Percentage of Workers Living in Dormitories who have Mattress to Sleep On

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry has data on the current percentage of workers living in dormitories who have a mattress to sleep on; and (b) if the information is not available, whether the Ministry can conduct a survey to get some baseline data.

Dr Tan See Leng: Under the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act Licence Conditions, dormitory operators must provide every dormitory resident with a bed, which includes a bed frame and base board or mattress.

In our experience, dormitory operators either provide mattresses as a default or do so on request by the workers and these arrangements are managed amicably between the workers and the operators. We do not see the need for a survey. If a worker wants a mattress and is not provided one, he can get assistance from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) through MOM’s Forward Assurance and Support Team officers or via FWMOMCare mobile application.