Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for Social and Family Development in view of the findings in the Minimum Income Standard Report 2023, whether the Ministry will consider (i) adjusting the financial assistance rendered to low-income families and (ii) conducting its own study to determine the level of living wage required to support a basic standard of living using various Government data beyond what is publicly available.
Answer:
MSF regularly reviews the assistance coverage and payout quanta of ComCare schemes to ensure adequate assistance for lower-income families to meet their basic living needs. We last increased the assistance quantum for ComCare Short-to-Medium Term Assistance and Long-Term Assistance in August 2022.
2. During these reviews, MSF references data and information from different sources. These include price data from the Department of Statistics, views from domain experts and community stakeholders, as well as academic studies and research commissioned by MSF.