Question Time

FÖRSTE VICE TALMANNEN

I would like to welcome the ministers. Questions today will be answered by Minister for Education Mats Persson, Minister for Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed, Minister Erik Slottner, and Minister for Culture Parisa Liljestrand. Minister for Education Mats Persson will answer both general policy questions as well as questions within his own area of responsibility.

A question must be of an overarching and general political nature or concern a subject that falls within the Minister's area of responsibility and relates to his performance of duties. The question shall therefore not concern, for example, conditions within political parties.

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Dzenan Cisija (S)

Mr. Speaker! My question is addressed to the Minister for Social Affairs.

Sweden is suffering from a healthcare crisis. Several regions are preparing warnings or carrying out staff cuts. The Prime Minister has promised to submit a budget that ensures that no one is laid off in Swedish healthcare.

Question Time

We Social Democrats have for several weeks urged the government to provide an announcement on whether there will be an additional supplement. Last week, the government announced that there will be increased state grants of 6 billion. All supplements are good, but SKR expects that 24 billion is required. The Social Minister's party leader, Ebba Busch, has however said that the 6 billion should be sufficient so that no one is laid off.

Does the Minister share his party leader's assessment that this supplement is sufficient to stop staff cuts in healthcare?

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Member, for the question! It is a very tough situation in the regions and in healthcare with a very pressured economy, not least as a consequence of the high inflation and the pension costs that follow from this. Therefore, the government is now making a historically large supplement to healthcare during the current year.

If one were to give the corresponding sum in general support to municipalities and regions – the regions receive approximately 30 percent of the general funds – the 6 billion corresponds to a 20-billion investment for the regions' part. We estimate that this corresponds to the cost of thousands of employees out in the regions. It is clear that this will mean a lot. But the regions will still need to work on efficiency, to safeguard the healthcare perspective, and to ensure that capacity is maintained as close to the care as possible.

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Dzenan Cisija (S)

Mr. Speaker! For the second year in a row, the government, with the support of the Sweden Democrats, is underfunding Swedish healthcare. Many austerity measures are already in motion. At the same time, a real struggle is underway to find care beds for seriously ill patients.

We know that without a functioning healthcare system, Sweden is not prepared for war, crisis, or the everyday lives of ordinary people. Will the government work to ensure that the government allocates additional funds to stop the healthcare crisis?

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! This government is not leaving the healthcare system in the lurch. There is no doubt about that. Now we are adding a historically large amount during the current year because we see the healthcare crisis. We see that we need to have a strong healthcare capacity in order to be able to shorten the queues.

We are also taking a number of other measures to increase efficiency and help the regions that have the weakest economies to get back on their feet and making various types of long-term efforts to improve the Swedish healthcare capacity. It is about both more resources here and now and structural measures to address the underlying problems that many regions are struggling with.

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Mona Olin (SD)

Mr. Speaker! My question is addressed to the Minister for Social Affairs.

The Moderates' and Liberals' proposal in the Social Affairs Committee regarding a new gender identity law means that one should be able to change gender in the civil registry without either deeper medical investigation or diagnosis. It will therefore be possible to have two different genders simultaneously, one biological and one legal.

The Sweden Democrats argue that the proposal is reprehensible. We are strongly critical of it.

With this proposal, healthy children and young people who are not fully developed risk being subjected to lifelong medication and lifelong suffering. Neither SD nor KD stands behind the committee initiative. Now I wonder how the Minister views the risk that young people risk being subjected to a treatment that not only overlooks their other mental problems but may, in the long run, come to cause them both physical and mental suffering.

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! This is a very important issue. It is an issue that requires different types of trade-offs. Those trade-offs are being made now here in the Riksdag.

Since I represent the government in this question period, I cannot go into reasoning regarding the different parties' starting points in the parliamentary process that is currently underway. I have also noted that the Christian Democrats and the Sweden Democrats have the same position on this issue and that there are other positions in the Riksdag. But the process that is now underway in the Committee on Social Affairs should, of course, take its course there.

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Mona Olin (SD)

Mr. Speaker! It has also been realized that the proposal entails difficult questions on several levels within the sports movement.

Given that the Minister for Social Services and the Minister for Equality signed an article with name and ministerial title where both clearly take a stand on this issue, I wonder if the Minister themselves shares the concern that the effects of this bill could mean that athletes at many levels may come to compete on unequal terms. How does the Minister believe this issue should be handled?

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! There are many questions linked to this.

Competition rules and the conditions under which different people compete are primarily a matter for the sport and the sports movement to handle within the framework of its regulations.

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Vasiliki Tsouplaki (V)

Mr. Speaker! My question also goes to Minister Forssmed.

There is a great shortage of sports facilities all over Sweden. A third of the associations with children's and youth sports report that there is a shortage of training times and space for their activities. Many municipalities have a very strained economy due to the excessively low state grants from the government. This makes it difficult to start new construction projects.

At the same time, reports are pouring in that children are too sedentary. I know that the Minister shares my view that it is a problematic situation.

An important actor for getting more sports venues is the General Inheritance Fund. Last year, more than 235 million was invested in the so-called local support, which was sufficient for 83 different projects. I heard a fine example from Västerås yesterday, where the bowling association KK Bataljon has been able to build six new accessibility-adapted bowling lanes with generous support from the inheritance fund.

When new premises were needed around the country, I understand that, for example, RF is very concerned about the report regarding the closure of the inheritance fund.

I want to ask the minister how the government intends to work for more places for sports and how he views the future of the local grant from the General Inheritance Fund.

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Member Tsouplaki, for the question! It is extremely important to have space for sports and that we get more sports among children and young people and, for that matter, also among the rest of the population. It is very important.

