Public administration

Ulrik Nilsson (M)

Mr. Speaker! This report concerns, if I counted correctly, 57 motions from the general motion period. To go through 57 motions in detail is not feasible, so I have therefore tried to group them in my own way, which I believe can both explain the debate and also possibly show something of the character of the public administration.

First, there are a number of motions and requests that address the functionality, that is, how a public authority should function. I believe we can agree that it should be modern. It must be legally secure and accessible. Administration shall take place in a way that is not perceived as bureaucratic, while at the same time ensuring that everyone receives the treatment their case deserves. It shall be efficient, and it shall take place with methods that are as up to date as possible.

This means that digitalization is important to achieve good administration. Digitalization ensures legal certainty but also means that one must learn to manage it. Not least the opportunities that lie in artificial intelligence raise both hopes and fears. It is a new way of working and a new technology that is being introduced. In the report, there are a number of more or less well-thought-out proposals on how to manage modernity in the administration.

Another area where there are a lot of different thoughts is accessibility. I believe we are in complete agreement that every Swedish citizen wants access to their authorities – to be able to take part in their handling, to be able to initiate their cases and be treated fairly. This naturally poses challenges for those with disabilities. It can pose challenges for those who do not master the new technology.

At the same time, it should be said that we often take this as an expression of that not everyone gets a share of the development; not everyone can use computers. But even the older generation in Sweden is interested in developing and learning. The group that is not digitally aware is therefore steadily decreasing precisely because this has such great advantages. It is a misconception that there are some who are uninterested in development. All people want to aim forward.

The third point I pick up is that trust in public administration must be high. This means that we must be able to be confident that everyone in the administration works for what, with a slightly pretentious expression, Mr. Speaker, can be described as the public good, that is, that which we are actually to implement from the democratic system. It is clear that it is the Riksdag and the government somewhere that defines what shall be the common good. It is reasonable that a majority also gains traction in the handling of matters that fall within the agencies' purview.

We must, therefore, be sure that the public administration does not take improper considerations. It could be about corruption – there are a number of proposals there. At the same time, I must be aware that the one who tries to corrupt is very rarely prepared to do it openly, but rather it happens under the surface. There is thus always a risk that we create a bureaucracy for those who are out with honest intentions without reaching those who actually are the threat in the system.

At the same time as one should not be corrupt, one should also not be an activist when working in the public sector. One has to represent the public, and the public is expressed in results in general elections. This is an important balance precisely for the sake of trust.

Then the public sector can naturally be a front-runner or an example in much. In the report, there are proposals on how, for example, one should book travel and the like. I believe that it is fundamentally important to let this occur on the terms that the authority has developed.

Mr. Speaker! The report is therefore very much about functions. Something that also must be taken into account is that the first line of defense, the first way to handle deviations in public administration, must be openness, free debate, access to documents, and the possibility of scrutiny. This can involve challenges when it comes to, for example, training data for artificial intelligence, which does not always look the same a second time. It can be a challenge when it comes to algorithms used for public decision-making. But the principle of openness and debate in the scrutiny of the public sector is important.

With these relatively general arguments and connections to the committee report, I can, Mr. Speaker, state two things.

The first thing is that we should be proud of the Swedish public administration. It functions in all essential respects in an absolutely excellent way. It deserves to be mentioned that we must have, and also do have, high confidence in it.

The second note is that the development must occur step by step and with a certain slowness. It is much easier to throw out what works than to build it up anew. When one reads all these proposals, one realizes that many of them point to relevant things and things that can be changed. But it is fundamentally about relatively small aesthetic flaws in an otherwise well-functioning system. This calls for inertia, as the public administration's and the Swedish civil servant's organization and tradition are strong.

Overall, this report shows that the grade for Swedish public administration is very good. So, Mr. Speaker, against the background that the public administration shall be modern and accessible and create trust, requirements which I believe it fulfills in all material respects today, I would like to move for approval of the Committee on the Constitution's proposal in Report 23 Public Administration and for the rejection of all motions presented herein.

