Update on Plans to Regulate Foreign Worker Dormitories under Foreign Employee Dormitories Act

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether an update can be provided on the plans to regulate all foreign worker dormitories under the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act (FEDA); and (b) whether a timeline can be provided on when the FEDA will be amended.

The Senior Minister of State for Manpower (Dr Koh Poh Koon) (for the Minister for Manpower): Sir, last year, we announced the review of the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act (FEDA) to expand its coverage to include migrant worker dormitories with fewer than 1,000 beds. This will strengthen our regulatory levers to raise and enforce new standards quickly during pandemics and introduce a consistent regulatory framework for dormitories of different sizes and types.

There are, currently, more than 1,000 of such smaller dormitories, including factory converted dormitories (FCDs), construction temporary quarters (CTQs), temporary occupation licence quarters (TOLQs) and non-government organisation (NGO) shelters. The significant number of dormitory beds across this diverse range of dormitory housing types and the broad landscape of operators necessitate more time to engage these groups to better understand the infrastructure constraints and the impact of the licensing requirements, especially on our smaller dormitories.

We intend to implement the expansion of FEDA by the end of the year and will share more details on the expansion in the coming months.

Mr Speaker: Mr Louis Ng.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Thank you, Sir. I thank the Senior Minister of State for the reply. I think many NGOs have been waiting quite some time for the implementation of the amendments. Could I ask whether we are still in consultation with the NGOs, with regard to extending FEDA to cover all dormitories? Two, what kind of support are we providing to the dormitories when it comes to implementation of these new rules?

Dr Koh Poh Koon: Sir, I assure the Member that we are continuing to engage the different operators of the different types of dormitories, including our NGO partners as well. We will, definitely, make sure there is sufficient time for this implementation and to develop a transition plan for the different dormitories to meet the new requirements. We will share more details in the latter half of this year.