We have given a mandate to the Centre for Sports Research to compile a knowledge platform specifically to spread how one can build good, effective, and cost-effective facilities. Since municipalities have a pressured economy, it is good that we learn from what has been done and from the good examples that exist. Hopefully, this knowledge platform can contribute to us getting more facilities and, not least, facilities that can be utilized in an even more efficient way and that can be built cost-effectively.

There are funds within the framework of the General Inheritance Fund, which the member points out. There are also certain funds that the sports movement has at its disposal to support facilities. I can state that the part concerning local support has not been in focus for the Swedish National Audit Office's review of the inheritance fund.

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Vasiliki Tsouplaki (V)

Mr. Speaker! I thank you for the answer. As I explained, there are precisely economic concerns among the municipalities and the associations. The leisure card will not be realized this year. Have the Minister and the Government reviewed the possibility of, for example, using the 700 million that will not be spent on association life this year to make it possible to build more premises to make room for children and young people to practice sports in the future? If there is no room to take in those who are standing in the queue, it will only be a subsidization in the future for children who have already made their way into association life.

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! As I have said before, funds that are not used for the leisure card will be used for the same purpose. It concerns different types of preparatory measures so that as many as possible can utilize the leisure card. It could be about leadership training. It could be about other measures to ensure that this truly reaches out broadly to as many as it is possible at all.

Then some of these resources will continue to need to go towards the preparatory work to set up a robust and long-term sustainable system that cannot be misused by, for example, criminals or other proposed persons.

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Catarina Deremar (C)

Mr. Speaker! I would like to ask Minister for Culture Parisa Liljestrand about local media. The country's local media is an important part of maintaining our democratic society and our democratic conversations. To follow and scrutinize the development of political decisions at local and regional levels is a primary task for the local newspaper.

Now the newspaper industry has ended up in a very difficult economic situation. The newspapers are losing both advertising revenue and subscribers. In the countryside, they are stopping the distribution of the paper edition, which hits older people in the countryside in particular. We also have a digital exclusion, and it is a democratic problem.

I would like to ask the Minister for Culture: How does the Minister view this development, and what measures does the government intend to take to stop the negative development?

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Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)

Mr. Speaker! Many thanks, Catarina Deremar, for the question! Yes, these are undeniably changing times even for the media. The media face a challenge. This is something that has happened quickly. There is a rapid technological development occurring. There are also different behavioral patterns and needs among those of us who read newspapers and who consume media in different ways.

That is why it was important for the government to direct the support in the new media support primarily towards local and regional journalism. It is a way in which we work to strengthen democracy, so that we have functioning and scrutinizing media throughout our country. The focus in the new media support lies precisely on promoting local and regional news journalism.

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Catarina Deremar (C)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer! Yes, the new media support has only just been put in place. It is to be evaluated, as was said. That can be done only after some time; that is understood by both me and many with me. But when does the Minister see it as possible to evaluate this, and what mechanisms are there that we can adjust without the EU level interfering in this?

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Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)

Mr. Speaker! Just as the member says, this type of support is also governed by other laws and rules that are not always those that we control here in Sweden, but they can also come from the EU.

It is too early to say when we will be able to perform the type of follow-ups that the member is requesting. That we will do them is obvious. Which mechanisms we will be able to adjust remains to be seen. But it is important to follow up on this and ensure that it turns out in the right way. It is important that we also manage the follow-up during the coming years.

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Camilla Hansén (MP)

Mr. Speaker! Now the government has finally reacted to the regions' healthcare crisis and promised money so that healthcare staff will not be laid off. As the opposition, one can always say: too little and too late. We know that the dice are already rolling.

The government's policy aims to leave regions and municipalities in the lurch in an economic crisis caused by the pandemic and war.

When will the historical investment in the municipalities arrive? We know that classes are being merged, that teachers are being laid off, and that principals who do not accept cuts that affect their ability to carry out their mandate according to the Education Act are called rebels in plain language. When will the money reach the municipalities and the schools?

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Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Camilla Hansén, for an excellent question! The Government takes the municipalities' situation very seriously. We take the regions' situation very seriously.

Regarding the situation in schools, the government has made historically large investments in schools. It is about investments in more books in schools. It is about investments so that students who need special support shall receive better support in school. In different ways, the government is investing in education and in school.

It is thus historically large investments that we have made. We are now shifting the policy from screen to binder with a very clear focus on children learning to read, write, and count. This is an important prioritization from the government's side, and we are following the issue very closely.

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Camilla Hansén (MP)

Mr. Speaker! I note no answer to my question regarding the money needed so that there will also be teachers who guide among books and screens.

Another news item of a budgetary nature this week is that Swedish educational institutions are expecting large budget deficits. Now, lectures are being cancelled for teachers, for lawyers, and for nurses. Such is the case in the country in Europe that has the lowest proportion of teaching time in higher education. When will the money for higher education arrive?

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Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)

Mr. Speaker! I say: A thousand thanks, Camilla Hansén! It is the opposition's role to complain and to say that it is too little and too late. It is somehow part of the political craft. Camilla Hansén expresses exactly this.

It is a very tough situation. There is high inflation. The state and our municipalities need to make tough prioritizations. My appeal to Sweden's principals at all educational institutions is now to take decisive action against the growing administration. We do not need more communicators; now is the time to focus on the core activities.

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Oliver Rosengren (M)

Mr. Speaker! Today is the first Thursday in March. Mats Persson is not only the Minister for Education. He is also from Markaryd, the southwestern gem of Kronoberg County. First and foremost, I say: Congratulations to both of us on Småland's national day!

Over the last two years, I have made 272 company and welfare visits around the county, and the most common word in my notes is competence shortage. Statistics Sweden measures unemployment at 480,000 people, or 8.5 percent. The vacant jobs have admittedly decreased, but they are still approximately 200,000.

