assistance (PA) rates twice since last July, but would pegging handouts to the consumer price index better reflect the strain on the poor?
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MP for Ang Mo Kio Lam Pin Min mooted this idea of “automatically” reviewing PA, even as he acknowledged the many measures in place to help society’s needy.
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Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports Yu-Foo Yee Shoon said the Ministry already keeps a close eye on PA rates. “We will monitor the cost of living, we will monitor every item ...the ultimate shut-up-and-thank-you-for -your- feedback reply We should also bear in mind that we should not overdo it.”
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Pointing to the risk of eroding the work ethic among PA recipients, Mrs Yu-Foo noted that rates was last raised in May: A single elderly person now gets $330 a month, up from $290, while a family of two adults and two children now receives $1,020, up from $855.
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“I do agree that it’s not very comfortable Does this MP even know what it is like to survive on that amount? but it’s manageable,” she said.
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On low-income families with many mouths to feed, MP for Jalan Besar GRC,Dr Lily Neo, stood up twice to seek answers from Mrs Yu-Foo. Is it true, she asked, “that there are about 100,000 such families?”
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No Answer after asking two times?
Mrs Yu-Foo said the “really, really poor” [COLOR="Blu[SIZE="5"]e"]So how do you define this?[/SIZE][/COLOR] are being helped by “a total package” that includes schemes such as ComCare, Workfare, Medifund and school-fee waivers. But the only viable long-term solution is economic growth — increased productivity, the retraining of workers and, consequently, higher salaries for them. NEO CHAI CHIN
THE Government has revised Public Assistance (PA) rates twice since last July, but would pegging handouts to the consumer price index better reflect the strain on the poor?
.
MP for Ang Mo Kio Lam Pin Min mooted this idea of “automatically” reviewing PA, even as he acknowledged the many measures in place to help society’s needy.
.
Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports Yu-Foo Yee Shoon said the Ministry already keeps a close eye on PA rates. “We will monitor the cost of living, we will monitor every item ...the ultimate shut-up-and-thank-you-for -your- feedback reply We should also bear in mind that we should not overdo it.”
.
Pointing to the risk of eroding the work ethic among PA recipients, Mrs Yu-Foo noted that rates was last raised in May: A single elderly person now gets $330 a month, up from $290, while a family of two adults and two children now receives $1,020, up from $855.
.
“I do agree that it’s not very comfortable Does this MP even know what it is like to survive on that amount? but it’s manageable,” she said.
.
On low-income families with many mouths to feed, MP for Jalan Besar GRC,Dr Lily Neo, stood up twice to seek answers from Mrs Yu-Foo. Is it true, she asked, “that there are about 100,000 such families?”
.
No Answer after asking two times?
Mrs Yu-Foo said the “really, really poor” [COLOR="Blu[SIZE="5"]e"]So how do you define this?[/SIZE][/COLOR] are being helped by “a total package” that includes schemes such as ComCare, Workfare, Medifund and school-fee waivers. But the only viable long-term solution is economic growth — increased productivity, the retraining of workers and, consequently, higher salaries for them. NEO CHAI CHIN
