Screening mechanisms for job roles involving access to children and young persons

Questions:

Dr Wan Rizal: To ask the Senior Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether any mechanism exists by which organisations running activities for children, including mosques, madrasahs, self-help groups and community organisations, can be alerted to, or screen for, individuals convicted of sexual offences against minors, in a manner consistent with court orders protecting victims' identities; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider a controlled screening facility for roles involving unsupervised access to children.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Senior Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs whether the Ministry will consider introducing a consent-based, pre-employment and self-voluntary vetting mechanism via SingPass which allows prospective instructors, coaches, tutors and volunteers to generate digital tokens which will enable employers in unregulated sectors, religious organisations and parents to verify the absence of past child sexual offence convictions without disclosing full criminal histories before engaging such individuals.

Ms Elysa Chen: To ask the Senior Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs (a) when further measures to strengthen the screening framework for jobs involving contact with children and young persons will be implemented; (b) whether freelance tutors, coaches and volunteers will be excluded from mandatory criminal history checks under such a framework; and (c) if so, why.

Ms Joan Pereira: To ask the Senior Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs whether the Government will consider implementing a voluntary screening or certificate-based system, similar to the SPF's Certificate of Clearance (COC) for overseas employment, to allow persons offering services in unregulated education or enrichment programmes like tuition, sports or arts programmes to reassure parents and potential employers that they have no prior convictions for child-related or sexual offences.

Mr Jackson Lam: To ask the Senior Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs whether the Ministry will consider extending existing screening tools currently available to public agencies, to private organisations such as tuition centres, sports academies and religious bodies, to verify the suitability of instructors, coaches, tutors and volunteers working unsupervised with minors.

Answer:

Mr Goh Pei Ming, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Social and Family Development

1. My response will also address related questions filed by the Members Ms Elysa Chen, Ms Joan Pereira, and Mr Jackson Lam for subsequent Sittings.

2. Today, individuals applying for roles involving sustained contact with children and young persons are screened for past offences, including convictions for sexual offences, if these roles are regulated by public agencies. This includes those applying to be full-time mosque staff, recognised religious teachers under the Asatizah Recognition Scheme (ARS), employees in MOE schools and Early Childhood Development Agency-licensed preschools, and members of SportSG’s National Registry of Coaches.

3. There is presently no requirement for employers in unregulated sectors to verify the criminal records of employees. However, they may request that prospective employees declare any past offences and take this into consideration in their hiring decision.

4. The Government has been considering, for some time, the possible expansion of the scope of screening to cover more types of roles involving contact with children and young persons, including whether to introduce voluntary screening for unregulated sectors. This could take the form of a certificate-based system, which several Members have proposed, and the considerations include the practicability of such screening requirements, and whether employers (mainly Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)) will be able to handle such screening requirements. However, when it comes to these things, safety of our children will have to take priority. We will share more details when ready.