Response to interpellation 2022/23:410 on the Swedish Public Employment Service's incorrect payments to independent providers
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns Arbetsförmedlingen's incorrect payments to independent providers. L argues that the work against benefit fraud is a high priority 1, that the agency has received special resources and mandates 2, and that the government's investments in vocational training and the removal of inefficient services are the way to more jobs 2 3 4. L takes responsibility for the fact that unemployment has fallen during the mandate period 4. S argues that the government has failed in its supervisory responsibility 5, that the deficiencies are due to budget cuts 5, and that the government is not taking sufficient responsibility to stop incorrect payments 6. S also questions the appointment of a lobbyist to the board 7 8 9.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Madam Speaker! Serkan Köse has asked what measures I intend to take to address the deficiencies that Arbetsförmedlingen's internal audit has discovered. Serkan Köse has also asked how I intend to handle the auditors' criticism of Arbetsförmedlingen's responses regarding improved control systems to manage the difference between assigned employment time and actually reported time, which, according to the auditors' interpretation, could potentially result in incorrect payments of over 400 million kronor.
The work to counter incorrect payments and subsidy crimes directed against the public sector is a high priority for the government. Payments from the welfare systems shall be correct.
Arbetsförmedlingen is responsible for countering benefit fraud and minimizing the risk of incorrect payments within the agency's area of responsibility. The agency is also responsible for the procurement of labor market policy interventions, including the matching service Rusta och matcha. This naturally also includes that there is well-functioning control and follow-up of the suppliers and the execution of the service.
The government has at the same time been clear in its management of the authority. In Arbetsförmedlingen's regulation letter for 2023, the government has set a goal that the proportion of incorrect payments from the compensations that the authority handles shall decrease. Arbetsförmedlingen shall also report on goal fulfillment, measures implemented to reduce incorrect payments, and an assessment of the effects of the measures as well as the extent of the incorrect payments.
From an ongoing assignment to the agency, it appears that Arbetsförmedlingen shall continuously monitor and follow up on suppliers and services in order to identify and counter unscrupulous and criminal actors, fraud, and incorrect payments. The agency shall specifically develop the proactive control work, among other things through random spot checks and supplier audits, as well as design requirements that reduce the risk of unscrupulous actors becoming suppliers at all.
On 1 December 2022, a number of regulatory changes also entered into force that improve Arbetsförmedlingen's conditions to conduct a more efficient control of suppliers and services. This includes, among other things, a statutory reporting obligation for suppliers towards Arbetsförmedlingen and that the authority shall be given access to certain data from Skatteverket.
Regarding the question of the difference between the assigned employment time and the actually reported time, I can state that the participants in the Rusta och matcha service shall have a planning that covers their entire work offer.
The Government takes the reports of deficiencies in Arbetsförmedlingen's risk management and control work seriously, and I assume that the agency will take the measures required to rectify the identified problems. The Government is following the developments closely and will, if necessary, take further measures.
Serkan Köse (S)
Madam Speaker! I would like to thank the Minister for the answer, even though it leaves much to be desired. It is deeply worrying that Arbetsförmedlingen, a central authority in our welfare state, is not only facing a crisis but also risks a full-scale system collapse. An internal audit has indicated that incorrect payments could exceed 100 million kronor per year. Even more frightening is that the actual figure could be as high as over 400 million kronor when one also takes into account the difference between allocated and actual employment time.
This situation, Madam Speaker, undermines not only the trust in Arbetsförmedlingen but also its legitimacy. Every incorrectly paid krona is a theft from our common welfare and from the resources that should be used for improvements and for preparing the unemployed for the labor market.
In his answer, the Minister emphasizes that the work against incorrect payments and subsidy crimes is a high priority. This leads me unexpectedly to the question: How could these serious deficiencies be allowed to arise in the first place? The Minister refers to Arbetsförmedlingen's regulatory letter for 2023 as the basis for the current efforts. With this as a starting point, we must question whether the government has failed in its overall supervisory responsibility, especially in light of the fact that the role of external suppliers has grown significantly since Arbetsförmedlingen was reformed.
