Response to interpellation 2022/23:242 on the halving of the cultural school grant
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 halving of the cultural school grant. M argues that the government prioritizes keeping inflation down and that the state development grant has been restored to the original level of 100 million kronor 1 2. M emphasizes that important initiatives such as Kulturskoleklivet and Kulturskolecentrum are being maintained and that the focus lies on reversing the economic trend for a more manageable existence 3. S argues that the government prioritizes high-income earners over children and young people's right to a meaningful leisure time 4 5 6. S claims that resources for welfare are not inflation-driving 5 and wants twice as high state grants to the municipalities 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)
Madam Speaker! Lawen Redar has asked me what I intend to do to broaden the cultural school activities to more children and young people, against the background of the effects of the halving of the cultural school grant from 200 to 100 million kronor.
The municipal cultural school conducts an important activity for children and young people throughout the country. I therefore welcome the Cultural Schools Council's report, which confirms the figures that the Swedish Arts Council has reported regarding the development grant to the cultural school making a difference. From the national cultural policy goals, it appears that children's and young people's right to culture should be given special attention. The government does this, among other things, by supporting reading promotion initiatives for children and young people and through the initiative Skapande skola, where children and young people get to participate in art and culture in school and are also given the opportunity for their own creation. Furthermore, within public health policy, the government has also announced for 2023 a significant investment in leisure cards for children and young people, which is currently being prepared within the Government Offices. The government also continues to support the municipal cultural school for 2023 by making 100 million kronor available for the purpose - the same level that applied before the pandemic.
The municipal cultural school is significant for children and young people's opportunity to participate in and practice different art forms. It is also an important meeting place for children and young people from different parts of society, and it contributes to giving children and young people a meaningful leisure time.
With this said, it is also important to point out that the cultural schools are primarily a municipal matter. The municipalities spend around 2.8 billion kronor on cultural school activities. The extra resources that the state provides are about strengthening the cultural schools' opportunity to develop their activities, for example by reaching new target groups, which they have also been able to do in a very fine way.
A new budget process is now beginning, and I cannot stand here and talk about what next year's budget will look like. What I can say, however, is that children and young people will continue to be a prioritized group for the government's cultural policy.
Lawen Redar (S)
Madam Speaker! This is a very pressing issue for us Social Democrats. The Minister for Culture begins this debate by saying that children and young people are and will continue to be a priority group in the government's cultural policy. But how prioritized are our children and young people if, on the one hand, there are sky-high prices on electricity, fuel, and food, and on the other hand, sharply increased interest rates without the government acting for Sweden's families with children? Those who cut back the most on heating at home received the least in compensation. The promise of a price reduction on fuel turned out to be a bluff. The Minister for Finance is one of the last in Europe to summon the food giants for a discussion on the price development of basic goods. This government also pushed through a budget whose consequences we are now seeing.
Unlike what the Minister for Culture says, the right-wing government's largest expenditure went to high-income earners who received a tax cut of almost 1,000 kronor per month. But the child allowance, which had reached our children and young people, Sweden's families with children, was chosen not to be prioritized. One also did not prioritize welfare in our municipalities and regions. It is about school, healthcare and elderly care, leisure activities for children and young people, sports and not least the issue of the cultural school.
Madam Speaker! The cultural school faces a steel bath if nothing is done. On one hand, the municipalities are forced to cut back on activities due to a lack of state support from the government, the general state grants, and on the other hand, the right-wing government halves the targeted support for the cultural school in the national culture budget.
Now comes also the description of the situation. According to the Kulturskolerådet's report Kulturskolans förutsättningar - Konsekvenser av statliga nedskärningar och lokala resurser, the number of student places will decrease in seven out of ten municipalities. 58,000 young people risk losing their place in the arts school. How is this consistent with investing in our children and young people?
According to cultural school heads in 221 municipalities in this report, the work to reach more and broader [groups] will stall when state support decreases. The development work will decrease and cultural school-disadvantaged groups will find it more difficult to access the cultural school's activities. There is also much that now indicates that student fees appear to be increasing in municipality after municipality.
The state development grant to the culture school is primarily used to employ culture school staff, that is, teachers and educators, to give young people better opportunities for cultural practice. New target groups have been reached by a value-driven leisure activity that provides education and knowledge, discipline and joy in young people's everyday lives. If the Minister for Culture were to ask any art and culture creator in our country which activity they must not reduce support for, all would answer: the culture school. It is also there that we speak of the Swedish musical miracle and the enormous cultural and creative industries that exist in our country based on the culture school.
