Fire and Public Liability Insurance Coverage Rates Among Hawkers across NEA-managed and Operator-managed Centres, and Adequacy of Current Coverage

29 Mr Shawn Loh asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) what proportion of hawkers hold fire and public liability insurance, broken down by management model, including centres under direct NEA management and those managed by NEA-appointed operators; (b) whether insurance requirements or coverage differ across these models; (c) if so, why; and (d) whether the Ministry considers current insurance coverage among hawkers adequate to protect stallholders and third parties.

Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: Based on a survey conducted by the National Environment Agency (NEA), about two-thirds of all cooked food stallholders indicated that they had purchased insurance coverage for their stalls.

NEA does not currently require stallholders in hawker centres to purchase insurance. Nonetheless, NEA regularly promotes fire safety awareness among stallholders through circulars and face-to-face engagements, including encouraging stallholders to purchase fire insurance with public liability. For hawker centres where stall tenancies are managed by NEA-appointed operators, the operators may require stallholders to purchase insurance that would include public liability coverage for their respective stalls.

NEA is reviewing the requirements including whether to make insurance coverage compulsory for all stallholders.