Culture and leisure for children and young people

Leonid Yurkovskiy (SD)

Madam Speaker! Like many before me in this chamber and as surely several after me today, I want to devote my speech to talking about the situation of young people in our society. There are, of course, many things to mention here.

Let us begin with MUCF's latest report on the economic vulnerability of young people. It shows that one in ten young people aged 20-25 has an income that falls below the threshold for what is required for a decent standard of living. In 2020, there were a total of 134,500 young people who were economically vulnerable. That corresponds to a large Swedish municipality entirely populated by economically vulnerable young people. That figure is now increasing along with the indebtedness.

Beyond the economic aspect, it is very clear that mental ill-health now constitutes one of the biggest and most dangerous problems among young people in Sweden. According to the Public Health Agency, it concerns socioeconomic factors, school stress, and so on. One can also read about how young people do not receive care to the extent that is needed.

To this list of potential reasons, I want to add the overwhelmingly most dominant cultural portal that young people have. It is social media in various forms. There, there are completely distorted beauty ideals and even more distorted ideals regarding sex and cohabitation. There are eating disorders, gender dysphoria, suicidal thoughts, and so on, which take up a lot of space. And these are not just topics that are discussed, but they are topics that are projected and take hold.

With this, I want to say that we must be honest: The vulnerability of young people today has nothing to do with cultural grants or the opening hours of youth centers. It has to do with a failed school, a failed immigration policy, a failing healthcare system, and finally a decadence in society that previous generations have paved the way for.

Therefore, one must also be honest about one's ambitions. One can say that cultural policy can provide children and young people with developing experiences. It can absolutely contribute to a meaningful leisure time, but it cannot be a bandage for failures in other political areas.

(Applause)

In this speech, Runar Filper (SD) agreed.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Kristoffer Lindberg (S)

Madam Speaker! I shall begin by moving to approve reservations 4 and 10.

All people have a right to culture and education and a valuable leisure time. I would like to initially highlight the culture school.

The culture school has an incredibly important role in providing children and young people with opportunities for cultural practice. It exists in almost all municipalities, both in the big city and in rural and sparsely populated areas. Therefore, it is of particular importance when we talk about culture and leisure for children and young people throughout Sweden. It must be accessible on equal terms across the entire country for everyone, regardless of background.

The culture school is a municipal responsibility, but its importance for children and young people's access to culture and an active leisure time also makes it a national matter. The Riksdag has therefore decided that the state shall contribute to a more accessible and equal culture school of high quality in both offering and teaching.

In the budget for 2021, the state grant to the cultural schools was strengthened and amounted up until last year to 200 million kronor annually.

When I visit the cultural schools here in Hälsingland, they show how the development grant has been used precisely to develop and broaden the existing activities, for example by starting outreach activities and offering new forms of culture and education to reach children and young people who have not previously found their way to the cultural school. This is also confirmed by follow-ups that Statens kulturråd has carried out.

We Social Democrats safeguard the cultural school's opportunity to reach more children and young people, and therefore we maintain the development grant at 200 million. We also ensure an increase in the general state grants to the municipalities to secure both the welfare's and the cultural schools' basic funding.

Madam Speaker! Free association life, not least our great popular movement, the sports movement which exists throughout the country, has a decisive importance when it comes to valuable leisure time for children and young people, not least in the countryside - in Bollnäs GIF's bandy activities, in the football training with Rengsjö Sportklubb or out on the tracks with Kilafors Skidklubb.

The sports movement is working on restarting after a difficult shutdown during the pandemic. The pandemic's impact on the sports movement and public health is extensive. More and more young people are sedentary and have, during the pandemic, left an active membership in a sports club. There are also great challenges in getting more volunteers, leaders, coaches, referees, and board members to keep the activities running.

We see a continued need for further measures for youth sports, and therefore we invested an additional 100 million in support for sports in our budget.

In addition to this, we also have the issue of facilities. There is a shortage of facilities all over Sweden, not just in our larger cities. This is an obstacle to young people's sports participation, and hall times are hard currency in many places. Many municipalities have a great need to renovate and build new sports halls. We also see that many municipalities are requesting opportunities for co-financing. Against this background and the shortage of facilities we have in Sweden, we Social Democrats believe that from the state's side, we need an investigation into establishing a state sports facility fund.