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

Ida Karkiainen (S)

Mr. Speaker! I want to tell the story of Tyra, 85 years old, in Norrbotten. In the late summer of 2019, she was waiting in the dining hall of a hospital while her husband was being examined. Tyra happened to fall in the dining hall, and it went so badly that she broke her femur. Instead of taking her to the emergency room 50 meters away in the building, an ambulance was called. It was a bit far away – it is Norrbotten we are talking about – and picked up Tyra after 56 minutes. Instead of being carried on a stretcher the way inside for 50 meters to the emergency department, she was driven, after 56 minutes, in the ambulance around the building so she could be registered in the computer at the emergency department. Tyra's husband said this: I understand that the staff must follow the regulations, but the regulations lack common sense and empathy.

Mr. Speaker! The story of Tyra says something larger about which management models have shaped the public administration in recent decades. I will return to that.

I want to touch upon the issue of service centers, which is addressed in this report. In recent decades, there has been an extensive closure of government agencies' local offices. People have seen how the agency signs in municipalities have been unscrewed and how the jobs have disappeared. The local bank branches have closed, which has led to people – especially in sparsely populated municipalities – finding it more difficult to borrow money for their renovations or business investments.

The local authority offices have closed down. This concerns authorities such as Försäkringskassan, Pensionsmyndigheten, Arbetsförmedlingen, and Skatteverket. Their offices have helped people with their life-critical matters through personal service. In some parts of Sweden, there is a lot of joking about the fact that the only state presence remaining is Systembolaget. It is not even a joke, but it is the reality in some municipalities.

Mr. Speaker! I come from Haparanda municipality. It is a border municipality with many who commute across the border to their jobs. That is precisely what we want: people should be able to commute across national borders in the Nordic region. The Nordic region should be the most integrated region in the world. But as a cross-border worker, you are met with many challenges. One of them is SINK, that is, the special income tax, which takes a long time to process. Another is that the insurance systems are not designed for cross-border workers and do not communicate with each other across the border. There are also other border barriers that create a large amount of administration for the individual.

In order to effectively handle these – perhaps local – problems, which are specific to certain regions in Sweden, present authorities with local specialist expertise are required. However, it has been centralized, and the agency offices have been closed down.

The Social Democratic-led government saw this when it took over government power in 2014 and decided that the state service across the entire country would be significantly expanded again. At the beginning of 2025, there were 148 service offices throughout the country. Unfortunately, the government has moved forward with a budget cut to Statens servicecenter of 150 million kronor over three years. This reduction means that every fourth service office risks being decommissioned during the coming years.

We turned up the signs, Mr. Speaker. Now the government is turning down the signs, and it is deeply regrettable. I therefore wish to move for the approval of reservation 6. We say no to the government's decommissioning of state service offices.

Mr. Speaker! I have many times in this speaker's chair mentioned the important role of the county administrative boards. We think it is important that the government utilizes the strength that exists in the form of 21 extremely competent authorities with strong local knowledge, not least when it comes to building up the total defense and when it comes to preparedness issues. Many of the assignments that the government is now placing on its sector authorities would, however, have been more efficient to instead place on the county administrative boards. We think that the government needs to review this.

Furthermore, a strengthened administrative grant was needed for the county administrative boards so that they can manage to be flexible when needed. We also think, Mr. Speaker, that other authorities should be given a mandate to allow themselves to be coordinated. The county administrative boards have a mandate to be an actor that shall cooperate with other actors in the county and bring together the authorities that are present. It is, however, required that the authorities receive a similar mandate to allow themselves to be coordinated.

I am very skeptical of the policy that involves the centralization of certain tasks to certain county administrative boards, for example when it comes to agricultural support. It will lead to a matter that is important to have in the geographical vicinity being moved even further away from those who actually carry out their activities within the agricultural sector. I do not believe that this is favorable.