Should it not be the government's duty to ensure that Arbetsförmedlingen is provided with sufficient resources and the necessary tools to be able to exercise more effective control? This issue becomes even more relevant when the minister's answer leaves much to be desired. We receive no concrete explanation regarding the noticeable difference between allocated and actually reported employment time. Instead, we are confronted with incorrect payments amounting to over 400 million kronor without any detailed information on the cause. The only thing we receive as an answer is a vague indication that the participants in the Rusta och matcha program need to have an overall work plan.
What is even more worrying, Madam Speaker, is that these deficiencies have not arisen in a vacuum. They are a direct consequence of long-standing and deliberate budget cuts as well as political attacks from the right. By actively reducing the agency's budget, its capacity to perform core tasks has been weakened, as has its role as an expert agency within labor market policy.
In light of today's debate regarding incorrect payments amounting to 400 million kronor, I would like to ask the Minister: What concrete measures does the Minister intend to take to address this crisis within Arbetsförmedlingen?
Madam Speaker! It is not just about stopping incorrect payments. It is also about strengthening the authority's conditions to conduct its operations, not least considering the long-standing budget cuts and the political attacks that have primarily come from Johan Pehrson and the cooperating right-wing parties in the government base, including the Sverigedemokraterna, during recent years.
Jim Svensk Larm (S)
Madam Speaker! A week ago, we gathered here in the Riksdag for the solemn opening. A new year has begun here in the Riksdag, yet it still seems to be the same year as before. The government continues its dismantling of the active labor market policy and reduces the appropriations to Arbetsförmedlingen. It is simply a new year but the same cuts. I would therefore like to thank Member Serkan Köse for the opportunity to begin the parliamentary year by debating this issue regarding Arbetsförmedlingen.
The Minister for Employment does not appear to have used the summer to reflect on how we should meet unemployment. Now that we gather, it is as said, the same things that come as last year: an almost completely empty list of propositions from the Ministry of Employment, less money for active labor market policies and less money for Arbetsförmedlingen. Still, the Minister for Employment believes that this will result in more people entering employment.
At the same time, we hear time and again how Arbetsförmedlingen is to receive more tasks. Before the summer, the Minister for Employment announced that Arbetsförmedlingen and Försäkringskassan would receive increased administrative tasks as a result of the introduction of the establishment jobs. Now we hear again that the controls need to increase to catch the fraud, but without more resources.
One thing that I do not believe the Minister for Employment has mentioned at any point, but which needs to be increased, is the support for the unemployed, the support for more people getting into work, because that is apparently not so important for the government.
Now the debate is not about the lack of job policy from the government, but about how the government handles these incorrect payments, as my colleague Serkan Köse mentioned. These are not insignificant sums that are disappearing.
It is up to 400 million kronor in incorrect payments. It may seem like a little when we usually talk about billions. But in this context, it is about 24 percent of the total sum that is paid out. It is 24 percent that is paid out incorrectly. These are funds that would be needed to get more people into work. Instead, they go to cheating companies.
It is not the only things where incorrect payments occur. Fraud also occurs in other areas, for example with the wage subsidies. There, people have cheated even more systematically by claiming that an employee has a need that perhaps does not actually exist or that an employee perhaps does not even perform the work tasks.
Here we can touch upon crime in the working life. It is another large part that drains the state of enormous resources. It is something that we really need to act against. Even here, the government needs to show that it takes it seriously and acts against it. We can take that in another debate.
The problems and reflections remain the same. How will the government succeed in its supervisory responsibility to ensure that the incorrect payments are stopped, so that the money we allocate will go to the job seekers to do more good?
Sofia Amloh (S)
Madam Speaker! Thanks to my colleague, who has posed an important interpellation!
Arbetsförmedlingen makes incorrect payments to independent suppliers and actors, and unscrupulous actors and employers cheat with subsidized employment. This is something we have known for some time and that the Minister and I have debated on another occasion. These are two very serious deficiencies.
What this results in, in combination, is that tax money is going in completely the wrong direction. It is being used in the wrong way and is not coming to use where it should do use. I know that the Minister has on several occasions said, and I agree every single time, that we must be careful with tax funds. They should be used for what they are supposed to be used for. Is this, Madam Speaker, really to manage the tax funds in the absolute best way?
I have a number of questions for the Minister. I hope that in any case he can answer at least one or a couple of them. This concerns, among other things, Arbetsförmedlingen's controlling activities. Does it really have the right dimension and capacity to manage the assignment? We see that review after review shows the direct opposite.
