AGO Report on IDAPE

5 August 2014

Question No. 4

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Dr Chia Shi-Lu

MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC

Question:

To ask the Minister for Health in light of the Report of the Auditor-General for FY2013/14 on the Ministry's lapse in continuing to pay $64,000 in financial assistance to 99 people after their deaths, what measures have been taken to ensure that all financial transactions affecting the Ministry will be accurate and secure in the future.

Answer:

1        The Ministry of Health (MOH) acknowledges the concerns raised by the Auditor General’s Office (AGO) with regard to the overpayment of $64,000 in relation to financial assistance given to Singaporeans under the Interim Disability Assistance Programme for the Elderly (IDAPE). The assistance given should have ceased upon beneficiaries’ death.

2        MOH has since 2002 engaged an external vendor to administer IDAPE. The errors arose mainly due to vendor’s migrations in the IT processing system, resulting in the demised list not being updated in certain months. This has since been rectified. MOH has also required the administrator to make improvements in data processing to prevent errors from recurring. This includes system enhancements to trigger alerts when there are errors in data processing and uploading. MOH has sought full reimbursement of the $64,000 from the vendor, under the terms of the contract.

3        MOH views all AGO findings seriously and institutes measures either through changes in operating procedures or establishing new Standard Operating Procedures to ensure similar mistakes are prevented in the future.