Response to interpellation 2022/23:326 on searchable incident reports
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns searchable reports of concern and the need to review child records and disposal for an effective regulatory framework 1. M considers that the current system is not secure or safe and that it is a problem that reports of concern cannot be followed today 2. M argues that the government is now putting children's rights in the driver's seat 3 and is pushing forward an investigation that the previous government did not pursue 2. M wants the deficiencies addressed 4 and that a new Social Services Act implies a paradigm shift towards proactive legislation where previous reports of concern can be viewed 4. M announces that the investigation will soon be made public 4.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! Gustaf Lantz has asked me if I and the government intend to present a proposal to the Riksdag on making previous reports of concern regarding children searchable within social services. Gustaf Lantz has also asked me when such a legislative change, in that case, can be in place.
One of the social committee's most important tasks is to ensure that children who are in a vulnerable situation receive the support and protection they need.
If the social services committee decides not to initiate an investigation after a report of concern has been made, it is not given where the decision should be documented, but it is a matter that the committee itself must take a position on.
It follows from the Socialstyrelsen's general advice in the area that if the individual already has a personal file with the social committee, the decision not to initiate an investigation should either be documented in the personal file or noted on or in connection with the received or established document that formed the basis for the committee's preliminary assessment. If the individual does not already have a personal file, the decision not to initiate an investigation should be noted on or in connection with the received or established document that formed the basis for the committee's preliminary assessment.
As Gustaf Lantz notes, the Socialstyrelsen's legislative proposal is being examined in the report Making reports concerning children searchable - Legal conditions for personal data processing is currently within the Government Offices.
It is important that issues regarding children's records and the disposal of certain documents concerning children are reviewed in a context and that related proposals are kept together as far as possible so that the regulatory framework functions purposefully and effectively.
The investigation on the exchange and acquisition of information in social services to prevent crime and increase protection for children (S 2022:A) has therefore, on one hand, been tasked among other things to take a position on whether the deletion provisions regarding child pornography should be changed, and on the other hand, on my initiative, had an expanded mandate. The investigator was also to, among other things, report on and analyze the legislative proposals that the National Board of Health and Welfare proposes in the report and weigh the proposals submitted in the report against other possibilities to make reports of concern regarding children searchable.
It is currently too early to comment on when and if legislative changes can be in place. The investigation presented its assignment on 8 May 2023, and the Government Offices are now processing the matter further.
Gustaf Lantz (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister for Social Services! Is there anything that is as frequently repeated, but not overused, as that children are the most important thing we have? This is completely and utterly true, and it is worth constantly reminding ourselves of it. Therefore, I want to mean that the Minister for Social Services has one of the absolutely heaviest portfolios in this government. In it lie the keys to the future fate of the most vulnerable children.
If children are important, then concern for children must also be taken seriously. That is not being done today. How else can it be that a social worker cannot see all the reports of concern made regarding a child because rules on personal data put a stop to it?
Mr. Speaker! As Professor Anna Singer points out in Uppsala University's referral statement, this means that it could be the size of the municipality, the staff turnover, or the individual social worker's memory that becomes decisive for whether a child receives the help they need or not. You heard correctly. In the year 2023, that is how it is. In a time when we have driverless cars, social workers cannot get the information they need into their computer to be able to do their job.
Mr. Speaker! For me, it is incomprehensible that the possibility of intercepting a child who is suffering can weigh so lightly. A social worker, who can be the difference between whether a child receives help or not, must be able to do their job. It seems undeniably to be the case that the law protects parents who are worried that a social worker will obtain embarrassing information about the family. It seems to be about that rather than about the child's best interests.
In 2019, Socialstyrelsen submitted a proposal on how this deficiency in the legislation could simply be rectified. But the bill remains in the government's portfolio. The clock is ticking, and children are suffering. My role as an opposition politician is to press and push. I saw Camilla Waltersson's energy in the Riksdag when she was in opposition. Now that energy is needed in the driver's seat.
Mr. Speaker! Removing the requirement for a liquor license for the pub proceeded with great speed. On January 12, the government announced that it had sent a bill to the Council on Legislation regarding the matter. This makes one begin to wonder what the government's order of priorities looks like. What does the queue in the government's legislative machinery actually look like?
As I understand it, the Minister for Social Services wants to proceed with a transfer of LSU-convicted youths from the Sis homes to Kriminalvården before the review of Sis's activities that is currently underway is complete. Why is there not this same impatience when it comes to social secretaries' possibilities to see reports of concern, which is reasonably a much less intrusive legislative change? Why must we wait to take all rule changes concerning documentation and confidentiality for children in a single context?