Therefore, my question is: Why does the Minister for Culture choose to prioritize tax cuts for high-income earners over children and young people's right to a meaningful leisure time? And how does the Minister for Culture view the fact that, according to this report, we risk losing 58,000 children's cultural school places due to her own budget?
Kristoffer Lindberg (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for another important interpellation debate! We have also partially raised the issue of the halving of the development grant to the culture school before, and I am pleased that we can continue the debate on the culture school.
Just as is mentioned in the interpellation, the Kulturskolerådet has conducted a study to highlight the consequences of the state's cuts to the culture school as well as the forecast for the cuts to the municipalities. This study is therefore based on what the culture schools themselves see around the country. It is incredibly valuable, because there we get a direct report from reality on how things look around the country.
Even though I have criticized the government previously regarding the halving of the state development grant and that sufficient state grants are not being allocated to the municipalities, I must honestly say that I did not believe the consequences were so great for the culture school as this investigation actually shows.
In the survey of the country's cultural schools, there was a question about what consequences the reduced state support could have for the municipalities' cultural school activities, and 74 percent stated that the number of student places will decrease. There was also a question about whether the development work to reach new groups will be affected by reduced state support. There, 97 percent of the cultural schools answered that the development work will now decrease. These are worrying figures, because this leads to the cultural school reaching fewer students.
All those who have answered the survey have been asked whether they believe the resources from the municipalities to the music and cultural schools will increase or decrease over the next four years. Of these, 37 percent assess that the resources will decrease, which means four out of ten cultural schools. Here, it is about the municipal basic funding for the cultural school, which indeed constitutes the very prerequisite for the cultural school's activities.
I and the minister agree that the state development grant is for development and for obtaining the extra resources that enable one to work with new methods, offer new cultural expressions in teaching, particularly prioritize rural areas, or work extra with, for example, students in the special school.
We see how the basic funding is being affected across the country, and of course, there is a connection between this and the fact that the government does not compensate the municipalities with sufficient state grants. Sveriges Kommuner och Regioner announced cost increases of 20 billion. The government delivered half, and that has consequences. It will not only result in fewer employees in healthcare, schools, and elderly care, but there will also be consequences for non-statutory activities, for example, for the cultural school and for culture and leisure for children and young people in general.
I want to ask the Minister for Culture if she still stands by the position that it was right to halve the state development grant to the culture school. Does she stick to the position that it has been a good idea not to compensate the municipalities with increased state grants to meet inflation, the cost increases, and the tough economic situation we find ourselves in?
Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)
Madam Speaker! It is exactly as Member Lindberg says, namely that the entire society's economy is in an extremely difficult situation. To the question of whether we should compensate the municipalities or whether we should have compensated the municipalities to a greater extent, my answer is that the government's responsibility and focus right now lies on keeping inflation down. By compensating the municipalities and doing it in the way that the Social Democrats want, we would drive up inflation further, and then we would end up in an economic situation that is even more difficult.
It is tough times. It is dark and gloomy in every way, not least in the wallets of families with children. Cultural life is naturally not exempt from the economic situation we currently have in society. In that situation, we have nevertheless chosen to safeguard the funding that culture has had with a focus primarily on children and young people.
I do not agree with the description that this is a halving or a cut. That was the case during the two pandemic years, but what we have done is to restore the state development grant to the 100 million that was the original intention of the initiative. Just as with many other parts of cultural life and society, there was a reinforcement of the grant during the pandemic, which was much-needed and very good. The previous government should have all the credit for that.
We have, however, chosen to restore the amount for the state support of 100 million kronor, which was, after all, the original intention. When the decision was made once upon a time, Sweden was in an economic boom. There was plenty of money then. We have chosen to safeguard these 100 million kronor, even though we find ourselves in the most difficult economic situation since the Depression and World War II. I still think it is a way to show that one can protect children and young people, despite a difficult economic situation in society today.
Lawen Redar (S)
Madam Speaker! Resources for welfare - for our municipalities and regions - are not inflation-driving. This the Minister for Culture knows as a former municipal commissioner. Investments that can be made at the national level for our regions and municipalities do not fuel inflation; instead, they go towards services in welfare. They go, for example, towards hiring cultural school staff or towards activities for children and young people. They go towards promoting support for school, healthcare, and elderly care, and so on.
