The National Audit Office's report on the staffing of continuously serving group commanders, soldiers and sailors
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the Swedish National Audit Office's report on the staffing of continuously serving group officers, soldiers, and sailors. M welcomes the review and argues that the personnel are the foundation of the defense 1. The party stands behind increased conscripts to fill positions and wants to improve incentives such as financial premiums and educational support to retain personnel 1. The Government shares the Swedish National Audit Office's assessments and believes that the report contributes to the Armed Forces becoming a more attractive employer 1. V emphasizes that the personnel are the most important part of the operations and that the conditions must be improved 2. V criticizes the current employment limit of twelve years and points out acute shortages in personal equipment 2.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Alexandra Anstrell (M)
Madam Speaker! Today we are debating the National Audit Office's report on the staffing of continuously serving group commanders, soldiers, and sailors. It is quite interesting that the previous government party, the Social Democrats, is conspicuously absent from the debate, since the audit concerns 2016-2020 and the previous parliamentary term.
The Swedish Armed Forces' personnel are the foundation of the Swedish defense, and a sustainable personnel policy will be crucial for the Swedish defense's ability to develop and strengthen and to be able to attract new competent employees.
The Moderates support the increase in the number of conscripts proposed by the Defence Preparation Board. It is a prerequisite for being able to fill the positions in the war organization. The conscripts also constitute an important recruitment base for both future officers as well as continuously employed group commanders, soldiers, and sailors.
At the same time, it is important to emphasize that the Swedish defense in the future will consist of a mixture of different categories, the core of which is formed by the continuously employed. Through this mixture, the defense can have a good state of readiness and flexibility and at the same time have a sufficient number of people who can be called up in the event of a crisis or war.
Madam Speaker! Regarding the Riksrevisionen's audit, the government welcomes the audit because the staffing of the war and basic organization is of strategic importance in order to be able to organize fully manned and trained war units.
GSS/K constitute the backbone of standing war units that are important for being able to quickly meet needs for qualified units in peacetime and for solving tasks before the rest of the war organization has been mobilized. It is therefore crucial that recruitment, training, and maintenance of GSS/K functions. To offer GSS/K a good operation is one of the most important measures for developing and retaining personnel.
It is also important to clarify the content of the work and the tasks in order to prepare the individual before and during employment. It is the government's view that the Swedish National Audit Office's review and recommendations can contribute to the Armed Forces' work to develop into a more attractive employer.
Regarding the recommendations that the Swedish National Audit Office provides, the government shares their assessments on all points, which is completely in line with the proposals we submitted in the Riksdag during the previous mandate period.
Sweden's ability to maintain a high state of readiness for a variety of different tasks is made possible by having sufficient personnel who can immediately perform a task. Here, the continuously serving group commanders, soldiers, and sailors play a crucial role. Together with the periodically serving group commanders, soldiers, and sailors, they can also constitute a well-trained and well-practiced core for larger units that can quickly perform tasks.
GSS/K and GSS/T - there will be many abbreviations here - are in many ways the basis and the solution for obtaining capable war units throughout Sweden. The Moderates therefore safeguard the system with GSS/K and GSS/T and would like to see it developed in harmony with increased conscription volumes.
In order to further safeguard the system, the Armed Forces should review and consider improving the incentives for these individuals. This could, for example, be financial bonuses, educational support for further studies, or other measures that make it easier to recruit and, most importantly, retain already employed group commanders, soldiers, and sailors, both those employed continuously and those employed periodically.
The Government specifies overall objectives and tasks as well as organizational frameworks for the basic and war organization. The Riksdag and the Government then allocate financial resources to the Armed Forces to carry out the operations. Within these frameworks, the agency decides on the personnel composition of its organization and is responsible for the recruitment and development of its personnel.
Within the framework of the delegated employer policy, the Swedish Armed Forces has taken or plans to take a number of measures in line with the recommendations that the Swedish National Audit Office has submitted to the agency. The Government is following the Swedish Armed Forces' work. With this communication, the Government considers the Swedish National Audit Office's report to be finalized.
Hanna Gunnarsson (V)
Madam Speaker! Today we are therefore discussing a report from the National Audit Office where the National Audit Office has audited a part of the Armed Forces' personnel supply - what the conditions look like for those we call GSS, i.e., group commanders, soldiers and sailors and who can be described as employed soldiers.