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you very much, Member, for the genuine commitment that exists regarding vulnerable children! I really appreciate meeting this all the time also in the Social Affairs Committee when I now meet the committee from the other side of the table.
The brief answer to this is that if we had had a Moderate-led government and I had had the opportunity to be Minister for Children's Rights earlier, the prioritization would have looked completely different. The energy that the member describes that the undersigned was driven by in opposition was, in fact, rooted in a great frustration over the previous government's lack of priorities.
When we arrived at the Government Offices on October 18, some matters were ready to be submitted as a referral to the Council on Legislation. This concerned, for example, the daycare situation, an important part in itself. But these questions were not. For several years, we have seen how children's rights and opportunities have been sidelined by the previous government. This is the explanation for why this has not happened earlier, and it is also the explanation for why this government is now putting children's rights and opportunities in the driver's seat.
I agree that children are the most important thing we have. The entire government agrees. It will never be over-discussed, and it will continue to be the subject of not only my own intense commitment but of the entire government's. There is a great vulnerability surrounding children's rights in this country, and I want to highlight part of the work that will result in a government bill. It is about putting children's rights first, that is to say that children's rights should take precedence over parents'. Children always have a right to parents, but parents do not actually always have a right to their children. The part concerning children as independent rights-holders will become important.
The Social Welfare Board constitutes the ultimate safety net for children who are harmed or risk being harmed. The Board also shares in an extensive responsibility for children and young people and shall work to ensure that children and young people grow up under safe and good conditions. The protection for these children always needs to be ensured and secured in various ways. Simply identifying and noticing children as early as possible to prevent them from being harmed creates the conditions for a safe and secure upbringing for children.
One of the social welfare committee's most important tasks is to ensure that children who are in a vulnerable situation receive the support and protection they need. A prerequisite for being able to fulfill that task is, of course, that the social welfare committee has the opportunity to obtain relevant information about the child as well as to investigate the child's situation and need for help and support. In that case, it is important that persons with a duty to report make a report when they become aware of or suspect that a child is being mistreated or may be at risk of being mistreated. It is also important that there is relevant information in these reports. The general public should also report irregularities to the social welfare committee.
When assessing a child's need for protection or support, it is important that the social welfare committee can review previous reports of concern and what considerations and assessments were made at that time. Previously received reports of concern and the committee's previous position can be decisive.
I note that this important investigation was presented on May 8 and that I will be able to return to this matter in the very near future.
Gustaf Lantz (S)
Mr. Speaker! I believe that voters of all stripes expect hard work for Sweden's best from the government. I believe that people are quite tired of governments, regardless of color, blaming those who sat in government previously. Blaming the Social Democrats will not increase confidence in this government; instead, the government will be scrutinized based on what it actually does and does not do.
I do not quite share the historical description that the Social Democratic government did nothing. There is a finished proposal. It was a proactive government with Minister Lena Hallengren, in combination with an energetic opposition that pushed, which did an incredible amount in this area. It was a fantastic melting pot for good politics, and a proposal that is a result of that time is now entering this government period.
I have no problem giving encouragement and expressing thanks for my political opponents' good work. But I think it is sad if we end up in a discussion about it being the Social Democrats' fault that this is delayed, because that is actually not the case.
I can only state that the government has a priority list – it would be strange otherwise – and when the euphoria after the Tidö Agreement has settled down, we begin to see what it actually looks like. In the budget that is now presented, we see how low-priority the investments in the social services were in comparison to large tax cuts for those who earn the most. One only has to lay the Social Democratic budget proposal against the government's to see that the specific investment in the social services is fifty times larger with the Social Democratic budget proposal. Unfortunately, these funds will not reach the municipalities; instead, they will have to share 10 million. All 290 municipalities in Sweden will have to share 10 million kronor. That will be very, very little.
But with the permit status, it went fast. I understand that it is wonderful for a Moderate to be able to move forward with such a proposal, and I believe that most Swedes also think it is good. And perhaps it is more fun to go to an Muf congress and receive neoliberal applause for removing the requirement for a permit than to actually do the work in the details that help vulnerable children – children who perhaps are not even noticed by anyone who is not themselves a social secretary.
Apart from our North Macedonian friends in the gallery, I believe there are few who are watching this debate. I mean that it is very important and I nevertheless welcome the positive response from the Minister for Social Services today. I interpret it as a concrete proposal being near, and I hope that it is a good and purposeful proposal that we in the Riksdag will have the opportunity to discuss and hopefully also vote through.