My first question to the Minister will be: How does the government ensure that unemployed people without education educate themselves for work?

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Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)

Mr. Speaker! Many thanks, Oliver Rosengren, for an excellent question!

The government's main task is to provide Sweden with skills and competence. Companies and the welfare sector are crying out for labor and for us to make it possible for more people to be able to take the vacant jobs that exist and ensure that more people can take jobs in many of the shortage occupations that exist, not least within the green transition.

Historical investments are now being made in vocational education. Our focus is not that everyone must become an academic; rather, the most important thing is to be able to perform a substantial profession and have a substantial vocational education as a foundation. Historical expansions of the number of places are now occurring in, for example, yrkesvux, but also within what we call the vocational college (yrkeshögskolan). This concerns tens of thousands of places in the coming year. These funds are provided over many years to provide long-term perspective so that our municipalities and regions and the private sector can plan to supply Sweden with skills.

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Oliver Rosengren (M)

Mr. Speaker! The Minister describes substantial reform supplements and proper resources. This year's budget significantly expands vocational training: 16,500 new places in yrkesvux are added to the many existing ones - 81,500 in total.

At the same time, the very recent vocational adult education investigation, which I am holding up here, shows that the resources for approximately every third place are not being used. My second question will be: How shall we ensure that more than 68 percent of the appropriations are used to educate more people for work?

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Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)

Mr. Speaker! I thank Oliver Rosengren for an excellent question.

Swedish politics has been characterized by a lack of demands. To set demands is to care. We have accepted that people can live on benefits year after year without society having an expectation that everyone can contribute. Everyone can contribute. Everyone who can work shall work.

I believe that a concrete and important reform is that we, from the government's side, have signaled that we will set higher requirements so that one cannot attend SFI year after year, but that there is a lower limit for how long one can attend SFI before one learns Swedish. It is a concrete proposal, because to set requirements is to care.

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FÖRSTE VICE TALMANNEN

I must remind Member Rosengren of the prohibition on advocacy in the Chamber's rules of procedure.

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Christian Carlsson (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Almost 100,000 children are today in a queue for child and adolescent psychiatry. This is shown in the Children's Ombudsman's latest annual report. It could be about young boys with ADHD or autism or about young girls tormented by depression, anxiety or eating disorders. These children have waited longer than the healthcare guarantee requires.

With the Social Democrats in power, the healthcare queues tripled. The healthcare queues are therefore not a new problem, but they are a major problem. The regional differences are also very large. My question to Minister for Health Jakob Forssmed is: What can the government do so that child and adolescent psychiatry becomes better at meeting the children and adolescents who are suffering?

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! It is unacceptable that so many are standing in line and do not receive the help they need. It can be devastating with a long wait to receive help.

We are now investing a record-high amount for 2024 to shorten the queues to child and adolescent psychiatry. This comes with requirements to improve and increase availability, not only for initial visits but also for in-depth investigation and treatment. One shall therefore not be able to get around this by letting someone in for an initial visit and then dragging out the time for the subsequent steps; it is included in the requirements we set.

We are also investing 800 million kronor in an agreement with SKR for 2024 to develop and strengthen psychiatric care for young people.

We also need to make a large number of interventions to reduce the number of children who are unwell to begin with. There is also very much to do there. This is a major condition that we take very seriously.

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Christian Carlsson (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer. I agree that psychiatry needs to be strengthened, but it must also be possible to organize the operations in a way that ensures more young people get to meet someone to talk to when they are feeling unwell. They need to receive support and treatment faster.

What is required is perhaps strengthened leadership, a different type of governance or more and different metrics than today. At the same time, we cannot cure away ill health. What should we do to prevent it?

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I agree that more is also needed in an organizational sense. Too few patient visits are carried out today in relation to the staff available in child and adolescent psychiatry.

It is also about protective factors, which I think the Children's Ombudsman partially misses in their report. It is about physical activity, about moving around, and it is about sleeping at night. If one does not do that, the risk of depression increases very significantly. It is also about relationships.

We must work with all these things. It is also difficult to escape the fact that the very extensive screen time plays a role, as it displaces some of these protective factors.

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Jakob Olofsgård (L)

Mr. Speaker! My question also goes to Minister Jakob Forssmed.

Activity, movement, in small children is a very central part of public health. I believe that the Minister, like me, has childhood memories of playing "burken" or "under the hawk's wings", or of building huts in the forest.

Unfortunately, we see today that is not the case with children of preschool age - small children. A new public health report shows that only 44 percent reach the recommendations regarding physical activity. Only 36 percent of the girls manage this. That is, only one-third move as much as they should. My questions to the Minister are then: How can we encourage the small children to move more? How can we reach their parents with this message?

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Many thanks, Jakob Olofsgård, for the question! I also remember this play, I must admit, with some pleasure.

Children today cannot crawl, cannot scoot, and cannot walk backwards. Some have difficulty standing on one leg. This is the reality; sedentary behavior has increased in the way the member describes.

The government is doing a lot. Mats Persson has described how we are moving away from the screens and how we are now ensuring that they decrease in scope in the preschools so that there is more room for physical activity.

However, we need to do much more. The member mentioned the parents. We have received an increasing norm that says we should drive children, even for short distances, to schools. Active transport has become less frequent, despite that we know the importance of moving, both for physical and mental health. We need to help each other break that norm.

Furthermore, the government is working very actively with the leisure card to ensure that more children and young people get access to sports and other physical activity.

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Jakob Olofsgård (L)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the clear direction that the government has in this matter. I also know that the Minister has a big heart when it comes to our civil society.

We now hear that many out in the municipalities do not have enough time slots in the halls. They are therefore forced to say no to including more people in movement.