Madam Speaker! An active and valuable leisure time is not just about association life, about cultural schools and about the sports movement. We are all different and are drawn to different activities and social contexts. Therefore, society must be able to offer a breadth of alternatives for children and young people.

An important part for children and young people who do not participate in traditional association life or the municipal culture school is open-access leisure activities, leisure centers that can offer a meaningful leisure time and socializing, and meeting places for youth to meet during their free time. This is an activity that must not be lost in the political debate.

In June 2022, the Social Democratic government commissioned an inquiry to educate and analyze open-access leisure activities and identify how they can be strengthened and developed to become an even more equal and accessible activity, as well as how we can contribute to quality-assuring open-access leisure activities. This also included a mandate to specifically analyze whether open-access leisure activities for youth can be included in the overall crime and violence prevention work. The mandate was to be reported by December 1 of this year at the latest.

Unfortunately, the investigation was scrapped by the new right-wing conservative government in December 2022. It is concerning. We Social Democrats regret this and believe that there is every reason to review open-access leisure activities, that they are available to all young people, and that they maintain high quality. So far, we have not seen any other proposals from the right-wing parties.

Madam Speaker! I regret that we are now seeing a policy that risks hitting the country's cultural schools twice, when the state development grant for children's cultural schools is halved at the same time as the municipalities' finances become more and more strained because the government does not provide the municipalities with sufficient state grants to manage the tough economic situation we face. Reduced state development grants reduce the possibility of reaching more children and young people, and without sufficient basic funding for welfare, the municipal funding of the cultural school risks being affected.

We want to see more money for the cultural school, more resources for the municipalities and strengthened support for the Swedish sports movement. We want to see that a state facility fund is investigated and that the conditions and quality for open-access leisure activities are strengthened and developed. I regret that the government does not seem to prioritize these issues.

Children and young people's access to culture and leisure does not happen by itself. Children and young people are dependent on their family situation. Economic conditions, parents' work situation, and parents' knowledge and own experiences are of great importance. It requires a conscious, active and long-term policy and will among politicians for culture to become a natural part of more children's and young people's upbringing and a policy that supports and provides conditions for an active and valuable leisure time for all children and young people.

Access to culture and leisure is a measure of how well-off a society is. A society that sees the value of culture and leisure has invested long-term both in its population and in social development. That is exactly what culture and leisure for children and young people is about: a lifelong investment.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Emma Ahlström Köster (M)

Madam Speaker! I listen intently to the member's commitment to the culture school, which seems to return in all debates. It is appreciated.

I just want to ask the member if he knows that the investment with development funds mentioned in the statement was actually a targeted investment specifically to reach new culture consumers. The member himself commented that we have actually achieved that goal, that is, to reach children and young people who would not have found their way there themselves.

The money has therefore gone to a certain initiative, not to broaden the operations but to achieve a goal, and that has also been done.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Kristoffer Lindberg (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Member, for this opportunity to extend my reasoning!

Yes, it has been a targeted investment that we Social Democrats see a continued need for in order to reach more children and young people, especially in rural areas and the countryside. In the Kulturskolerådet's report, it is stated that in seven out of ten municipalities, the number of cultural school places is now decreasing – one is talking about 58,000 places.

This is partly about the state portion with the development grant to broaden and develop the operations, but it is also about the resources to the municipalities, state grants to the municipalities, in order not to cut back on healthcare, school, elderly care, and the municipal offering of culture and leisure for children and young people.

It is clear here that this government does not prioritize those issues. One has chosen to rather lower the tax for high-income earners than to invest in children's and young people's culture and leisure. I am glad that we can see those clarities in the policy.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Emma Ahlström Köster (M)

Madam Speaker! I think the member is presenting something unfair here. I also cannot help but note that figure of 100 million that the member believes will save the entire cultural school, which is a small percentage of the large amount that we actually invest in the cultural school. It is, therefore, a question of 100 million in relation to 2.7 billion. I believe the member needs to work in a different way if he wants to succeed in his mission.

The culture school is primarily a municipal matter. I also care about the culture school and think it is important, but I do not believe that a small amount of money at that scale solves that type of problem. Here, it is about having a good dialogue with the municipalities, and the member has an opportunity to do so. He can contact his party colleagues to succeed in the assignment. Good luck!