Mr. Speaker! The foundation of our Swedish public administration, with roots stretching back to the time of Axel Oxenstierna, is independent agencies and agency heads who are appointed on objective grounds such as merit and skill. This order has ensured that Sweden is a country with a low degree of corruption and a high degree of legal certainty, and thus a country where the citizens largely trust the work of the agencies. This is often described as the Swedish gold and is one of the strongest protections we have in our society against authoritarian forces and abuse of power.

Independent agencies are also about us safeguarding the integrity of civil servants and having officials who dare to speak up when something is wrong. I would therefore, Mr. Speaker, like to say a few words about what some parties call agency activism.

It is not uncommon that people who work in the public sector are engaged in various issues or in organizational life. We have a strong freedom of association in Sweden, which means that one should be able to engage in civil society even if one has a state employment. The vast majority also manage to distinguish between their personal engagement and what they perform in their service.

In recent times, a discussion has been held where many civil servants have been targeted for allegedly improperly engaging in the climate movement or the equality movement. This will, in the long run, erode trust in the state and public sphere and for our administration.

As a civil servant, one must absolutely distinguish between one's private involvement and what one does in the service, and I am convinced that the vast majority manage to do that. We must, however, also have a policy that has the strength to back up the administrations and that does not engage in opinion-logging or attempt to map out which political involvements certain civil servants have.

When I was Civil Minister, I worked at the Ministry of Finance and met many employees there – non-political civil servants – who had different political views and had a background of engaging politically in parties other than the party I represent. It was not a problem; that is how we must be able to have it in our administration. I rather think that it strengthens our administration.

Mr. Speaker! It is not possible to speak of a well-functioning public administration that enjoys high confidence and stands free from corruption without mentioning the important role of journalism. Through investigative reporting, citizens are given insight into how public power is exercised. Therefore, we must strongly condemn the arrest of journalists. The Government must devote the full force of its office to working on this. Turkey must release the Swedish journalist Joakim Medin.

Mr. Speaker! We Social Democrats want to stand up for the Swedish administrative model, which has served Sweden well. In this model, heads of agencies dare to raise problems and contribute their knowledge both to the government and in the public debate.

I want to return to Tyra, 85 years old. She experienced that which has characterized the management models for public administration over the last decades. Routines, regulations, and manuals have replaced the independent thinking of the competent employees who work and toil every day in the public administration. It is now time for an era of reason and empathy.

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

Lars Andersson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! I begin by moving for approval of reservation 7 in the report KU23 Public Administration.

As we have heard, this report concerns an area that touches the heart of the state's function, namely the citizens' trust and the practical realization of democracy. It spans a long range of issues within public administration: everything from democratic issues to digitalization and agency activism.

The Sweden Democrats have long seen a need for some change and renewal of the public administration. One should, of course, be proud of all the positive. But nothing is perfect, and improvements can always be made. The Sweden Democrats have highlighted the need to inventory the Swedish agencies and review how Swedish agencies are organized. We have also questioned the existence of so many small agencies with overlapping, somewhat unclear, and sometimes even ideologically colored mandates. Our line has been clear: We want to see a more cohesive and efficient agency structure where taxpayers' money is used in the best possible way.

Against this background, it is gratifying that the government has recognized the need to use common resources more efficiently and therefore has appointed the inquiry A more efficient organization of smaller agencies. It is an important step, and we Sverigedemokrater wish to hereby express our appreciation to the government. For us, this is also proof that the long-term reform work we have undertaken, among other things in the motion A necessary agency review, has borne fruit.

But the work should obviously not stop there. When it comes to agency activism, as previous speakers have mentioned, and opinion-forming activities, the Sweden Democrats have once again submitted proposals to clearly delimit the mandates of agencies. Agencies shall execute policy, not conduct it. It is a simple but important principle that we will continue to guard.