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! I am also convinced that the voters reward what is actually done, and an enormous amount will happen in this area concerning vulnerable children and young people. It will probably actually happen more than during the previous eight years, but we will have to determine that when we get a bit further along.
Sometimes it feels as if under every stone I lift there are things that have been neglected over the last eight years. The investigation into the new Social Services Act, which will become such an important tool in meeting children and young people early and working preventatively, came already in 2020 but was not taken further. Now this government is doing it.
To go back to the reports of concern, it is a major problem that one cannot follow them today, in 2023. It is also something that many of the social services workers I meet describe, and in the investigation that the previous government commissioned, one was tasked, among other things, with taking a position on whether the purging provisions regarding child pornography should be changed.
I nevertheless considered it important to review the issues surrounding how we handle both child records and the disposal of certain documents concerning children in one and the same context, and that closely related proposals be kept together as long as possible so that the regulatory framework functions in an effective way. For that reason, I decided to give the investigator an expanded mandate, which means – and it is important – that the investigator shall also report on and analyze the legislative proposals that Socialstyrelsen presents in the report and weigh the proposals submitted in the report against other possibilities specifically when it concerns making reports of concern regarding children searchable.
Today, there are several problems with this situation. Among others, families, parents, who notice that the social services have started to show interest, can choose to move and change municipality. We can also see that the disinformation campaign is having increasingly serious consequences for our Swedish social services. We know that SSR's own survey among its members in the autumn of 2021, before the disinformation campaign had fully gained momentum, showed that as many as 7 percent of social workers anonymously reported that they had not made relevant decisions on, among other things, the care of children because they were worried about threats and violence. This means that we must ensure the protection of these children and young people to an even greater extent.
It is like this, my friends, it looks in many social services. It is in a folder like the one I am holding in my hand that one stores reports of concern in chronological order, if there is not a personal file for the individual child. It is clear that it is not a safe and secure system.
The use of such a folder was not something that emerged in 2023 either. That is how the situation has looked for many years, while both the disinformation campaign and the turnover of social workers have become increasingly larger. This intervention could have been made much earlier, but now things will happen.
Gustaf Lantz (S)
Mr. Speaker! I note that the Minister for Social Services is keen to talk about the eight years that have passed. But if the Minister for Social Services insists on this, it must be done in the right way. To say that the new Social Services Act is being delayed because the previous government did not address the legal issue is simply not true. According to the plan, we were supposed to have discussed and adopted a new Social Services Act already in 2023. Now it is being postponed. How can one make it out to be the Social Democrats' fault? The government must actually step forward and take responsibility. Otherwise, there will be strange debates here in the chamber.
Camilla Waltersson Grönvall's commitment is genuine, and she means well. It is not this government's problem that Camilla Waltersson is the Minister for Social Services, but our problem is that the rest of the government does not back the commitment. It is not reflected in the budget items that social services receive. In the Social Democratic budget, the investment is 50 times larger than in the budget the government presents. That would make a real difference.
Politics is not just words, but it is a matter of getting the rest of the Tidö agreement along if one seriously says that there is to be a big difference in Sweden. Much is undone, and there is much to be desired regarding the pace of the reform work. But much is also being done that is good, not least is it being completed with many of the initiatives that the previous government started. Now it is time that we see new impetus and new energy also from this government.
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! I do not like to speak about the previous eight years, but the work must be done based on the fact that we can see there are deficiencies that need to be addressed. This unfortunately also applies to the investigation involving the Social Services Act. In the directives that the former Minister for Social Affairs Hallengren gave to the investigator Margareta Winberg, it appeared that the proposals were not to be cost-driving. Then most people understand that the investigation will not be comprehensive.
So, there was no investigation that fundamentally meant it would be possible to write a finished government bill or a referral to the Council on Legislation. We are now doing a considerable amount of improvement work, and we know that the social services in Sweden will be grateful for them. There are high expectations regarding the content.
I am doing this work in a broad dialogue with, among others, SSR, Sveriges socialchefer, Vision, SKR and many other stakeholders in the legislation. My intention is that when we finally implement the new Social Services Act, it shall happen powerfully. Then it shall become a paradigm shift from a reactive legislation to a proactive one, and then tools were needed to see earlier reports of concern for children. We need all the technical possibilities that exist today but that did not exist a decade ago.
I can gladly inform the member that in the near future we will proceed with the investigation, make it public and send it for consultation.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.