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Kristoffer Lindberg (S)

Madam Speaker! I can assure member Emma Ahlström Köster that I have very good contact with my party comrades at the municipal level.

It is not about the 100 million saving the culture school. They are a part of it. I think the member can visit the different culture schools and hear what is said about the weight and importance of the development grant.

The second part concerns, just as I mentioned, that when the government chooses to prioritize tax cuts for high-income earners instead of more resources for the municipalities, we risk the municipal basic funding. That is why we see signals that 58,000 places at the cultural school are threatened. It is not just because of the 100 million, but it is a matter of the municipal funding. There, the state has a responsibility when it comes to compensating the municipalities.

I understand that it is difficult for the member to distance themselves from the fact that they have personally voted for a state budget in the Riksdag that risks hitting the culture school twice as hard. It is not that I do not believe the member thinks the culture school is important – I am completely convinced of that – but one's actions should reasonably correspond with what one claims to stand for. If nothing else, it is proper to be clear and say in the chamber that one does not prioritize the issues, that is to say the culture school, the association-driven sports, and the open youth center activities, as highly as the Social Democrats do. We must, of course, have respect for the fact that we think differently and prioritize differently. The Government prioritizes tax cuts for high-income earners, and the Social Democrats prioritize culture and leisure for children and young people higher, together with increased resources for the welfare system. I am glad that we can clarify this.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Emma Ahlström Köster (M)

Madam Speaker! Culture is fundamental to our identity. It encompasses everything we see, everything we hear, taste, or feel. Culture is everywhere, from music to the visual world, in images and in forms. Culture tells about life and is often an essential part of life. But culture also creates platforms that open doors to philosophical and existential questions about life and about the world.

By reading a book, listening to music, or looking at art, we can confront our fears or find strength and hope. Recognizable culture also strengthens our identity, and it creates links between generations.

But in the meeting with culture, other things are also taking place. When we engage in creative exercises, we activate our right brain hemisphere. It develops our ability for holistic thinking, a sense for different dimensions and imagination, which in turn lays the foundation for ingenuity and innovation as well as, in many cases, well-being. It is therefore of great importance that children and young people get to encounter culture and that they themselves get to work creatively.

It is also important that children and young people are given the opportunity for influence and participation in democratic life and in the public debate. It is important that they are taught the conditions of democracy and that they experience that their opinions are important to be listened to. Our children see opportunities in a new way, and when we create forums so that these thoughts and input are made visible, the building of society can also be enriched.

We live in a completely unique time. I myself grew up with computers and digital tools, but my children and your children are growing up with completely different technology on a completely different level. Smartphones, games and access to the internet give current and future generations fantastic opportunities for cultural consumption, and this also applies to information and communication.

Sweden is at the forefront when it comes to digital technology, but in the high pace, a parallel digital world is emerging where the law does not always keep up with rapid and hysterical tempos. There are therefore risks and challenges in that we, for example, end up with disinformation, hate and threats or other harmful and illegal content on our internet platforms.

In 2021, the authorities were tasked with identifying methods to counter this, with a focus on, among other things, racism and hate crimes. The work must proceed, and we want to make more efforts in the area. It should of course be part of the goal that all our children and young people should feel safe on the internet and similar forums, and that fraud or other crimes should be made more difficult and, if possible, completely eliminated.

Madam Speaker! The importance of culture, with a particular focus on children and young people, as well as youth participation and the opportunity for influence, is an important priority for the sitting government. We are certain that the use of the internet is positive, but we must create a platform where it is possible to be present without being afraid of encountering different types of crime or a bad climate. Therefore, we continue and increase the pace of the work already begun so that the measures will provide the greatest possible benefit.

I look forward to following this important work, and I am proud of the efforts that have already been made and the level of ambition that the current government sets in these areas. With these words, I naturally wish to vote in favor of the committee's proposal.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Vasiliki Tsouplaki (V)

Madam Speaker! There are great differences between children's access to professional culture. If you come from a home with high incomes and highly educated parents, the chance is much greater that you have attended a theater or a concert than if your parents have a working-class background. Although there is a national goal to specifically prioritize children and young people's access to culture, there is currently no unified systematic work to achieve that goal. There is not even a unified national statistic to base on if one wants to measure how the goal is progressing. There needs to be a change in that!