Mr. Speaker! The intention of the Sweden Democrats' motion Regional development is to achieve a vibrant Sweden. Central to this is to strengthen local state services. We believe that the state has a clear responsibility to be present throughout the country. In our motion, we particularly highlight the need for shared service offices, increased digital accessibility, and improved cooperation between state and municipality, not least in those parts of the country where there are still deficiencies in the conditions for digital infrastructure. Ultimately, it is about ensuring that all citizens, regardless of place of residence, shall have equal access to state services.

Mr. Speaker! I will also highlight a couple of other parts of the report where SD continues to have a clear and ambitious policy. In our motion on digitalization, we have emphasized that efficiency must never occur at the expense of accessibility. Contact with authorities must remain understandable and manageable for the citizens. Digitalization should be based on people's needs, not be driven solely as an internal rationalization project.

Let me also emphasize how important it is to continue working with civil servant responsibility. When errors are committed in the exercise of authority, it should, of course, be able to result in some form of consequence. It is a self-evident matter in all activities and should be so also within the state.

Mr. Speaker! I will also take the opportunity to raise an issue that is central for the Sweden Democrats in order to maintain a legally secure and trust-building public administration, namely the fight against corruption. The democratic trust we build together every day is not something to be taken for granted. It is upheld by transparency, justice, and respect for the citizen's right to an impartial administration. But when these principles are overshadowed by corruption, cronyism, or nepotism, especially within municipal and regional operations, there is a risk that what should be the very foundation of Sweden's democracy will be eroded. Corruption may not be the biggest problem in today's Swedish society, but we must nevertheless pay attention to it because we see an increase in this area.

In a motion to the Riksdag, the Sweden Democrats therefore highlight the need to counter precisely corruption, cronyism, and nepotism in municipal and regional operations. We propose concrete measures to strengthen control, increase transparency, and maintain and restore citizens' trust in the public sector. In Sweden, trust is high, and we want to guard that. We will continue to work to bring also this issue to port.

Mr. Speaker! The Sweden Democrats is a party that does not only point out problems, which some make it sound like at times in the debate. We actually also propose solutions. We have been persistent in our work for a more efficient and legally secure public administration. We are pleased that some of our proposals are now being taken forward by the government, and we want to urge continued courage in that reform work.

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Samuel Gonzalez Westling (V)

Mr. Speaker! Appearances can be deceiving. One might think that I am from Gothenburg, where I was indeed born, but most of my life I have spent in smaller municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. I therefore have considerable experience of what it is like to live in such places. Often, one knows many people and knows what kind of people they are, and there is also a fairly large sense of community. But people do not just live in these places; there is also a lot of commercial activity and many companies that create prosperity for the entire country.

But when one listens to the debate, one can sometimes get the impression that everything is in Stockholm or in larger cities. That is also how it feels when one lives in smaller places, because the political debate almost always concerns how to strengthen the state and society seen from the large cities. It is a problem, and it has grown during the recent decades. People who live out in the countryside feel that they are increasingly being abandoned by society and the state. It can be difficult to live in these places when one needs help from society, for example if one becomes unemployed or needs to contact state authorities.

We are moving towards an increasingly digitized world, which has led authorities to choose to digitize their operations more. Since they then reduce staff out in the community, the human contact also decreases. At the same time, the digital infrastructure has not been expanded to a sufficiently high extent to make it possible to use these services regardless of where one lives in the country. A large proportion of the population also lacks the ability or capacity to use the digital services, which means they become completely excluded from society.

I sometimes get asked: How can you live in Hofors? Why have you chosen to live there? Well, I have chosen to live there for the last 17 years because I enjoy it there and do not want to live anywhere else. It is incredibly beautiful there, and the sense of community is fantastic. I believe that everyone who lives around Sweden feels roughly the same way.

The government, however, makes it difficult for us to live in such places, partly because state service offices are being closed in many different locations. It reads as follows on the Statens servicecenters website: ”Our vision is to together make the state more accessible and efficient. By providing administrative services to authorities and local state services to citizens and entrepreneurs, we contribute to social benefit for everyone.” It is difficult to believe these words when one sees how the government acts.