The work for this report was carried out by the Swedish National Audit Office at the end of 2021. It is quite a long time ago if one looks at how the world looks. A lot has happened. At that time, we had begun a major reconstruction phase in the military defense, and we had begun to talk about the challenges in the civil defense. But shortly thereafter, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, and the military defense was faced with entirely new and serious tasks. This has, of course, also affected the personnel in the Swedish defense.
Despite the fact that there are no motions in this matter, I think it is important that we say a few words given how important the staff is.
Madam Speaker! We often say that the staff is the most important part of an organization. Nothing of what we decide or discuss here can be implemented if we do not have staff with knowledge and experience who have good working conditions, security, and remuneration to be able to do their jobs. It is not a cliché, but it is for real. We must talk about how important the staff is.
Madam Speaker! The National Audit Office is conducting a rather limited audit and is sticking to one of the Swedish Armed Forces' personnel categories. There is, of course, much more to say about personnel issues within the Swedish Armed Forces that are not covered by this audit, for example regarding the officers including the reserve officers as well as the Home Guard and the voluntary defense organizations. To that comes the requirements that a potential future NATO membership places on us when many officers need to be able to work abroad for a much longer period. And to broaden the picture even further, we have the entire civil defense with all the personnel, the knowledge, the exercises, and the investments that are needed for us to be able to achieve a strong total defense. These are no small matters.
The Swedish National Audit Office points out in this review some things that we in the Committee on Defence also receive information about quite often. We recently had a rather long meeting with representatives from the Armed Forces where we went through quite many current issues regarding personnel policy. As politicians, we are quite often met with views on working conditions and conditions for the employees when we are out on study visits and when we meet the involved trade unions, but also directly to us via email, during telephone calls, or via social media. I am very grateful to everyone who reaches out and shares their opinions, their needs as employees, and the shortcomings they see. It is very important that we hear it.
Madam Speaker! I shall make some important observations regarding the report that the Swedish National Audit Office has submitted to us.
There is not enough personnel in the military defense. This has changed to some extent over the last year due to the terrible war in Ukraine, as many more have sought out the military defense in various ways. We have a great task ahead of us to build a more peaceful world. But at the same time, we must also see that the military defense needs to be able to increase so that we can defend Sweden's borders and our independence.
The second thing I want to bring up is that the management of personnel matters is not good enough. The National Audit Office points out ambiguities. The Government responds and says that they have reviewed and rectified this. That is good. But it is incredibly important that the personnel policy within the Armed Forces is clearer and does not have these types of ambiguities that the National Audit Office points out and that we sometimes hear at the committee meetings. We must know who does what and how things are to be done.
The third thing I want to bring up is that the Swedish National Audit Office shows that it is difficult to retain staff, especially those people whom this audit is about – the GSS. This is extremely bad because we have a growing defense that needs all the personnel available and, above all, those who have managed to acquire experience and knowledge in their profession. We must take these people into account. In the election campaign, we discussed what we call the twelve-year limit for the employed soldiers. There is an employment limit, which is very strange on the Swedish labor market. We need to review this so that we can retain the experienced employees we have for a longer period. The fact that there is an upper employment limit that looms in the distance for an employee likely causes soldiers to leave the profession much earlier than they might have wished, long before the twelve years have passed, because they see the opportunity to further their education or find other jobs where they can actually stay for a longer period.
The fourth point I want to bring up is perhaps the most acute, namely the materiel and above all the personal materiel. The National Audit Office points this out, and we heard at the committee meeting a few weeks ago that there are major deficiencies when it comes to personal materiel for both conscripts and employees in the Armed Forces. There is a lack of clothing and equipment in all sorts of different categories. We have discussed this very much in defense policy over the last few years and tried to understand what the problem is. This simply must be solved. It must be ordered and purchased, and the logistics and distribution must work. This is something that just must be solved.
The National Audit Office's report on the staffing of continuously serving group commanders, soldiers and sailors
Finally, Madam Speaker, the conditions for the military personnel must be improved. It concerns salaries, compensations, commuting, overseas work, infrastructure, and materiel. I am very pleased that the Swedish National Audit Office has conducted this review. It provides us with additional information, facts, and arguments, and we, as defense policy makers from all parties, will of course follow this moving forward as well.
There are enough employees with good working conditions needed so that the entire total defense can be built up and defend our country and our population.
I also want to express a big thank you to everyone who works in the Armed Forces and does their job in the best possible way every day.
The deliberation was hereby concluded.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.