We want to see substantial and effective investments in both children's own creativity and their access to professional performing arts and other cultural experiences.

An excellent arena to reach all children is, of course, the school. In two of the country's regions and in a few municipalities, there is currently a cultural guarantee that guarantees all children a certain number of stage performances during school time and sometimes also performances from Skapande skola. Other students can go through their entire schooling without coming into contact with a performing arts performance or a museum visit, even though steering documents for the different school forms emphasize the importance of students encountering culture in the teaching.

Many teachers are positive about taking part in, for example, museums' exhibitions and materials, but finances, lack of time, or geographical distances constitute obstacles. The Swedish National Heritage Board was commissioned to investigate what is required to increase the interaction between the school and the cultural sector, and they state that what is missing in the chain of command is someone who follows up on children's right to culture in school.

Vänsterpartiet therefore proposes two reforms, partly a national performing arts guarantee, and partly an investigation into a new professional role in the school world, namely the culture educator. We want every school to have access to a culture educator who can be the link between culture and the school and be that guarantor that cultural forms of expression are integrated into the teaching and that the students get to take part in the performing arts. Furthermore, it is about an exchange with other cultural institutions, for example the county museums.

When it comes to a performing arts guarantee, we only need to look to our neighboring country Norway to get an example of how one could work in a better way. Since 1994, there has been a national coordinating actor in Norway, Scenekunstbruket, which has selected the highest quality performances for children and young people. For almost 20 years now, the organization has been the national coordinator for getting the productions out. The reform is called Den kulturelle skolesekken.

The selected performances are passed on to the regions, which have received a budget to purchase the performances. Then a collaboration takes place between the municipalities and the schools. This has led to an increased utilization of resources for the cultural actors who receive public grants. They have moved from playing a performance four to nine times to instead performing it several hundred times over a period of several years.

In Sweden, however, Swedish cultural workers currently must themselves hunt for schools, cultural coordinators, and grants in 290 municipalities and 21 regions. They must market themselves, participate in supply days, and schedule tours themselves to put together their programs. In Norway, you get that service when you are selected for Den kulturelle skolesekken. There, one can also see that the status has been raised for children's and youth culture and also for the interest in creating performances since the system was introduced.

We therefore want to investigate how such a model could be introduced in Sweden. It involves a systematization and structuring of the money that already exists in today's system at, among others, the Arts Council through a number of different grants. There is also money in the cultural cooperation model that would be used to enable a cultural guarantee for all children from preschool to upper secondary school. What is it that prevents the government parties from saying yes to such an investigation when this has been so successful in our neighboring country?

Madam Speaker! Another issue we have motioned on in the report concerns the cultural school. In many ways, it has had a positive development over a number of years. Now, almost all municipalities have a music school or cultural school, and more money is spent per inhabitant than before.

After the Left Party and the government during the 2014-2018 mandate period introduced a state subsidy of 100 million to increase accessibility, a number of cultural schools completely removed their fees. We have seen that it has been successful and therefore propose an additional 300 million kronor in our budget so that the fee can be completely removed in the municipalities that still have it. This is a co-financing where the municipalities will cover half the cost.

Many were able to admit more students and improved the teaching for students with disabilities, who have not always been reached by the teaching previously. We therefore believe that this has been a successful effort, but much work still remains in order to be able to break the skewed recruitment that characterizes the entire cultural sector. Then one must start early with the children.

According to the Swedish Arts Council's latest compilation for 2021, 82 percent of the children in the arts school had at least one parent with post-secondary education. Barely 19 percent of the participants in the arts school had a foreign background, which can be compared with just over 27 percent for the population as a whole. Especially within music, it is primarily children with highly educated parents with their own musical background who continue to make music at higher ages and in their teens.

In addition to the question of biased recruitment, I see two major challenges. In three out of four municipalities, there is a waiting list for the culture school. Not all children have the opportunity to participate. There is often a lack of money to expand the number of places, but sometimes there is also a lack of educators and premises. We in Vänsterpartiet have proposed additional resources for Kulturskoleklivet, which means that more educators can be trained to remedy the teacher shortage.