There are different county administrative boards that are the extended arm of the state and the government, but even they react strongly against the government's decided direction. In the referral response from the County Administrative Board of Värmland, one can, for example, read the following: The government has previously emphasized the importance of a developed state presence and service to maintain and strengthen trust in authorities and state institutions. A closure of the service centers in Arvika and Filipstad goes directly against this goal and would further worsen access to service for many residents in smaller municipalities.

A similar statement can be read from, for example, the County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland regarding the service office in Åmål. In my own home county of Gävleborg, they are closing the service offices located in Sandviken and Bollnäs. Those that are to remain are those located along the coast – in Gävle, Söderhamn, and Hudiksvall. This means that those who live in the inland must travel all the way to the coast just to be able to get in contact with the state, which makes it incredibly difficult for many because it is not simple to get there by public transport. Not everyone has a car, especially not if one has a poor economy.

It is not particularly surprising that the Liberals and the Moderates, who are distinct urban parties, pursue this line. I fully understand that they prioritize their voters. But that the Christian Democrats and the Sweden Democrats, who during the election campaign spoke so incredibly warmly about that all of Sweden should live and that we should ensure that it works in the whole country, now with full confidence go in and ensure that it becomes in this way is very surprising.

We just heard the Sweden Democrats claim here that they think it is important that service offices remain. Then it becomes strange when the Sweden Democrats, who cooperate with the government, present a budget together with the government where the government states that it is important to have a state presence throughout the country but that the operations shall simultaneously be made more efficient through cuts.

What will be the effect of the cuts? Well, that service offices are closed down. Where do you close down service offices? Well, where there are the fewest people. That is how one calculates in the world we find ourselves in now. Activities should not help people where it is needed most, but they should help as many people as possible. And where do as many people as possible live? Well, in the large cities.

This is the result of the government's policy and the Sweden Democrats' cooperation with the government. It is shameful, Mr. Speaker, that one can go out in an election campaign and say that one protects all of Sweden and then sit down in a government cooperation and do exactly the opposite.

With this, I move for approval of reservation 6 in the report.

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Malin Björk (C)

Mr. Speaker! I would first like to move for approval of reservation 5.

Today, nearly 1.5 million Swedes work within public administration. This includes everyone from police officers in field service and social workers in our municipalities to lecturers who teach at universities and officials within the Government Offices. Those who serve our citizens in public employment are many, and it is we in this chamber, as well as municipal and regional assemblies, who provide the conditions for their jobs.

Unfortunately, we live in a time where threats and harassment against public officials in an attempt to influence them in their decision-making are becoming increasingly common. Such attempts of influence occur in many different operations, both in state activities as well as in municipal and regional ones.

Undue influence can, for example, mean that a social worker is intimidated through threats or other pressures into refraining from deciding that a child should be taken into care, despite there being good grounds to make such a decision, or that a caseworker at Försäkringskassan is pressured to favor someone by granting a certain benefit even though the applicant is not entitled to it.

We must do everything we can to stand up against this inadmissible influence. Fundamentally, it is about protecting our democratic institutions, protecting the rule of law, and safeguarding the citizens' trust in the public sector.

Mr. Speaker! Unfortunately, we do not only see that hate, threats, and harassment against public employees are increasing, but we also see how organized crime places people on the inside, at various agencies, or bribes public employees to obtain various advantages. This is a very dangerous development. When organized crime seriously succeeds in eating its way into the body of society, we must say it as it is: Then we are dealing with pure and simple mafia, which we must, of course, do everything in our power to stop.

Today, representatives in municipalities and regions state that corruption has become increasingly common. At the same time, we see that Sweden is sinking in Transparency International's ranking when they produce their indices on how widespread corruption is in different countries. That Sweden has shown a falling trend for several years in a row is truly very worrying. Part of this is due to the fact that we have let organized crime into our administration. At the same time, Brå states that we do not investigate these crimes in an effective way. We must change that.