Has the Government posed a direct question to the Director General of the Public Employment Service regarding whether they have the prerequisites and resources to do what is required against fraud, incorrect payments, and unserious use of subsidized employment?
I am wondering if the Minister has received any partial reports on the assignment in the regulatory letter that he refers to. It is almost time to write new regulatory letters. It could be good to know how it is going along the way. I do not feel any greater security that it is moving in the right direction.
In response to the interpellation, the Minister states that he assumes that the authority will take the measures required. I would like to know, Madam Speaker, if the Minister can ensure that the authority has the conditions to rectify these serious deficiencies.
Why does the Minister for Finance not take any measures when the problems are being listed? Why does he want to wait and see?
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Madam Speaker! I am very pleased that Jim Svensk Larm, Serkan Köse and Sofia Amloh are so committed to us having an efficient and functioning Swedish labor market policy. Laxity, waste and fraud shall be eliminated, and along the way all other potentially incorrect payments. Efficiency shall be at the center.
The Swedish Public Employment Service has undergone extensive changes in recent years. Not least, the previous government has, over eight years, delivered a legacy that means there is a great deal to redo and get right.
The instruction for Arbetsförmedlingen is relatively new. There, we are upgrading the requirement to have an active and proactive supervision. We have also ensured that there are resources in the internal audit. It is the recurring audit at Arbetsförmedlingen itself where errors are discovered and warnings are issued regarding existing risks.
I am the first to admit that when handling this type of labor market policy intervention, one must be cautious. The Government has been clear that the level of the interventions shall remain at the level we have this current year and not grow at all until we are certain of what effect they have and that it is ensured that all actors truly deliver a good result.
I want to emphasize to the members of the Riksdag that this is constitutionally regulated in such a way that it is the authority that handles it. What has it received? It has received a special mandate, and it has received resources. A digitalization of the authority is growing almost potentially. They are trying to work with all the conditions that exist to audit fraud and errors among the actors. Since April, we have redesigned Rusta and Matcha. When it is successively phased in, the requirements are much higher. This will yield results.
I share the view regarding persons who do not contribute with efforts for the individual's best. They should lead during the six months one can receive an effort and perhaps an additional six months, but then it should lead to a result. It is central.
Madam Speaker! Finally, the question was raised about what we are doing with the labor market policy. We have now announced that there will be establishment jobs. We told yesterday that we will reform the unemployment insurance in such a way as has been requested for ten years. But lo and behold: nothing happened in the last ten years, because someone else was in power!
I have now been working on this for eleven months. Now we have an unemployment insurance fund that is modern. It is an unemployment insurance fund where the right unemployment insurance fund reaches the right person at the right time. It is quite important that this important transition insurance helps people into new work as soon as possible.
People have been talking about the establishment jobs for as long as anyone can remember. Now we can say that they are coming. These are changes that are real and important within the labor market policy. But it is not enough. We are shifting from different types of perhaps less efficient measures to focusing on vocational adult education both within the municipality and in the Yrkeshögskolan.
It is the path to more jobs. It is the path to more battery builders, train drivers, nursing assistants, plumbing installers and everything that Sweden needs and our welfare requires.
Serkan Köse (S)
Madam Speaker! Once again, the Minister speaks for four minutes without answering the questions. It is becoming classic for Johan Pehrson. It is also serious that Johan Pehrson places all the responsibility on the authority and does not himself take responsibility for where we are today.
Let us state that Johan Pehrson took over responsibility for the Ministry of Employment one year ago with the support of the Sverigedemokraterna. One year later, we must state that substance has given way to style.
Even though the minister's efforts as a pizza baker and barista are sympathetic, it has been remarkably empty when it comes to reforms. This applies in particular to what my colleague Jim Svensk Larm has been involved in. Especially worrying are the extensive cuts in Arbetsförmedlingens budget, which Johan Pehrson does not say much about.
Madam Speaker! Every time Johan Pehrson has spoken about investments in Arbetsförmedlingen, it has in reality been about cuts. This applies to both labor market programs and interventions, as well as staff and premises. As the icing on the cake, we now also have a PR consultant from a lobbying firm elected to the agency's board. I want to emphasize that this damages Arbetsförmedlingen's already vulnerable trust.