Before 2023, the organization Sveriges Kommuner och Regioner flagged that around 20 billion were missing to maintain the same level of welfare in the municipalities and regions. The government provided barely half of the sum. We now see that cuts are being planned in many places in the country, and as municipal politicians, one starts with what is not mandated by law, such as the culture and leisure sector, when one has to prioritize. We also see many deteriorations within elderly care, school, and preschool. I see this, not least, in many places in my own county.

The most important thing to avoid this is, of course, to switch to a government that prioritizes differently, but we also see that some cultural activities would need legislation as protection in a situation like this. They need to be codified by law. Kulturskolan is part of that. We therefore propose that one looks at such a protection. We had no own motion regarding it this year but support the Miljöpartiets motion in the committee report.

For many small municipalities, it can of course still be difficult to live up to having a breadth of courses within the culture school. There are today a small number of smaller municipalities that do not have any culture school. We believe that one could remedy that with increased regional cooperation. Therefore, we have such a proposal. We believe that at a regional level, one could play a positive role for exchange of experience, continuing education for the educators, development support, and a larger range for the students, for example, spearhead initiatives.

It would therefore be interesting to look closer at whether a regional culture school activity could be part of the cultural cooperation model. This is being tested right now in my home county, Västmanland, and it is very appreciated. I believe that a combination of state, regional, and municipal resources to support the culture school could scale up the activity in a positive way.

I naturally support all our motions in the report concerning strengthening children's access to culture but choose to move for approval only to reservation number 1.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Roland Utbult (KD)

Madam Speaker! I vote in favor of the committee's proposal for a decision and for the rejection of all motions.

We are debating culture and leisure for children and young people. In that case, it is important to set goals. The cultural policy goals are a kind of overarching vision of what we want to characterize cultural policy. They are beautiful words that challenge us and which in different ways create opportunities and conditions for culture to develop and flourish.

What does it say in the goals? "Culture shall be a dynamic, challenging and unbound force with freedom of expression as the foundation. Everyone shall have the opportunity to participate in cultural life. Creativity, diversity and artistic quality shall characterize the society's development. To achieve the goals, the cultural policy - - - shall pay particular attention to children's and young people's right to culture."

There are also goals for youth policy. The goal for all government decisions and measures concerning young people between 13 and 25 years of age is that "all young people shall have good living conditions, the power to shape their lives and influence over the development of society."

There are also specific EU targets, but I will stick to the Swedish, home-grown targets to put them in relation to the reality as it looks here at home.

An expression that recurs in the various goals is that everyone shall have the opportunity to participate in cultural life and that all young people shall have good living conditions. It is important to set goals. But we know that far too many young people end up in various difficulties during their upbringing. One has been young oneself and knows what it is about. For some young people, it leads to a shorter period of exclusion, while for others it becomes a longer or, in the worst case, a permanent exclusion. This speaks against what the psychologist Aaron Antonovsky calls the meaning of life, from a human perspective: to be part of a context and have a task.

MUCF, Myndigheten för ungdoms- och civilsamhällesfrågor, writes in its report Utanförskap och unga: "Research shows that structured leisure time has positive effects on the physical and mental health of children and young people. It also increases children and young people's school well-being, improves their grades and increases interest in further studies. Unstructured leisure time, however, can have a negative impact on well-being. We also know that children and young people whose parents have low incomes receive less structured leisure time than others."

Madam Speaker! In order to safeguard and strengthen children's and young people's access to leisure activities, the government announced a leisure card in the budget bill for 2023. We have debated it many times here in the chamber, and over time, after the proposal has been refined, the members from the different parties have become increasingly positive. That pleases me!

What is the leisure card for, and how is it intended? It is being developed during this year to be launched during 2024. It is included in the Tidö Agreement and will therefore become a reality. The Government is working at a high pace on the leisure card, which is about everyone, note well, all children and young people should feel that they have opportunities for an active and meaningful leisure time together with others and, not least, access to more movement.

In addition to the support that goes to everyone, the government also promises extra support to those who are in a socioeconomically vulnerable situation. Exactly what it will look like is being refined now so that, hopefully, all members in the chamber will find that this is something positive.