Then the next question is: How can this government ensure support for civil society so that they are involved and help, in particular small children, to have more movement and activity?

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Yesterday I had a meeting with SKR and the sports movement in Sweden to discuss, among other things, the facilities issue and how we solve other things that can be hindering for the sports movement and other civil society organizations to be able to make larger efforts - that we work better together than we have historically, that we spread good examples, that we ensure that we promote in different ways and that the existing premises that municipalities have but that the sports movement sometimes does not get access to are utilized, so that this shall not be the hindrance that it is today.

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Lena Johansson (S)

Mr. Speaker! My question is addressed to Minister for Digitalization Erik Slottner.

The business community, municipalities and regions, and government agencies have been affected by increasingly intensified and frequent IT disruptions and outages. We are now under constant cyberattack. It is serious, and it is disruptive to society.

Roles and responsibilities also seem to be distributed among several ministers. Against this background, I would like to ask the Minister for Digitalization what measures he has taken to secure the society's digital infrastructure and systems.

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Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the member for the question.

It is clear that cybersecurity, just like digitalization, is an area that cannot be confined to a single ministerial portfolio. It needs to be horizontal, and all departments need to work on these issues.

Formally, it can still be said that cybersecurity issues fall under the responsibility of the Minister for Civil Defence, Carl-Oskar Bohlin. However, this does not mean that I sit back and do not act in these matters; as Minister for Digitalisation, I also engage in this.

A concrete measure we have in this year's budget is the establishment of a cybersecurity campus at KTH Royal Institute of Technology here in Stockholm. I believe it is 20 million kronor that is allocated to this to build up increased competence regarding cybersecurity.

I have, as Civil Minister, given the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority a concrete assignment to expand the National Telecommunications Cooperation Group in order to better protect us against attacks against, for example, telecommunications, which is an important target in warfare.

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Alexander Christiansson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! Recently, the Minister for Culture announced that the government will establish a new cultural protection council, whose task will be to develop an effective preparedness plan for cultural heritage. That is good. The Sweden Democrats have previously submitted a motion stating that the state needs to take greater responsibility for protecting our cultural heritage against armed attacks and other types of crises.

The need for this is demonstrated, not least by the ongoing war in Ukraine, where we clearly see that cultural heritage has become a target of attacks.

That we have a large preparedness debt due to previous Social Democratic governments is well known. At the same time, the information that the Minister for Culture has presented is currently somewhat sparse.

My question to the Minister is therefore whether specific funds will be allocated for this preparedness planning for cultural heritage and whether it will be relevant to have changes to laws and regulations to ensure the protection of cultural heritage during a crisis or conflict.

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Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)

Mr. Speaker! Thanks to Alexander Christiansson for the question!

This is an important step in strengthening our preparedness within the cultural heritage sector, but also in enabling better cooperation and better helping each other.

We know that our institutions and museums across the country and also here in Stockholm have progressed to different extents in this work. Therefore, there is every reason to review the possibility of broader cooperation so that we can help each other protect our cultural heritage in a more effective way.

At the current stage, a mandate has been given to the authorities to form this council for the protection of cultural heritage. They shall be able to do this within the framework of their existing budgets. If additional supplements are needed in the sense that they come up with things that will require it, we can return to that then. At the current stage, it is about first conducting analyses of what needs to be done, to subsequently see how we can both budget for and plan that work moving forward.

(Applause)

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Karin Rågsjö (V)

Mr. Speaker! My question is directed to Minister for Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed.

Social Minister Jakob Forssmed and Social Services Minister Camilla Waltersson Grönvall received the final report from the Co-morbidity Inquiry, the Anders Printz inquiry, on January 31, 2023.

The mental illness investigation has investigated how we should give those with addiction and mental illness, which is very common in that group, an opportunity to survive and provide the care the addicted need. It was good proposals that the investigation put forward. They were sent for consultation, and the responses were to be in by May 31, 2023.

Now we wonder what is happening with this investigation. When will the bill arrive? We are looking eagerly at the list of bills. What is the plan? Many are waiting. Many are wondering. Will any bill arrive in the near future?

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Karin Rågsjö, for the question!

It is an extremely urgent matter to achieve better care and treatment for those who both suffer from addiction and have mental ill-health and who historically have not received the care and help they deserve and should have received.

This investigation is extremely extensive. It has been out for consultation. Karin Rågsjö is interested in the issue and has a deep commitment to this; I know that. She has surely noted that very many consultation comments have been received on this, pointing out some things that need to be processed in a good and careful manner. No one benefits if we establish an order forward that does not work, but it is clear that we need to resolve the situation for this group much better than what is the case today.

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Emelie Nyman (C)

Mr. Speaker! We in the Centre Party want to follow up on the issue of farm sales.

In December 2021 the investigation was complete, and in June 2022 the referral process was complete.

At least 200 of the 349 members of the Riksdag stand today behind some type of farm sale. Therefore, one might think it is remarkable that a bill has not been presented, especially since all of the government parties were active on the issue in the 2022 election.

Centerpartiet believes that farm sales will have a positive impact on the tourism industry, crafts, and local businesses, not least businesses in rural areas.

As politicians, we need to prioritize policies and proposals that enrich Sweden and make it more pleasant to live and work in the country. Today, there is such a finished proposal on the table.

Against this background, I pose the question to Jakob Forssmed: When will the government present a proposition regarding the sale of farms?

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the member very much for the question.

The Centre Party knows that this is a complicated issue. The Centre Party has been involved in appointing three inquiries into the issue, which have yielded partially different results.

