Budget 2024 > Latest > Commentary
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Sir, last year, we celebrated the announcement of the extra two weeks of paternity leave. A year later, unfortunately, we are still waiting for these two weeks of paternity leave to be mandated. The sad reality is that – as reported in the media – some companies are waiting for the paternity leave to be mandated before they give it.
Fathers are losing precious time with their babies – precious family time.
We all wish this is not the case. We all hope that mindsets would have shifted, and paternity leave need not be made mandatory before companies give it. The Government must step in and ensure that we are indeed a Singapore made for families. Our policies and our firm commitment can help shape mindsets and change them more quickly.
Can the Government provide a firm timeline on when the extra two weeks of paternity leave will be mandated?
Next, Prime Minister Lee urged couples to add a little dragon in this Year of the Dragon. Our record-low fertility rate is an existential problem. We have been generous in giving parents bonuses, vouchers and tax rebates. But I hope we can give parents something even more valuable – time.
Every year, I know I sound like a broken record asking for more parental leave, more childcare leave, more parent care leave, fertility leave and annual leave. But valuable time is important to many people. I sincerely hope the Government will consider providing parents with more parental leave – both maternity and paternity leave; and commit to a firm timeline to equalise both maternity and paternity leave.
Can the Government also provide more incentives to companies to support them in giving their employees parental leave?
We support companies when it comes to giving their employees time to serve their reservist. We should provide the same level of support when it comes to giving their employees time to welcome their babies into this world. This will help us truly become a Singapore made for families.
Next, in a 2022 survey by the Breastfeeding Mothers Support Group Singapore, more than half of mothers stopped breastfeeding before their child turned one year old. The main reason cited was the challenges of expressing milk at work.
Under the Code on Accessibility in the Built Environment, lactation rooms are only required for buildings with a floor area of above 10,000 square meters – this is less than 10% of more than 4,000 offices and business parks. For the rest of the offices, it is left to employers to provide lactation rooms. This can be challenging, especially for SMEs. We can do more to help.
Currently, there is an Accessibility Fund for building owners to upgrade their buildings or install a lactation pod. Can the Government do more to publicise the Accessibility Fund and urge people to apply for it? Can the Government also look into providing additional support for building owners to retrofit their buildings, with dedicated lactation rooms or install lactation pods?
Finally, under the Code on Accessibility in the Built Environment, accessible toilets for adults with disabilities or seniors must be present at a huge number of locations.
However, under the same Code, there must only be one – at least one lactation room – only at limited areas. We recognise that our buildings should be inclusive in making sure that accessible toilets are widely available, even if some buildings may not have elderly or disabled users.
Why the disparity when it comes to lactation rooms?
About half of our population are female and many of them will go on to become mothers who should have the option of breastfeeding their children, if they wish to. We try to encourage Singaporeans to set up families through bonuses and vouchers. Designing our public facilities for families sends a visible and clear signal that this is a Singapore made for families.
It has been more than five years since the Code was last updated.
Will the Government make our Code more inclusive in the next iteration of the Code by lowering the gross floor area (GFA) threshold for the requirement of lactation rooms and also mandating more lactation rooms in buildings – the same way we do for accessible toilets?
Watch the speech here.