Parliamentary Questions by MP Louis Ng on 4-5 May 2020
1) To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will consider amending the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act so that its regulatory framework applies to all purpose-built dormitories, factory converted dormitories, construction temporary quarters, standalone temporary quarters, construction temporary quarters, quarters in buildings under construction, and temporary occupation licence quarters.
2) To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will consider
(i) increasing the minimum gross floor area of 4.5 square metres for each resident in a foreign workers’ dormitory and
(ii) not including the basic living facilities such as living quarters, kitchen, dining, and toilet areas in the computation for the minimum gross floor area.
3) To ask the Minister for Manpower
(a) to what extent are licensing conditions under the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act based on the Singapore Standards Council’s Technical Reference 37 (2014) on the “design, management, maintenance and operation of foreign employee dormitories”; and
(b) whether the Ministry will consider updating the Technical Reference, adopting it as a Singapore Standard, and requiring all foreign workers’ dormitory operators to adhere to it.
4) To ask the Minister for Manpower for each year in the past five years, with regard to foreign workers residing in purpose-built dormitories, factory-converted dormitories, construction temporary quarters, standalone temporary quarters, temporary quarters, quarters in buildings under construction, temporary occupation licence quarters, HDB flats, and private residential premises
(a) what was the total number of foreign workers residing in each housing type;
(b) how many of each housing type were there respectively; and
(c) whether the Ministry will start collecting or compiling this data if it is not already doing so.
5) To ask the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources whether the Ministry will consider banning the display, slaughter and sale of wild-caught live soft-shelled turtles at the wet markets due to zoonotic disease transmission risks.