The Minister for Culture does not, of course, mention that one of the largest expenditures, up to 13 billion kronor, was chosen to be spent as a tax cut of 1,000 kronor for high-income earners, and it was done in this extremely difficult and complex economic situation. That was the prioritization that was made.
One must still take responsibility for the policy and the budget one presents, even in a difficult economic time. One must also be honest with the voters about why one has chosen to prioritize high-income earners.
We Social Democrats did not do it in the same way. We put a stop to this and said that it was not worthwhile to allocate resources to a group that will manage the economic crisis quite well. It is much better to invest the money in the municipalities and regions so that our children and young people can have access to leisure activities and good value-driven ones.
From Kulturskolerådets compilation of the cultural schools' use of this state grant during 2021 and 2022, when we had 200 million kronor to distribute, it appears that the grant reached 81,000 children and young people, and 58,000 of these were young people who had not previously been enrolled in the cultural school's activities. This means that these were targeted state grants that have reached out incredibly well, primarily to municipalities that applied for the grant to promote the cultural school's activities to cultural school-less groups.
We need to invest in children and young people, especially those who live in areas affected by crime or value norms that are far from the society we want of democracy and happy life journeys. The cultural school is such an activity. When one visits the activity, one sees that here not only are music, dance, and cultural activities taught, but there is also a discipline in the work. They want children and young people to become good at what they do. They trust their talents and set requirements that the young people should develop.
I am therefore incredibly proud that during the S-led government's tenure we were able to develop a basis for what the situation looks like in all of Sweden's cultural schools and, above all, highlight that the state can be involved and contribute to broadening the activities. We did that for a few years with 100 million kronor, and after the pandemic it became 200 million kronor. And in our shadow budget, where we did not prioritize high-income earners, we could continue to allocate 200 million kronor to the cultural school's activities so that the 58,000 children and young people who have not been enrolled in the cultural school's activities will have the opportunity to be.
The Minister for Culture is not taking responsibility for the budget she has presented through her government. She prioritized high-income earners. If she wants to prioritize children and young people and the conditions for their lives, as she expresses here, it is a matter of standing up for the development grant to the culture school in the upcoming budget negotiations. I hope that the Minister for Culture is proactive regarding this extremely popular state grant.
Kristoffer Lindberg (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
I assume that everyone participating in the debate is well acquainted with the various parties' budget proposals. It is clearly and explicitly stated there that we Social Democrats do not want to halve the development grant, just as my colleague Lawen Redar has just explained. It is also stated there that we provide twice as much as the government in state grants to the municipalities to strengthen welfare. These are very important investments.
Let us look at the Sverigedemokraternas and Moderaternas policy. A reduction from 200 million down to 100 million can hardly be called an investment. This occurs at the same time as we all know that the government's general state grants to the municipalities are far from sufficient to offset the tough economic situation that the municipalities are in. The result of that we see now in the survey that Kulturskolerådet has conducted.
Just as the Minister mentions in his response to the interpellation, it is the municipalities that finance the culture school. That is precisely why the government's policy represents a double blow to the culture school, as it both reduces the state's development grants and under-compensates the municipalities that are forced to make cuts, not only to the culture school but broadly across the entire municipal welfare.
Does the Minister consider this a desirable development, or does the Minister intend to ensure that the development grant continues to remain in the coming years? Does the Minister intend to adjust the grant's size back? Is the government seriously planning to compensate the municipalities with increased state grants, so that we do not see cuts to the cultural school, to healthcare, to school, and to elderly care? Or is it so, Madam Speaker, that cuts to welfare and the cultural school will continue to be this government's primary priorities?
Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)
Madam Speaker! Member Redar says that it is a matter of being honest. In that case, I think we should also be honest in saying that if one compensates municipalities and regions in the form of state grants, it may not lead to direct inflation. But what the member says in the rostrum regarding what should be done with the money, that is to say, hiring employees and staff who can work, is naturally inflation-driving. It is clear that wages and prices are inflation-driving in a situation such as the one we have today.
I also want to say that this state grant is not the government's only initiative for the cultural school, but other things are still being done that are just as important to ensure that there is also a functioning cultural school throughout the country. This includes, among other things, the initiative on Kulturskoleklivet, which enables more educators to supplement existing teacher training and create more teachers and educators for the cultural school. It is a fantastic opportunity for many and also for all of Sweden, and it enables more educators to work with cultural schools across our entire country. It was an initiative that was made by the S-government. It was a very good initiative that we have chosen to maintain.
