Debated in Parliament on 10 Sep 2018.
Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) to date, how many employers and community stakeholders are registered under SG Enable or have some form of employment programme for special needs adults; (b) what is the Ministry doing to encourage more to come on board to hire special needs people; and (c) whether more can be done to help employers with adapting the workplace and designing jobs for special needs employees.
To date, SG Enable and its voluntary welfare organisation (VWO) partners have worked with more than 1,000 employers to hire persons with disabilities. SG Enable works with employers to build up their capabilities to train, hire and integrate persons with disabilities into their workforce. It offers advisory and consultancy services, disability management workshops and training at the Enabling Village, as well as job shadowing, internship and mentorship programmes and various online resources. It also helps employers assess their readiness to hire persons with disability and to identify areas they could work on to become more inclusive employers. When employers are ready to hire, SG Enable and its VWO partners will provide job placement and job support services.
The Government supports private sector employers who hire persons with disability in a variety of ways. For example, we give a Special Employment Credit to provide a wage offset and defray costs for employers hiring persons with disabilities. We also provide grants under the Open Door Programme, which is a scheme administered by SG Enable and supported by Workforce Singapore and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF). The Open Door Programme helps to fund employee training, workplace modifications, job redesign as well as the purchase of assistive technology devices that support persons with disabilities at work.
Later this month, SG Enable will hold the annual Inclusive Business Forum, which brings employers and other stakeholders together to share best practices and to collaborate in order to create more opportunities and supportive workplaces for persons with disabilities. MSF will continue to work with our partners to bring more employers on board the inclusive hiring journey.
Under the Third Enabling Masterplan, the Government will also enhance opportunities for persons with disabilities to leverage their abilities and secure meaningful jobs. We will work with key stakeholders, such as industry leaders, to identify new areas of skills development and to refine training and vocational programmes in our special education schools, to better prepare our students for employment. Business networks, such as the Enabling Employers Network, have also been set up so that businesses can learn from one another and support one another as they work towards becoming more inclusive.
PAPERCUTS