I can, however, please the Centre Party by stating that the government is working intensively to produce a referral to the Council on Legislation aimed at enabling farm sales of alcoholic beverages while simultaneously safeguarding Systembolaget's monopoly. Our view is that small-scale and artisanal farm sales will be something positive for the tourism industry in rural areas. We will have to return to the content of the referral to the Council on Legislation, but the ambition is to allow small-scale producers to sell their products directly where they are produced to a limited extent.

Restrictions will be necessary to maintain the retail monopoly, which in turn is an important part of an alcohol policy that safeguards public health. But work is ongoing to develop a proposal that is EU-law compatible as quickly as possible in order to then implement this.

(Applause)

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Amanda Lind (MP)

Mr. Speaker! My question is addressed to Minister for Culture Parisa Liljestrand.

The other day, a new report was released by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In it, it is stated that the rights of the Sámi regarding land exploitation must be better protected.

Indigenous peoples have a right to influence and consultation regarding decisions that affect them. The consultation order was introduced a couple of years ago as a step towards strengthening the influence and rights of indigenous peoples.

Some of the criticism from the UN concerns precisely the consultation procedure – that it needs to be strengthened to fulfill its purpose so that the Sámi truly get real opportunities to enter early into processes that affect them.

The Sami Parliament also recently signaled that they have insufficient resources to be able to carry out consultations. In that case, the consultation process completely loses its purpose.

It is clearly serious that recurring criticism is directed at Sweden and that we receive international criticism for how we fulfill indigenous peoples' rights. My question is how the Minister for Culture is working to address this criticism.

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Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Amanda Lind, for the question!

It is clear that the government welcomes that we have a constructive dialogue with, among others, the Council of Europe regarding Sweden's compliance with the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and, of course, also in relation to our own legislation regarding our national minorities. The opinion, together with the national minorities' influence, is an incredibly important basis for us to be able to move forward and advance minority policy.

Today I cannot give an announcement on how the government will proceed with the committee's recommendations. It is something that we are working on and take very seriously, and we will of course return to it.

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Jennie Wernäng (M)

Mr. Speaker! I have a question for the Minister for Social Affairs. I am concerned about the developments occurring in society, which the crime prevention officer in my home municipality, Öckerö, also highlights. This concerns veyping.

The resale from adults to children and young people today is large. Children as young as ten years old are seen vaping in our society today, and this can, of course, be a first step towards smoking, alcohol, and drugs at older ages.

My question is quite simply: When can a ban take effect against lending from private individuals to our children and youth regarding specifically vaping?

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Many thanks, Jennie Wernäng, for a very pertinent question!

The question concerns vaping and also other types of tobacco and nicotine products that are now being spread on a very large scale. One can almost speak of an explosion of this within certain groups. It is very important to curb this, and new regulations have now been issued for those who sell such products so that this must be controlled when they are handed out, so that there is no doubt about this.

It can make a certain difference, but it is obvious that additional measures are required. We look forward to and are now producing a basis for an investigation, to be submitted no later than March 31, from the Inquiry into nitrous oxide and certain issues within the alcohol and tobacco area. The inquiry has, among other things, the task of analyzing precisely the prohibition and criminalization regarding the distribution of tobacco and nicotine products to minors.

I want, of course, to await the investigation before we take a position, but it is obvious that further measures are needed to curb this.

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Cecilia Engström (KD)

Mr. Speaker! My question is addressed to Minister for Civil Affairs Erik Slottner.

Many private individuals have difficulty making ends meet. Much has become more expensive, and commerce has become more accessible with digitalization. People have difficulty managing the accessibility that exists. Others get trapped in a gambling addiction that can lead to severe economic consequences. There are many who have been subjected to fraud who also have it difficult and who are struggling with their finances.

For those who are over-indebted, there is an opportunity to turn to their own municipality to get help. My question to the minister is: What is the government doing to help those struggling with their personal finances within the municipal consumer guidance? What plans does the government have regarding budget and debt counseling?

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Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Member Engström, for the question on a very important issue!

It is clear that in the economic situation we are currently living in and have been in for a while, with high inflation and rising interest rates, the risk of over-indebtedness also increases. People are taking on debt beyond what their finances can handle. We also see rising debts at the Enforcement Authority. It is a very worrying development.

Preventive work against over-indebtedness naturally plays an important role in this. We have also received the Over-indebtedness Inquiry, which I think comes with a number of exciting proposals. One of the important preventive measures is precisely the municipal consumer guidance. It is currently voluntary for the municipalities, but we have now just given the Consumer Agency a mandate to return with proposals on how the municipal consumer guidance can be strengthened and how good examples can be spread and cooperation between the municipalities increased.

We think this is important as part of the preventive work, but there are also many other important measures.

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Linus Sköld (S)

Mr. Speaker! High school students are entitled to a type of study grant that corresponds to the child allowance. It is 1,250 SEK per month paid out ten months a year. But inflation is eating up the value of this because it is not adjusted for price developments. Calculated in 2020 prices, the study grant for high school students has lost over 20 percent of its value.

We Social Democrats have proposed an extra payment of the student grant to high school students, which would be important for hundreds of thousands of families in our country and most important for those who have the smallest margins.

Why does Mats Persson say no to our proposal to strengthen high school students' finances? I am well aware that the government usually answers "inflation fighting" when one asks these types of questions. But the inflation fighting is going so-so for the government, at least compared to our Nordic neighbors, and the policy prioritizes. This reform would have cost a quarter of luxury-rot.

My question therefore remains: Why does Mats Persson say no to strengthening high school students' finances?

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Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)

Mr. Speaker! I believe one should be a bit cautious about making too large of a stretch regarding an inflation that the entire Western world is struggling with. Some claim that the inflation in Sweden is due to the fact that we do not have the euro as a currency. Others argue that it is due to the fact that the Riksbank has pursued a certain monetary policy. There are fifty-one explanations, and I believe one should be cautious about pointing out precisely the government's policy as the sole reason why we have the inflation situation that prevails in the entire Western world.

