Written Answer to PQ on the expansion of the Household Services Scheme's pilot programme to include child and elder minding services

NOTICE PAPER NO. 2174 OF 2023 FOR THE SITTING ON 19 SEPTEMBER 2023

QUESTION NO. 5047 FOR ORAL ANSWER NOT ANSWERED BY END OF QUESTION TIME

 

MP: Ms Yeo Wan Ling

 

To ask the Minister for Manpower whether an update can be provided on the Household Services Scheme’s pilot programme to expand its scope to include child-minding and elder-minding services.

 

Answer:

  The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) launched a two-year pilot programme in March 2023 to expand the scope of the Household Services Scheme (HSS) to include basic child-minding and elder-minding services. Twenty-five companies have joined the pilot programme. Amongst the companies that have started providing the expanded scope of services, half provide both child-minding and elder-minding services and the other half provide either child or elder-minding services. These companies are currently providing such services to over 300 families. The pilot is still in the early stages and we expect the participating companies to further scale up and expand their offerings in the coming months.

 

2. MOM will continue to monitor the pilot programme and market response through regular surveys with households and companies, and assess the effectiveness of the scheme nearer the end of the pilot.