Appropriate Adult Scheme

I would like to express my condolences to the family of Benjamin Lim. I also thank the Ministers for taking this case seriously to issue the statements. My question is about the Appropriate Adult scheme. Notwithstanding the fact that it could be an imperfect scheme, I would like to ask the Minister to consider extending the scope of this current scheme.

Currently, it covers persons with mental and intellectual disability only. In regimes like in the United Kingdom, the scope covers young people who are less than 18 years of age and also vulnerable adults who might have mental wellness issues or even dementia or other learning disabilities. So, I would like to ask the Minister to consider this.

The second question is: the current Appropriate Adult scheme in Singapore is manned by volunteers and run by charities. I think the scheme is important enough for the State to allocate some resources to ensure that at least people who are trained, not just trained for a short while only, people who are professionals, can operate the scheme on a sustainable basis. This is for Minister's consideration, please.