Regarding the question of high school students' finances, it is a priority for the government to support households in this situation, and that is exactly what the government is doing. We support those who work and go to work every day. Those who get up early to get to work and who struggle with their work get more money in their pockets through the government's policy, because we are lowering the tax on labor.

In a number of other ways, we are strengthening household finances, precisely to support households in a tough economic time.

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Jonas Andersson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! I have a question for Minister for Social Affairs Forssmed.

This week, the Swedish National Audit Office released its audit of the General Inheritance Fund and its grant-giving. The audit is a harsh critique of how grants are distributed to civil society organizations through the inheritance fund. It concludes that the fund functioned neither purposefully nor effectively. It concerns cheating, lack of control, and economic, organized, and democracy-threatening crime among those who run inheritance fund projects. The Swedish National Audit Office now proposes that the inheritance fund be abolished.

That the money of deceased Swedes is treated so poorly is a disgrace. We must change this. Those who are dead and can no longer stand up for themselves must be treated with respect and not as an ATM for Islamists and criminals.

I wonder how the Minister intends to act moving forward regarding the General Inheritance Fund, given the Swedish National Audit Office's harsh criticism and proposals to abolish the inheritance fund.

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Jonas Andersson, for the question!

This is very serious. It seems as if money has ended up in completely the wrong pockets, with purely criminals or other people who should not have that money.

The procedure is such that the government receives the report. Then we will return with our response to the recommendations that the Swedish National Audit Office points out in its communication, and then it will be processed by the Riksdag.

That it does not function sufficiently well at the General Inheritance Fund is not unknown to us. Therefore, we state in the Tidö Agreement that we shall undertake an investigation and various types of reforms to ensure that funds are, on the one hand, used more efficiently, and on the other hand, do not reach the wrong recipients. Among other things, we are working on proposing new democratic conditions.

We are also reviewing the possibility of creating a central database for all grants to civil society, which the Swedish National Audit Office believes would have large and positive effects. We are also, of course, reviewing the requirements profile when we are to change the chairperson of the inheritance fund to better reflect this.

It is also no secret that this government also wants to ensure that the authorities can better exchange information with one another in order to curb incorrect payments and fraud.

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Elsa Widding (-)

Mr. Speaker! I have a question for Minister for Social Affairs Forssmed.

Recently, Statistics Sweden released figures showing that the birth rate in the country is at a historically low level. It decreased by 8.6 percent in 2022 and by 12.9 percent in 2023 compared to the ten-year trend. These figures are statistically verified.

One has also provided figures showing that the excess mortality in the country was 5.1 percent in 2022 and also in 2023. This change is also statistically confirmed.

If the vaccines against covid-19 had been safe and effective, we could have expected a lower mortality rate. My question to the Minister is therefore: Will the Ministry of Health appoint an independent inquiry to investigate any causal links with the vaccinations?

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I assess that there are two different issues.

The first one concerns the decline in childbearing. What can cause this is, of course, something for every government to consider.

The second one is about vaccines. Just before we came in here today, I had a meeting with the Public Health Agency, and they state that people who did not receive their booster last year have an increased risk of dying from covid-19.

The vaccines are very effective when it comes to protecting against severe illness and death, and they were very important for us to be able to open up our societies.

It is important that people continue to get vaccinated if they belong to a risk group and are covered by the existing recommendations. The side effects of the vaccines that exist are known, and they are reported, investigated in various ways, and also reported by the authorities on their websites for those who wish to take part in this.

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Thomas Ragnarsson (M)

Mr. Speaker! I would like to ask a question to Minister for Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed.

Public health is one of the most important challenges we have to work with regarding both physical and mental public health. Today we see a worrying trend of deteriorating public health in Sweden, and this is something we have been able to follow for many years.

Getting children and young people to engage in various activities, both physical activities and activities with social content, is good for everyone. In that case, it is important that it is not a financial limitation that determines who can participate. Therefore, the leisure card is a very important initiative that I am completely convinced will have great effects on future public health. Not only does it have direct effects on children's health and well-being, but there are also long-term effects that will affect society as a whole.

When one creates routines in young years where association life is an important factor, it often leads to these routines being maintained during the remaining part of life and thus to a continued improved public health.

My direct question to the Minister is: Where are we in the process with the leisure card?

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Thomas Ragnarsson, for the question!

It is extremely important that no one is prevented from participating in association life or sports for economic reasons. This is also the reason why we work with the leisure card.

Children in socioeconomic vulnerability shall receive extra much on their card just so that eleven- or twelve-year-olds do not have to wonder whether mom or dad can afford for them to continue with football. We know that it is that way.

We are working hard on this. It is a unique initiative, which I note also arouses some international interest. It is difficult and complicated as it involves the processing of very many personal data, for example.

We are therefore working hard, and we will use this year to ensure that further conditions are created in the association life to accommodate what we believe is significantly more people who want to participate in sports than is the case today, or who at least get better conditions to do so.

The status is that the leisure card will be introduced during 2025. We are working intensively on the preparatory work this year. We are also investing specifically and long-term in sports in vulnerable areas to strengthen the community life where it is currently a bit weaker.

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Lili André (KD)

Mr. Speaker! My question is directed to Minister for Education Mats Persson.

The supply of competence is one of the biggest future challenges we have to manage now and in the coming years. The Swedish labor market has major matching problems. Despite the fact that unemployment is high, three out of four employers state that they have difficulty finding staff because the right professional competence is lacking. To meet this, we must utilize the entire education system and provide more training within the professions where the needs are greatest.