The implementation takes place in 2024, and it is very urgent. We know that many children stop with various activities when they get a bit older, not because they actually want to stop with their activity but because they feel that it competes with the grocery budget or the electricity bill, something that has not become less relevant in these times.

To safeguard all children's right to an active and meaningful leisure time in community with others, the government is maintaining a high pace regarding the leisure card. This is important, not least for countering mental ill-health and loneliness among children and young people. Especially children and young people from socioeconomically disadvantaged households are given expanded opportunities to participate in leisure activities through the leisure card. Naturally, it is important that the money loaded onto the leisure card can be used for leader-led activities in sports contexts or the culture school.

As I said before and want to repeat, a structured leisure time has positive effects on the physical and mental health of children and young people. It also increases children and young people's well-being at school, improves their grades, and increases the interest in further studies. A recurring leisure interest is therefore worth its weight in gold for a young person. The leisure card can be the way into new, exciting contexts to try out. Perhaps it becomes an interest that grows into a great commitment, inspired by others with the same passion.

Often we diminish such proposals and perhaps do not see the greatness in them, even if they can turn out as good as anything. Furthermore, if someone else has come up with it, one would like to diminish it. But let us put children and young people at the center and stand up for the leisure card and discuss together so that it becomes optimal in its final product, because it will come. It will come, and I hope that everyone wants to be involved and in some way contribute to making this as good as intended. Our children and young people are worth more than a political squabble, even if that too can have its place in a democracy.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Kristoffer Lindberg (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Roland Utbult, for your contribution! I have some questions regarding the leisure card. I do not intend to downplay it, but we have not yet seen how it is to be used.

Some questions that arise are: Can the card be used to purchase equipment, for example new football boots? If the answer is yes to that question, the member is also welcome to tell us why one then did not support, for example, the Social Democratic proposal on increased child allowance. That would have given child families money here and now. We believe that it would have been better.

We also wanted to see strengthened support for the Swedish sports movement so that fees can be kept down and also that the development grant to the culture school would not be halved. These are important resources to continue the work of reaching new student groups in the culture school.

This is included in our budget, but the government instead prioritizes the construction of a new bureaucratic system for 50 million. These 50 million that have been allocated for 2023 are supposed to go towards developing necessary infrastructure. We do not see this as a well-used 50 million for children's and young people's sports, as not a single krona of these funds during 2023 goes towards children's and young people's increased access to culture and leisure.

I would therefore like the member to give an answer to Sweden's children and young people here today: What will the leisure card be able to be used for? Will it apply to the cultural school? I believe that we received an answer to that in the presentation. But will it also be able to apply to cultural associations? Will it apply to the purchase of equipment?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Roland Utbult (KD)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Member Lindberg!

I welcome the interest that the member shows for the leisure card and shall try to answer the questions, even though I cannot give specific answers today on exactly how it will look, but must rely on hearsay.

When I speak with my colleagues who are working on refining this, they say that it is not about equipment, but it is about fees to leader-led associations. That is said, and that is as far as my knowledge goes and I can answer that question right now. It is, therefore, about fees to sports associations, the culture school, and the like.

The second question concerns the fact that it costs 50 million to produce this. I don't actually think that is a problem. The money is used precisely to produce the administrative side and see how it should function. First, there was talk about MUCF, but I don't remember exactly who was supposed to take on this task.

It is true, however, that it costs 50 million. When we finally arrive, that money will be spent, and then it will cost quite a lot every year – 750 million. That is a lot of money every year, but then one must also weigh in what we believe the effects of the leisure card will be.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Kristoffer Lindberg (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Roland Utbult, for the answer to the questions, even if the answers may have been based on hearsay. It was sad to hear that it cannot be used for equipment, for example, because it is one of the major obstacles for children and young people to participate in, for example, sports life.

We Social Democrats think that there are still quite a few unanswered questions regarding this, and I had a few additional questions for the member.

In recent weeks, I have received reports from municipalities where the right-wing conservative parties are in power and where one now sees increases in, for example, the fee for the cultural school, which is possibly one of the consequences of the government's limited state grants to the municipalities. The government does not compensate the municipalities with increased state grants to cope with inflation and the tough economic situation. I have also spoken with parents in various municipalities, and they see that some associations have high fees. There is a risk that the fees will also increase in the wake of the pandemic and the strained economy in the association life.

