Percentage of S Pass Holders Who Have Completed Cultural Orientation Programme

Ms See Jinli Jean asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the annual percentage of S Pass holders who had completed the Cultural Orientation Programme (COP) since the pilot started in 2023; and (b) whether the Ministry is planning to expand the reach of such programmes, namely (i) implementing the COP after the pilot expires in 2025 and (ii) extending the mandatory settling-in programme for non-Malaysian work permit holders to those in services sectors.

Dr Tan See Leng: The Cultural Orientation Programme (COP) was launched as a pilot in December 2023 to familiarise new S Pass holders with working and living in Singapore. As of November 2024, about 10% of eligible S Pass holders have voluntarily completed COP. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will review COP after the pilot ends in 2025.

MOM has implemented the Settling-in Programme (SIP) for the Construction, Marine shipyard, Process and Manufacturing sectors. We have no plans to extend SIP to the Services sector for now but will assess this in future.