The government has strengthened vocational education for 2024 by increasing the state grant to yrkesvux and yrkeshögskolan, but now reports are coming in that training places are standing empty and that the money is therefore not being used. At the same time, there are other actors who provide vocational education and who have the ability to pivot quickly, for example the folkhögskolorna.

I would therefore like to ask the Minister: What does the Minister intend to do so that all the money set aside for the vocational training can be used? If there are reasons to make redistributions within this area, can this be done in, for example, the autumn budget?

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Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Lili André, for an excellent question!

Competence supply is high on the agenda and is something the government prioritizes. Our task is to provide competence supply for Sweden, and this involves a number of different things that we are now doing.

We are expanding vocational adult education, that is, komvux, where in particular many people with insufficient Swedish language skills are given the opportunity to learn a trade. It is also about the university colleges, where we provide education within the green transition. It is also about the government allocating money to the folk high schools, which make major contributions, particularly when it comes to healthcare training and the like.

It is important to be persistent. It is important that the municipalities now take their responsibility to ensure that people apply for the education that exists and that one has high expectations of people so that they do not stay at home with benefits. To receive benefits, one must make an effort by attending an education. In what form this occurs is less important. The most important thing is that people educate themselves.

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Anna-Belle Strömberg (S)

Mr. Speaker! It is with concern that we note that the number of municipalities offering consumer guidance is decreasing. Last year it was reported that only 168 municipalities had retained their consumer guidance. Further concern is now raised by reports that came at the beginning of the year that 9 municipalities now plan to abolish their consumer guidance.

At the same time, we are aware that the government has tasked the Consumer Agency with strengthening and developing the support for municipal consumer guidance. This is a welcome initiative, and it is actually necessary. But there is a justified concern that more municipal consumer guidance services will have disappeared before the investigation is complete and finished.

Mr. Speaker! My question is addressed to Minister Erik Slottner: Is it relevant to have some form of temporarily funded support or other incentives for municipalities to maintain or reintroduce consumer guidance during this economically pressured period?

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Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I thank Member Strömberg for the question. I received a very similar question just recently here.

The Government makes the assessment that consumer guidance is an important preventive measure. That is why we tasked the Consumer Agency with seeing how we can spread good examples, how we can improve consumer guidance, and above all, how we can increase the cooperation between the municipalities regarding consumer guidance, but also how the consumer advisors can be linked more closely to the mandatory budget and debt counselors. There, I believe, there is a potential that is not fully utilized.

The answer to the direct question of whether there are any plans to provide targeted support during the year is that there are not. We have presented the budget for 2024, and there is no targeted government grant for this activity. The municipalities generally do not want too many targeted government grants but would prefer to be able to manage it within the general pot.

So, some such plans do not exist, but I still hope that the Consumer Agency's assignment will lead to some recommendations to the government that are useful for strengthening preventive consumer guidance.

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Robert Stenkvist (SD)

Mr. Speaker! My question is addressed to the Minister for Education.

The Education Committee was recently visited by the Swedish National Audit Office, which pointed out serious deficiencies regarding the security of protected data within higher education. The deficiencies pointed out were that they do not even identify sensitive data, that they still lack competence in the security area, and so on.

Taking into account the global situation, it is noted that espionage against our research has increased recently and that the security work of the universities has such deficiencies that it is completely unacceptable.

Will the government's decision to include security expertise in the boards of universities be sufficient to address the problem, and are further measures needed? I mean that it will probably be needed. Is the minister prepared to face the criticism that will come from academia, the media, and others?

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Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)

Mr. Speaker! I thank Robert Stenkvist for his question. This is a question that the government takes with the utmost seriousness. We have a new security policy situation in Europe, in the world, and in Sweden. It affects the entire society, and the academies are not isolated islands. It is clear that even within higher education, colleges and universities, there are indications of espionage and that different types of patents and data can be taken by foreign powers. It is, of course, extremely serious.

That is why the government has since the change of power adjusted the policy. We have since day one taken a number of different measures which mean that we are raising the requirements for our educational institutions to work with this type of issues. My assessment is that more measures will be required further ahead and that we are far from finished. We need to continuously take more measures to address this problem.

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Marie-Louise Hänel Sandström (M)

Mr. Speaker! My question also goes to Education Minister Mats Persson.

I sit on the board of the Society of Members of Parliament and Researchers. As the name suggests, members of parliament and researchers meet and discuss issues with one another. We are broadly in agreement on how important research is, both for Sweden and for the development of society.

Now, very many are waiting impatiently - educational institutions, research funders, companies and agencies - for the research and innovation bill that will arrive in the autumn. Everyone has different opinions about what it will contain.

My question to the Minister for Education is which points he considers to be most important and what the proposition should contain.

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Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)

Mr. Speaker! I thank you for the question.

It is true that research is very important. I am thinking of the vaccines that were developed so quickly during the covid pandemic. They would not have been developed if curiosity-based research had not been conducted over a long period. This applies not least in Sweden and in many other countries. When these findings were produced, one had no idea that they could be useful in 2020 and 2021 when vaccines were developed that literally saved the world from a pandemic. It shows the power of research.

The focus must be on cutting-edge research and that we want the best researchers. We want Sweden to be a country that produces the best technologies and the best research. An important part of that is, of course, that we are an internationalized country where we see that research is a global phenomenon where we have exchange with many other countries, but where we also, of course, take into account the security policy situation.

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Kristoffer Lindberg (S)

Mr. Speaker! My question is directed to Minister for Culture Parisa Liljestrand.

Freedom of speech is one of our fundamental freedoms and rights. In the Minister for Culture's interview in Svenska Dagbladet a few weeks ago, the minister's view on freedom of speech was described. The minister stated there: It is, to the highest degree, also a result of what happens outside our own borders.

