CPF Education Scheme
Expanding the use of the CPF Education Scheme to include all programmes beyond subsidised diplomas and degrees must be approached with caution.
Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say was responding to Labour MP Patrick Tay’s question on whether the Government would consider expanding the scheme to all programmes at approved educational institutions and not limit it to only full-time subsidised diploma and degree courses.
“The primary purpose of CPF is to support retirement, healthcare and housing needs. When the CPF was expanded to support education in 1989, it was designed as a loan scheme and confined to only firstly, full-time, secondly subsidised, and thirdly diploma and degree programmes offered by local approved educational institutions.
“Students have to repay in cash the amount withdrawn plus interest into the CPF member’s Ordinary Account so as to restore members’ CPF savings for their retirement needs. This cautious approach is to safeguard the fundamental objectives of the CPF,” said Minister Lim.
Minimum Age to Be Licensed
Regardless of age, a security officer must meet the same training standards and be certified before being deployed, said Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam.
He was responding to a question posed by Labour MP Zainal Sapari on whether the Ministry will consider allowing only persons aged 18 years and above to apply for the private security officer's licence, as opposed to the current 16 years.
Minister Shanmugam said that the licensing requirement takes into consideration the Employment Act which states that the legal age for employment is 16 and above.
He added that there are fewer than 10 active security officers below 18 years of age out of over 40,000 and to date, the Police Licensing & Regulatory Department has not received any adverse feedback regarding these officers.
Registered Designs (Amendment) Bill
Designers in Singapore will receive better rights protection for their works and be able to register their new creations more easily with the Registered Designs (Amendment) Bill passed in Parliament, after a second reading.
Changes to the Act include expanding the types of designs that can be registered, designers receiving ownership of their works instead of the commissioning party and streamlining the process for multiple applications.
Rising in support of the amendment, Labour MP Patrick Tay said: “I believe these changes will reduce barriers for smaller players in the market such as small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and freelance professionals in the creative and design fields to seek protection of their intellectual property rights and benefit from their designs.”
He, however, highlighted that as infringement actions must be filed in the High Court, it might prove too costly for small businesses and freelancers.
Responding to this concern, Senior Minister of State (SMS) for Finance and Law Indranee Rajah said this was something the Ministry of Law was looking into and had recently appointed a committee with representatives comprising the judiciary and academia to review Singapore’s intellectual property dispute resolution system.
Raising Awareness
Mr Tay also warned that the efforts will come to nothing if the public lacks awareness of their intellectual property rights.
“I, therefore, urge for more to be done to ensure that SMEs and freelancers in the design industry are aware of the availability of such protection and know when, how and where to seek enforcement of their rights,” he said.
He also suggested that the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) should work with the Labour Movement to raise designers' awareness of their rights.
In her reply, SMS Indranee said that she welcomes the invitation and will ask IPOS to do so.