There are, therefore, many things that can be done in addition to the state grant to the culture school. Kulturskoleklivet is one of them. But there are also other state measures, for example Kulturskolecentrum, which was also introduced by the S-government and which remains in our budget.
I really want to honor the S-government for the work that was done in promoting the culture school. But I also want to show that the state grant, which is now restored to 100 million kronor, as it was before the pandemic, is not the only state initiative, but that other things are also being done.
The government's main focus is to fight inflation. That is the case. To that, we are painfully aware of the difficulty this entails for very many inhabitants in our elongated country. Therefore, we have made a number of interventions because of it. We have increased the housing supplement. We have lowered the fuel prices. And we are putting forward proposal after proposal to strengthen the work line. I know, and the Social Democrats also know, that the most important thing to turn the economy around, bring down inflation, and get a functioning economy in society again is that more of us are working. And if more of us work, we are also more who can contribute to our common welfare. Then we can enable more investments. We can take care of those who need to be taken care of. But we can also enable other priorities.
Right now, we are in a difficult economic situation. But I can assure you that the government's work is entirely aimed at reversing the negative economic trend that exists in Sweden today, ensuring that we strengthen our economy and drive down inflation and ensure that we get back up to sensible levels again, which will enable priorities both for welfare and for other parts of society.
Lawen Redar (S)
Madam Speaker! My perception is not that the government's main focus is to curb the inflation rate, but rather that it is to prioritize high-income earners. That is what has been done in this budget. 13 billion kronor speak for themselves. Had one solely invested in curbing inflation, one would have directed measures to those who actually do not influence the rise in the inflation rate but who are affected by it the most.
This debate is about children's and young people's opportunities to access a good leisure time, not least within the framework of the culture school's activities. That is where the government is currently cutting in welfare. Investments in it would therefore not have contributed to increased inflation. What we are now going to see are mass layoffs in welfare - within healthcare, school, and care. We will also see that the number of educational places within, for example, the culture school will decrease, partly due to reduced state grants to municipalities and regions, partly due to a halved state subsidy to the culture school.
The Minister for Culture does not mention in this debate at all the prioritization that was chosen towards high-income earners who now receive a tax cut of 1,000 kronor per month. Why does she not mention it? In what way was this an investment to facilitate things for the households that are having a hard time right now, or above all for the children and young people who are affected by the economic situation? There are mothers and fathers who turn and twist groceries in the stores to make ends meet during the month.
I am incredibly worried that the usual consumption behavior will look the way it does, that is, that one must prioritize paying the rent, that one must ensure there is food on the table for the children and that, in the long run, one will not have the opportunity to pay for the leisure activities and fee increases that we will see, primarily in the municipalities.
This is a large and serious problem that many face here and now. It will mean a weakening of children's and young people's educational development and cultural participation in society.
I hope that the Minister for Culture intends to take measures before the next budget, because it is the children who will have to bear the consequences of the policy currently being pursued by the government and by Parisa Liljestrand as Minister for Culture.
Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)
Madam Speaker! I note that I am mindful of highlighting things that I nevertheless think the previous government did in a good way. I also note that the members in the debate do not tend to want to really see that which perhaps unites us, but rather point out that which divides us. So perhaps politics is arranged that way. But I think it is good if one can at least try to agree on what is a strength and what is positive and on what we nevertheless have in common. I believe that is a good way to work.
The member asked me why I did not mention the 1,000 SEK in tax reduction that high-income earners receive as a result of the decided budget. I can answer by saying that the member also did not, in their speech, at any point mention that the Social Democrats' budget proposal would have increased the tax for 1 million wage earners in Sweden.
But that is not where I want to be, and that is not the debate that we need to have. The debate that we need to have now is how we jointly, because I think that this is a task for the whole politics, shall see to it that more in Sweden can get a bearable life, a bearable existence and the opportunity to turn the negative economic trend that hits Sweden, Europe and the world today. It is about what we can do to enable better effects and to see to it that we can turn this negative trend, drive down inflation and in that way see to it that people can get a more bearable existence.
I have spoken about parts of what this government has chosen to invest in, and I am sure that Lawen Redar nevertheless sees that some of these things can actually be quite useful in the work we have ahead of us.
I would like to thank the members for the debate, and I look forward to continuing to discuss this important issue.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.