Should we interpret this as that the government's position is that our freedom of speech is shaped and reshaped continuously based on what is happening in other countries? If so, it is an extremely flexible attitude towards freedom of speech in our country.

Against the background of this statement, I would like to ask the Minister for Culture: What does the Minister for Culture mean by this statement? Does the government intend to further restrict Swedish freedom of expression, and if so, in which areas?

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Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the member for the question.

The fundamental civil and political rights are well-established and far-reaching in our country. It is these rights that make us a strong democracy, and they constitute the cornerstones of democracy. It is something that I will always stand up for. That is also what I said in the interview.

But I will also stand up for the possibility of holding discussions about what freedom of speech entails and the conflicts of interest that we are faced with and that exist. I believe that we do ourselves a disservice if we refer to the fact that we will never be affected by any events in our country or, for that matter, in our surrounding world.

If we want to protect our freedom of speech, I am convinced that we must also talk about what it is that we want to protect and why.

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Rashid Farivar (SD)

Mr. Speaker! Just over a month ago, the report Digital Government Index 2023 was presented. It is an international comparison of the digitalization of public administrations in 38 different countries. The three countries at the top are Korea, Denmark and the United Kingdom, while all our Nordic neighbors perform above average. In the overall assessment, Sweden ranks in 27th place, just after Mexico.

Currently, a considerable amount of work is being carried out by the government regarding digitalization policy. Despite this, the work needs to be carried out at a significantly faster pace and with more concrete reforms if we are to be able to climb higher in the ranking at the next measurement.

My question goes to Minister for Civil Affairs Erik Slottner. What concrete measures can the government take to accelerate the pace of digitalization in the public sector?

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Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I am concerned, just like Member Farivar, that Sweden is losing positions on various ranking lists when it comes to digitalization, not just this one, and has done so for a long time. This is I, as the minister responsible for digitalization, am determined to change. Sweden shall be a leading IT nation. Sweden shall rank high on the ranking lists. That is why the government is doing so much within the digitalization area - so that we can climb again and so that Sweden can be counted on in these matters.

We have just appointed an AI commission that is to return with proposals on how Sweden can advance as an AI nation, regarding industry and research but also regarding welfare in order to improve it. We are working on a digitalization strategy, which is to become very practical and tangible with concrete measures and goals that we can measure. But we have also developed the cooperation with SKR to get the digitalization started in the municipal sector, and a special project is being conducted on how we can use AI in social services to improve it.

I could stand here for half an hour and talk about the government's digitalization policy, but unfortunately, my speaking time is up.

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David Josefsson (M)

Mr. Speaker! According to Brottsofferjouren, hundreds of thousands of Swedes are subjected to fraud every year. The crime is one of the most common in Sweden. In both 2021 and 2022, the crime of fraud was reported to the police more than 195,000 times. Fraud crimes are also one of the most important, if not the most important, sources of income for serious organized crime.

Fraud can take different forms. A common procedure is so-called advertisement fraud, where one pretends to sell a product that is not delivered after payment, or alternatively, one deliberately replaces the product with an inferior product. In the latter case, we fall into the borderline between fraud prevention and consumer protection.

Therefore, my question to the Minister for Consumer Affairs is: What measures is the Minister prepared to take to strengthen consumers' protection against various fraud schemes, for example, advertisement fraud?

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Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)

Mr. Speaker! This is an issue that affects very many Swedes, not least elderly people but also other vulnerable groups in society who are subjected to just this type of crime with such precision. Elderly people can lose entire life savings that they had intended to use for something else but which now end up in the fraudsters' pockets. Everyone with some form of empathy is, of course, very affected by this.

That is why the government is now, across a broad spectrum of areas, in many departments and with many ministers, working with various measures to tackle this type of fraud. Something that I am responsible for is the e-identification, which we hope will contribute to making electronic identity theft more difficult.

We have also given a mandate to the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority on how the occurrence of manipulation of telephone numbers can be reduced. The recipient of an SMS or a telephone call may think it is a bank or some government agency calling, but it turns out to be a fraudster.

I also want to emphasize the banking sector's responsibility in this. The banks themselves say that they can do more, and they are to report back on how they can take a greater responsibility.

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Karin Sundin (S)

Mr. Speaker! Swedish healthcare is on its knees. When the government is asked what they intend to do about the matter, the answer is often that this is the regions' responsibility – not the government's.

Then one wonders what the government is doing instead. When one looks at the public list of propositions in progress from the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, one sees that it is largely empty. The investigation into a new Social Services Act is not included. The interpretation service investigation is not included. The co-morbidity investigation and the principal responsibility investigation regarding personal assistance are also not included.

We Social Democrats can count up at least a dozen important and completed investigations that the former Minister for Social Affairs Lena Hallengren placed on the government's table. In many cases, there is, as we assess it, broad political agreement. Now, one and a half years have passed. They should come here to the Riksdag's table.

Now there are four ministers at the Ministry of Social Affairs who share the responsibility. What do they actually do during the day? Where are the bills?

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Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the member for the question.

Karin Sundin began by speaking about the healthcare crisis and about healthcare in Sweden, which is facing very tough economic conditions. From the government's side, we have during the past week announced that we are providing an additional 6 billion in support to healthcare in Sweden in a targeted grant. We have also signaled at least five concrete measures to improve the possibilities to provide a more efficient, purposeful, and patient-oriented healthcare during the coming years. It is a matter of not only patching things up here and now but also improving the conditions in the long term to provide patients with care in a timely manner. The previous government failed at this, and the healthcare queues have become ever longer.

This is some of what we work with.

We will, of course, return to the issues that Karin Sundin specifically raised. Most of them are handled by colleagues of mine, and they will, of course, follow up on how we handle these.

Question time was hereby concluded.

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