Plans to recover potential overpayments of SkillsFuture Singapore agency grants from outsourced service provider

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim, Sengkang GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education regarding the Auditor-General's Office Report for the financial year 2021/22, whether there are plans to (i) recover potential overpayments of SkillsFuture Singapore agency grants from its outsourced service provider (ii) replace the outsourced service provider with another and (iii) bring the grants management payments function in-house.

Response

1. SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) has taken immediate corrective action. As at 1 August 2022, SSG has contacted all affected training providers, companies and individuals for the necessary recovery.

2. The lapses observed by AGO were primarily due to wrong declarations by the grant applicants and errors in manual processing of grants. SSG's remediation focus is hence on taking measures to reduce reliance on declarations and manual processing.

3. SSG will tighten its audits on payments disbursed and on the work of its service provider. SSG will also consider past performance of the service provider when awarding a new contract.