Both research and experiences from different parts of the world show that those who are particularly vulnerable to corruption are municipalities and regions. In many places, a structured and systematic work to detect and counteract corruption is lacking. Therefore, Centerpartiet wants to see better support and better guidance for municipalities and regions to work effectively against all forms of corruption. Here we must ensure that municipalities and regions receive the support and resources they need to handle the major challenges they face today.

Regardless of where in the country you live, you have the right to service from our authorities. Regardless of whether you are digitally literate or not, you have the right to carry out the matters you have with authorities such as Försäkringskassan, Skatteverket, and Arbetsförmedlingen. And regardless of whether you master the Swedish language fully or not, or have the means to have a computer with a mobile connection, you have the right to understand how matters are carried out at our authorities and also actually be able to carry them out.

This is something that all our citizens have the right to expect that we, as a state, respond to. Service to individuals is also not something that an authority can freely choose to provide. No, it is something that our authorities are required to provide according to the Administrative Procedure Act.

That we, as several previous speakers have already touched upon, for over a decade have had a number of service offices around the country, where several authorities in cooperation offer service to the office's visitors, is completely necessary to meet the citizens' legitimate expectations.

Service centers are located in smaller towns in rural areas, in larger cities and in vulnerable areas, but what is happening right now is that many of them are being closed. Across the country, 35 service centers are currently being phased out. This does not rhyme at all with the state's mission to provide the same service to all citizens regardless of where in the country they live. What the current government is currently carrying out and is also planning for coming years, with further cuts, is a fatal blow to citizens both in rural areas and in vulnerable areas, and it will have major consequences for both private individuals and companies that today visit the service centers.

We in the Center Party want to see state presence and service throughout the country, and contrary to the development we are now seeing, we want this service to be expanded. We want to see both more service offices and more activities linked to them. For us, it is clear that all citizens have the right to the same service, regardless of where in the country they live or what conditions they as individuals have to access the service.

Mr. Speaker! A vibrant and strong democracy presupposes that all citizens can be involved based on their own circumstances. Each one of us must have actual opportunities to take part in and personally be able to participate in the democratic processes. For people with different types of disabilities, there are challenges here, and therefore we need to be attentive to and ensure that there are adapted solutions that actually work.

Centerpartiet believes that we must ensure that our authorities work actively to increase the opportunities for democratic participation for persons with disabilities. One part of this work is to ensure that they are given the opportunity to participate in our general elections on the same terms as everyone else and in such a way that the secrecy of the vote can be guaranteed. Here we need to do more to ensure that all polling stations are adapted in the way that is required for persons with disabilities.

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Jan Riise (MP)

Mr. Speaker! It cannot have escaped anyone that the topic for the day, or rather for the moment, is public administration. It can easily mislead one to believe that it is about the organization of state, regional, and local authorities, but it is, of course, much more than that.

The report takes its starting point in issues of democracy, which as before are the theme of a solid number of motions – around 200 annually have at least the word democracy somewhere in the text.

In the budget bill for 2017/18, the goal for democracy policy was described with the words "a living democracy that is sustainable, characterized by participation and where the opportunities for influence are equal."

From the budget bill for 2025, it appears that the reporting of results within democracy policy is based on the following three assessment grounds: the development of voter turnout in the most recent general election, the extent of civic engagement in democratic processes, and the extent and consequences of threats, violence, and harassment against elected officials, journalists, and others who engage in public debate.

A fourth basis for assessment could be accessibility. I will return to that.

Furthermore, it's going so-so, one could say. Voter turnout has decreased – not by a huge amount, but still enough that we need to talk about it. It was just over 84 percent who voted in the 2022 parliamentary election, a decrease of 3 percentage points since the previous election and 6 percentage points lower than the elections in the late 70s and early 80s. It is said that the parties are shrinking, but it has gone up and down with around a quarter of a million members for the parliamentary parties. Some have actually gone up, and some have been added.

