Mr Speaker, I stand in support of the Bill, which seeks to reconstitute the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) to reflect and strengthen its role as the sector developer for the social service sector.
However, I have some questions and suggestions.
Streamlining of NCSS Membership and expansion of Board
Sir, I support the Bill’s proposal to strengthen sector membership criteria of the reconstituted Council. By having a strong focus on organisations whose core business is in the social service sector, this will provide the new Council with the necessary focus that is needed to perform its role.
First, I fully support the proposal to remove membership fees and to streamline to a single-tier membership framework. This reduces costs in a backdrop where social service agencies are facing a double whammy of rising expenses, while being hit with poorer fundraising outcomes. In fact, a recent Channel News Asia article in December 2025 reported that some charities saw their worst fundraising season in recent years. As the sector developer, there is indeed no longer a need for NCSS to have a tiered membership structure, with differentiated access. Any cost savings for social service agencies should be celebrated.
That said, I would like to ask, out of the 500–over current NCSS members, how many members would be impacted by this move to narrow the membership criteria of the reconstituted Council. What is the percentage of members who have objectives and activities that are unrelated to the social service sector, and why did they join NCSS as a member in the first place?
The Bill also proposes to shift to a fully Minister–appointed Council that will comprise of between 15 to 27 members. This may lead to an increase of the current Council size of 23 members. I would like to ask what were the reasons behind setting such a large maximum size of the Council. Having too many members risks making the Council bloated and unable to come to quick decisions.
Alternatively, is the Ministry considering adhering nearer to the lower bound of 15 members for the new Council? If so, how would this impact the functional performance of the Council, which traditionally has 23 members?
Appeal Process
I also support the new statutory appeal provisions proposed under the Bill. However, I note that such statutory appeals are currently limited to membership decisions made by the Council. As the NCSS takes on an expanded role as the sector developer, which encompasses a larger social service mission beyond membership, I would like to ask if the other administrative decisions, as laid out under Section 11, subsections (2) and (3) of the Bill, would also be open to similar formal appeals to the Minister. Examples of these administrative decisions include the award and revocation of funds, which has significant impact on social service agencies.
Need for Good Mix of Skills, Knowledge, and Experience
The expanded role of NCSS must be properly supported by having the right Council with a good mix of skills, knowledge, and experience to drive NCSS as a sector developer. While I am happy to note that there will be continued sector representation in the new Council, with at least half the Council appointed from sector members’ nominations, I would like to ask the Minister what the nomination criteria would be. We should ensure that the Council has the right subject matter expertise to drive the necessary changes to the social services sector.
Role of Community Chest
Sir, with the new focus of the NCSS on being the sector developer for the social service sector, I would like to ask for a clarification on how the role of the Community Chest would evolve.
The Community Chest is the primary fundraising and engagement arm of our social service sector, created to support the NCSS. Under Community Chest, fundraising is centralised, and funding is then used to drive certain outcomes in the social service sector.
How will the role of Community Chest evolve with the new NCSS? Will changes to the enhanced governance framework for the Community Chest impact current grant recipients, and if so, will there be a transition period for such recipients to improve their processes in order to qualify for continued grants?
Providing support to social service professionals
Lastly, the NCSS releases a regular salary guide for social service professionals. This is a good guide that helps organisations in the sector to benchmark salaries paid to staff, without having to engage expensive consultants on their own.
However, I understand that every edition of the salary guide causes some consternation among social service executives, some of whom have given me feedback that it is a daunting task to try to match these salary guidelines.
I would like to ask if the NCSS plans to do a survey on the number of organisations that comply with the salary guidelines, and in doing so, provide more support to help the social service sector become an industry of choice among Singaporean workers.
Conclusion
Sir, the beneficiaries that our various social service agencies seek to serve have issues that are complex and diverse. Many of these beneficiaries have multifaceted issues, which social workers often must address layer by layer. As we strengthen NCSS’ role as a sector developer, I urge the NCSS to do more to build operational and professional capabilities of the various entities serving the sector.
We should also ensure that the new Council is equipped with the right mix of skills, knowledge, and experience.
Mr Speaker, I support the Bill.