My follow-up questions are therefore: Will the leisure card follow the economic cycle? Will it be able to keep up with the price increases? The member must provide answers to this. Does the member mean that the leisure card's 750 million will cover the needs in municipal cultural and leisure activities and the needs of the voluntary sector? If not, where are the resources for the municipalities? Why has the Tidö government halved the development grant to the cultural school and voted no to more money for the Swedish sports movement? Why are the municipalities not being sufficiently compensated with increased state grants?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Roland Utbult (KD)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Member Kristoffer Lindberg, for the continued questions!

It is a bit unfortunate that we do not have the leisure card [fritidskortet] in front of us right now, because then one could simply explain exactly how it looks and will be. There is a little time left, and what is important is to listen to what Member Lindberg says. There are still question marks surrounding this, and there is still time to polish it.

That was also what I tried to say in my speech. If we can discuss together and work towards our common "baby," it would be very positive. I am truly open to, and want to be involved in, the government receiving a share of the thoughts that emerge here. But it is important that we have a dialogue and do not get locked into different concepts.

It is clear that 750 million kronor a year only covers a part of the enormous needs that exist regarding children and young people, sports and leisure. But we Christian Democrats believe that this can have an effect. Both the member and I, and others in the chamber, safeguard the well-being and health of children and young people. 750 million is a lot of money, but I hope and believe that it can be well-invested funds.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Catarina Deremar (C)

Madam Speaker! I want to begin by moving for approval of the Center Party's reservation 11, which concerns children and young people online.

In culture and free social life, we humans get the opportunity to understand ourselves and others better. We develop through encounters with the unexpected, and this can in turn provide perspectives on life and society. We humans, regardless of age, need cultural experiences. It is important that children are given the opportunity to encounter culture in different forms at an early age. Increased interaction in cultural issues between politics, the business sector, and committed enthusiasts creates conditions for jobs as well as for local and regional development, attractiveness, tourism, and knowledge development. This also leads, in time, to great export successes.

Culture with both excellence and breadth is important for attractive environments. It is beneficial for attracting business establishments, recruiting labor, and promoting the tourism industry. But taking a starting point in children and young people is never wrong. Research has shown that those who go to the cinema, theater, concerts, art galleries, museums, football matches, or sporting events have increased chances of living a longer and probably happier life.

Providing cultural experiences to children and young people is therefore an important investment. That they themselves get to be involved in creating through Skapande skola or in the cultural school are investments for the future. Meeting professional cultural creators can provide fine role models and is a guarantee for lifelong education.

Today, on International Women's Day, it is good to pause for a moment and reflect on what the situation is for girls, young women, and women of all ages around the world and what steps need to be taken for a more equal world. What environments do they stay in, what are they exposed to? Are there differences between boys and girls? Are there differences in different ages?

An environment where children and young people move quite freely is the digital world. There are many advantages to the digital development but also negative aspects, such as when social media or gaming environments for some risk being an unsafe place. This is particularly true for girls. There are rules against threats and hate, but there are also other types of comments and actions that can hinder young people's freedom of expression and cause great harm to young people.

Strengthened efforts are needed regarding sexual crimes, pornography, and similar things that children and young people are exposed to on the internet. Among other things, increased support is needed for non-profit organizations that offer support and advice on children's safety on the internet. The State should, through relevant authorities, contribute to promoting a broad dialogue in society on how a better social climate for young people on the internet can be achieved. Furthermore, the possibility of increasing support to non-profit organizations that offer support and advice on children's safety on the internet should be reviewed.

It is of great importance to promote a broad cultural life where new, digital cultural expressions and multiculturalism operate side by side with traditional cultural forms and where cultural and creative industries have good conditions. However, more fair conditions are needed for the free cultural life and the cultural and creative industries, which involve everything from regulatory simplifications to reviews of tax rates.

Engagement that flourishes in cultural life, civil society, and debate is a glue that binds society together. Everywhere, one must ensure that children and young people are given space in this. There is an inequality today that, among other things, determines who gets the right to express themselves. It can involve people who do not get the same opportunities due to some disability or because they have not been offered a way to explore culture.

