(cont.) Response to interpellation 2022/23:76 on preventive measures against organized crime
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M argues that the best crime prevention work is to support families and parents 1. M allocates 400 million kronor for preventive work aimed at parents and has a total of 1.2 billion in the budget for preventive measures 1. M wants to change the Social Services Act to give the social services proactive tools and needs different secrecy legislation for cooperation with school, police, and health and medical care 1. M wants to invite all parties to work together on the legislation 2. M argues that money from bottleneck fees is a repayment and that the argument that these should be transferred to the social services lacks merit 2. S argues that the Minister for Social Services has not received sufficient resources to take new measures against the spiral of violence. S considers the government's prioritization unreasonable as 10 billion have gone to lowered taxes for high-income earners while only 10 million have gone to strengthening the social services. S includes half a billion in its shadow budget.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! It is heavy to resume the debate in the light of the fact that we have just learned that a beloved former colleague, Barbro Westerholm, has tragically passed away. I know, however, that she would not have wanted to stop the debate for everything in the world, but we shall, of course, fulfill our duty here in the chamber. These questions – how we shall work preventatively and how we shall work to support our children – were also very close to her heart.
With that said, I will now move on to account a little for the government's view on the work that now lies ahead of us.
We know from research that there is no better crime prevention work we can do than to support existing families. Supporting parents in being exactly that—parents—and being able to set boundaries is one of the prioritized parts of our work. This is also the reason why we allocate 400 million in the budget to ensure that there is preventive work aimed at parents in all of Sweden's municipalities. In total, there are approximately 1.2 billion in the government's budget when it comes to preventive measures.
Supporting parents is a very important issue. It involves many different things. It involves different programs - Komet is one example. It also involves building functioning relationships as early as at MVC and BVC. Family centers are something that we very much want to see in more parts of Sweden. I have personal experience of being involved in starting one such center. It is about the opportunity to work preventatively together in cooperation between, for example, social services, the education administration, and health and medical care. There, the open preschool is the heart, or the core, of the activity. It also functions as a low-threshold activity towards families.
These are important parts, but we need to do much more. The Social Services Act that I spoke about in my previous post is an important part of this. It means that the social services are given the opportunity to be a stronger hub in this work. Confidentiality is repeatedly raised during the trips I make around the country. That means we need different confidentiality legislation in order to be able to work preventatively with social services in connection with the school, the police, and the important health and medical care.
There are a number of tragic cases that demonstrate the need for this legislation. I can only regret that this has not been addressed despite the need having been so great for so long and despite it having been put forward for so long. I can, however, assure you that it is very high on the government's agenda to ensure that both secrecy legislation and various types of support are introduced. It is very important to change the Social Services Act so that one obtains the proactive tools from the reactive social services we want to move away from.
Gustaf Lantz (S)
Mr. Speaker! I want to begin by clarifying to everyone here in the chamber that I truly want the Minister for Social Services to succeed in their mission. This is not about partisan points; it is about our common future.
Now we have a situation in Sweden with a spiral of violence that has escalated sharply in recent times. In that case, we would need a real concerted effort out in the municipalities to get the social services to truly take new measures, but with the budget that Sweden now has, which the government has presented, it has started poorly. It is clear that the Minister for Social Services has not received the resources she should have received. 10 billion have gone to lowering taxes for those with the highest incomes. 10 million have gone to strengthening the social services in the municipalities. An individual's electricity support could pay for the government's investment in Uppsala's social secretaries three times over. I mean that this is a completely unreasonable prioritization in the situation we find ourselves in.
The Social Democrats are putting in half a billion in their shadow budget. I said before the break that the relationship is roughly like Johan Pehrson standing and holding up an umbrella outside Uppsala Cathedral. The top of the umbrella is then to be compared with the highest point of the church tower - so great is the difference in reality between the investment from the Social Democrats and the investment from the government.
I would like to conclude by thanking you for a very good debate and, as I said, wishing you good luck with the important tasks that the Minister for Social Services has.
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the member for the interpellation.
I want to emphasize once again that I intend to lead by example regarding what I often lacked from the previous Social Democratic government. I intend, as I have said when I have met the Social Affairs Committee, to invite all parties in the Riksdag so that we can jointly move forward with this important legislation.
It is important that we show all parts of Sweden that one should not be afraid of some major changes occurring during a potential change of government when it comes to crime prevention work. It is important to be able to demonstrate political decisiveness and that we are united both when it comes to supporting the important social services and when it comes to getting everything else in place. Just that cooperation is something I want to emphasize.
This is not a question about electricity support, so I will refrain from commenting on the member's apparently very deficient knowledge of what bottleneck charges are and where this money comes from. This is a reimbursement of something that people have already paid in, and the argument that the money would be transferred to social services has hardly any merit.
We are allocating 1.2 billion in the budget that we have presented for this year, and we will, of course, strengthen certain parts as we present important legislative proposals. In the Tidö Agreement, there are no fewer than 22 points pointing to crime prevention and preventive measures. One part of this is the 24-hour guarantee. It is also about the importance of being able to establish a crisis social emergency service, which is something that is being requested.
We will continue to work on building up economic resources, but above all, we – unlike the previous government – will present the proposals that are needed for this to be able to have a powerful significance.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.