There are, therefore, good reasons to devote more than scattered thoughts from time to time to democracy at all levels. I do not, of course, mean to reproach Members of Parliament or parties for a lack of interest, but I miss the focused discussion.

A few years ago, the Democracy 100 committee proposed that the county administrative boards (länsstyrelserna) should be given a long-term democracy-promoting mandate. The work of the county administrative boards in connection with Sweden's democracy turning 100 years old contributed to increased engagement for democracy. For the committee, the cooperation with the county administrative boards was particularly important to reach out locally around the country.

Through a long-term democracy-promoting mandate, the government's democracy policy could be carried out throughout the country and issues concerning citizens' knowledge of and participation in democracy could be given greater space. The mandate could also include that the county administrative boards provide the government with local and regional analyses of the state of democracy.

We in Miljöpartiet still think it is a good idea that the government gives the county administrative boards such a democracy-promoting mandate.

Mr. Speaker! The expansion of the state's presence and services needs to continue throughout the entire country. This has been discussed here before. Through more service offices, decisions on relocation and newly established agencies, as well as the ongoing expansion of the Armed Forces, the Police Authority, and the Prison and Probation Service, there are conditions for thousands of new state jobs all over the country.

This is important, not least in my home county of Halland, which is one of the three out of four counties in Sweden that has the least state activity. It looks like it results in some other negative effects. Investigations and inquiries need to be made, but there are such indications.

It is here that the state service centers come into the picture again. They are highly appreciated with over 2.6 million visits during 2023 and high customer satisfaction – very high, even.

The decision to reduce the appropriation to Statens servicecenter in accordance with the proposal in the budget bill, we believe, is a completely incorrect prioritization that will hit municipalities all over Sweden hard. We believe, on the contrary, that the service centers should continue to be developed and that more activities should be able to be linked to them.

For the resident who is not confident with or does not have the possibility to use digital services, the state's social services are not equivalent but depend largely on where in the country one lives. In rural areas, one may need to travel for several hours by car for a simple errand. Here, the state service centers play an important role.

I therefore believe in principle that more service offices and service points should be established. The regional perspective must be included in every decision regarding where state activities shall be located, and the work with relocations of state jobs and the establishment of new service offices should be able to continue. We therefore consider that the government should work to ensure that the appropriations are not lowered, that the expansion of service offices can continue, and that the equivalence for the state service centers shall be guaranteed.

Public administration

Mr. Speaker! In conclusion, I would like to highlight a phenomenon that we believe needs to be brought to attention.

Public authorities and operations usually have a procured travel service through which the employees are to book their business trips. The same authorities, municipalities, regions and others also generally have a climate policy and a travel policy. That the climate policy aims to reduce emissions is relatively self-evident, and the choice of means of transport is a part of that. But it is unfortunately not quite as obvious that the same organization's procured travel agency must be able to contribute to this.

Public administration

There are many testimonies that the competence for booking train journeys through the procured services is rarely comparable to the corresponding assistance for booking flights. For example, the possibility to book international train journeys is often completely missing.

If more people are to be able to choose the most environmentally friendly option, it must be easy to choose. A procured travel service must therefore be able to offer the requested travel in a simple way.

My party colleagues and I believe that it needs to become mandatory for all public authorities that procure travel services to also require that the hired travel agency is capable of booking train journeys, both in Sweden and in Europe, and with both day trains and night trains. In that way, the competence to book train journeys would increase within the industry, which would also benefit private individuals as more travel agencies would acquire this competence.

Mr. Speaker! My warmest greetings to Tyra in Norrbotten! Your story shall not be forgotten.

I naturally stand behind all our reservations, including the one regarding the service centers, but I move for approval only of reservation 12.

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(Decisions were made under § 12.)

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