Findings on Need and Demand for Night-time Childcare in Low-income Families Area

7 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what are the Ministry's findings from its assessment on the need and demand for night-time childcare, particularly in areas where low-income families reside; and (b) when will the findings be available if the assessment is not yet complete.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: As part of the nation-wide scale-up of Community Link (ComLink) to support families with children living in rental housing, we have been conducting needs assessment surveys to better understand the families' needs and aspirations. A number of families we surveyed mentioned that they had to care for family members, including young children. For these families, caregiving support could enable them to find work or take up full-time jobs. However, the number of families who need caregiving support varies across ComLink towns and it is also not clear that night-time childcare is the preferred model across the board.

Thus, we will need to explore possible approaches to meet the needs of those requiring caregiving support beyond regular hours. For caregiving needs during regular working hours, parents can access centre-based childcare services which are available in all towns.