Mr Christopher de Souza: To ask the Minister for Defence (a) what has been the general feedback on the recently implemented changes to the Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT); and (b) how confident is the Ministry that this new IPPT will better test the physical readiness of full-time national servicemen and operationally ready national servicemen to carry out their combat vocational roles. 

Dr Ng Eng Hen: The feedback from national servicemen to the new Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT) format has been positive. More than 90% of national servicemen polled believe the new IPPT format would be more convenient to train for. Since implementation on 1 April 2015, over 95% of NSmen who attempted the IPPT have opted for the three-station test format. The points system of the new IPPT format was designed to encourage national servicemen to achieve their best for each station. National servicemen who took the new IPPT showed an average improvement of 5 sit-ups for the sit-up station, and an average improvement of 21 seconds for the 2.4km run. For the recently introduced push-ups, 73% of national servicemen achieved average and above performance.

These findings indicate that the change in format has motivated our national servicemen to take greater ownership of their physical fitness and improved their performance. 

The IPPT provides a uniform test to measure the basic fitness levels of all national servicemen. The SAF ensures that national servicemen keep physically fit and the IPPT complements our current combat fitness programme. For combat effectiveness, the SAF has introduced programmes to achieve its goals for various vocations. For instance, the Commandos have a customised combat fitness programme which includes vocation-related exercises, long route marches and combat obstacle course training. These courses condition the Commandos to meet their demanding combat roles.