The accessibility to culture for everyone in the entire country needs to be strengthened and secured. Access to a broad cultural life for everyone is also a matter of freedom. Finally, Madam Speaker, I believe that one of politics' most important tasks is to create conditions in the entire country for a broad and free cultural life that is accessible to everyone - not least children and young people.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Ulrika Westerlund (MP)

Madam Speaker! Amanda Lind is on a much-anticipated visit to Skellefteå. Therefore, I am here instead.

Culture and art are fundamental for us humans. It gives color, tone, and form to our existence and makes us understand ourselves, life, and our world better. Through culture, we grow as human beings. Therefore, it is crucial that all children and young people in our country are given good access to develop their creative abilities and get to participate in cultural experiences throughout their childhood. I believe that many of us remember, for example, the municipal music school's piano lessons with warmth. At least I do.

But there is a gap in young people's access to culture. Some children have a rich aesthetic life with plenty of culture in school and during their free time as well as good access to cultural schools, while others have it significantly worse. It is known that children's and young people's cultural experiences are largely influenced by their socioeconomic background. Access to culture for children and young people in school is today very unequal and depends on where you live in the country and which school you attend. Miljöpartiet wants to change that.

An investment in the young people's aesthetic creation yields manifold returns in the form of children who get to grow and develop, greater well-being, better schooling, and a society where art and culture are more present. We all benefit from that. Since the Convention on the Rights of the Child became Swedish law, it can also be argued that we in Sweden are obligated to promote, encourage, and provide cultural activities in accordance with Article 31 of the Convention.

Madam Speaker! Every week, tens of thousands of children and young people go to the municipal cultural school to learn to play instruments, sing, perform theater, or develop within other art forms. The importance of the cultural school cannot be overstated, neither for the individual student nor when it comes to its role for Sweden's cultural life. For Miljöpartiet, it is clear that national policy should contribute to promoting and strengthening the cultural school's activities.

In the government, the Green Party pushed to strengthen the culture school. We introduced a national goal for the culture school, established a national culture school center, invested in the training of culture school teachers, and established a national culture school support so that the culture school could broaden and deepen its offerings and test new methods and thereby have the opportunity to reach more young people. Now we would like to take the next step.

In the current situation, the municipalities' cultural school activities are not protected by any national regulation or legislation, which means they can be deprioritized if the municipality's finances are weak. This constitutes an obvious threat to the municipalities' cultural school activities, which are already facing a number of challenges – including recruiting qualified teachers and the difficulty of reaching new groups.

For Miljöpartiet, it is important to have a long-term and predictable protection of the municipal cultural school. We therefore want to establish a cultural school law to secure the cultural school throughout the country.

We also want to safeguard and strengthen the national support for the culture school and review its design in order to avoid short-term projects and incorporate the good experiences we have been able to gain over the years.

Madam Speaker! School is the place where all children get the opportunity to encounter culture and their own creativity on equal terms, and where neither the parents' wallet, education level or cultural interest, nor the size of the bookshelves at home, becomes decisive.

Miljöpartiet wants to take a holistic approach regarding culture in schools. Skapande skola should be reviewed and designed so that all children get the opportunity to participate, not just schools with particularly passionate teachers or sufficient resources to be able to apply for the funds. Aesthetic subjects should be present in all upper secondary programs to strengthen the educational journey for everyone. Singing and music in preschool and school need to be given a larger place.

Therefore, Madam Speaker, the Green Party wants to appoint a school culture inquiry aimed at how children's equal access to culture can be strengthened. We also want to strengthen the national performing arts statistics and safeguard Sweden's national stage for children and young people, Unga Klara. We advocate that the government clearly stands behind the importance of high-quality performing arts and emphasizes Unga Klara's importance for children's and youth culture in Sweden. And the inquiry on staffed school libraries is ready for the government to take further.

Madam Speaker! It is time that children's access to culture is seen as the welfare and democracy issue it is. Children's equitable access to culture must be prioritized.

I naturally stand behind all of the Green Party's reservations, but for the sake of time, I move for approval of only reservation number 7.

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

Culture and leisure for children and young people

(Decisions were made under § 21.)

Civil society, including religious communities

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)