Debated in Parliament on 6 Nov 2025.
Ms Nadia Ahmad Samdin asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health for updates on the progress of the job fit assessment and referral framework by the National Council of Social Service as shared in the National Mental Health and Well-Being Strategy.
The referral framework helps to identify and provide customised employment support for jobseekers with mental health conditions. It will be rolled out in June 2026.
NCSS is also developing a vocational assessment framework across the employment support agencies to assess the work readiness and support needed by persons with mental health conditions. NCSS is in the process of standardising the assessment tools to be used and the type of professionals who will be conducting the assessment.
Ms Nadia.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I thank the Senior Minister of State for his response. My follow-up questions are really around what sort of mental health conditions will this framework cater for, in terms of the availability of jobs? And is there a planned duration for which support will be provided for persons with mental health conditions and in recovery who are seeking jobs?
Sir, I thank the Member for her questions. I think mental health conditions encompass a very wide spectrum, so the key thing is to make sure that in our support rendered, it will be individualised to the needs of the individual. Not every individual with a mental health condition will want to seek employment. But I think our aim is to make sure that those who desire to do so, we will do our best to support them, in terms of vocational training and maybe support measures, so that they can become equipped with the necessary skills and the ability to get into employment.
As for the duration, again, it is going to be individualised, because different individuals with different conditions will have different needs as well. The professionals will have to assess each and every one of them on an individual basis. I would suggest we give the professionals time to come up with a framework because that will be something that will be useful as a guide to what they can do. Clearly, there will be certain individuals where the condition will be quite unsuitable for employment and therefore, regardless of what the duration is, it may not reach a point where the person can reach capability to be deployed meaningfully in a workplace; in which case, other measures to support the individual's needs will have to be considered.
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