In other words, labor market policy has not only been neglected during the past year; it has in fact been completely absent in the SD government's palace agreement. Despite Johan Persson's grandiose promises to transform Arbetsförmedlingen into a top-class agency, his policy has instead resulted in a labyrinth of complications and failures.
Madam Speaker! Sweden now has an unemployment rate of 6.7 percent - one of the highest in Europe. But instead of meeting this challenge, the SD government is cutting Arbetsförmedlingen's budget by 2.1 billion kronor. Those who most need support to work will be hit hardest. My question then is: Is this really the right way to go, Johan Pehrson, given the current recession and the increasingly complex labor market?
Madam Speaker! As a footnote to these cuts, Johan Pehrson has also announced a budget increase of 200 million kronor to Arbetsförmedlingen to handle increased unemployment. But this must be seen in the light of the fact that Arbetsförmedlingen itself says that 770 million kronor are needed. Then I must ask the Minister: How can this be called an investment?
The consequences of the SD government's policy are becoming increasingly clear. Arbetsförmedlingen faces an uncertain future today with fewer employees, as there are no plans to fill vacant positions, and fixed-term employment contracts risk not being renewed. This erosion of one of Sweden's most central agencies will immediately worsen the situation for the unemployed.
Again: The government's rhetorical promises to combat unemployment appear as empty words when the reality is that the government's policy will rather lead to longer periods of unemployment, increasing gaps in the labor market, and growing social vulnerability.
In light of this, I would like to ask the Minister: How does the Minister justify a cut of 2.1 billion kronor, especially given the Konjunkturinstitutet's forecast of decreased employment and an expected increase in unemployment to 8.4 percent next year?
Jim Svensk Larm (S)
Madam Speaker! Do what the previous government did, said Johan Pehrson in his contribution. About a week ago, there was a party leader debate here. The Minister had a bit of difficulty remembering which things he himself had pushed, but when the reform of Arbetsförmedlingen was made, I do not want to remember seeing so many leaflets about Johan Pehrson's anger over the reform that took place and which he now says he needs to take responsibility for. But I was not part of the negotiations. The Liberals perhaps pushed something there about us not reforming Arbetsförmedlingen. I don't know, but it feels as if the Minister is just shifting the blame.
The government needs to realize that it is they who are now in the driver's seat. It is the government that needs to take responsibility for how we are to manage our agencies. I cannot directly feel that the Minister for Employment realizes their responsibility; instead, it is the same things that are said over and over again, which we have pointed out previously. There will be reduced resources for Arbetsförmedlingen, and it is believed that efficiencies are the solution moving forward. It is believed that more independent providers would be the solution to get more people into work, when it actually concerns more actors being involved and sharing the cake and the crumbs that remain. Yes, sometimes it is not just crumbs but entire cakes, for that matter!
Given that the Minister for Employment also appoints lobbyists to the board of Arbetsförmedlingen, it is easy to start wondering what the purpose of it all is. What are the government's thoughts regarding this? Is it really to use the resources to get as many people as possible into work, or does the government have some other agenda for Arbetsförmedlingen's collective resources, and if so, what is it?
Sofia Amloh (S)
Madam Speaker! I had a series of questions. I think I perhaps do not need to repeat all of them, but a couple. The hope still lives in me that the Minister might perhaps be able to answer some of them in the upcoming contributions.
Among other things, I want to ask how the Minister ensures that Arbetsförmedlingen has the resources, opportunities, and conditions to carry out the control activities that are obviously needed. We see that subsidized employment is being used in a completely unworthy and incorrect manner – it can actually be defined as pure fraud. We also see that Arbetsförmedlingen is making incorrect payments. We are talking about several hundred million within each respective item. These are funds that should be going to something else.
The Minister mentions laxity. Yes, we demand that there should not be this laxity regarding the inaccuracies that are now systematically occurring. I would really wish that the Minister could answer what has been intended to be done going forward so that this does not happen again.
If this is the Minister's way of talking about managing money well, I am probably not prepared to agree to that definition any longer. Managing money is about ensuring that it goes to the right things, to what it is intended for, and that we direct the money there. I am concerned that the Minister shows a somewhat cool interest when it comes to actually rectifying these deficiencies. Or should I interpret the Minister's cool actions as a lack of ability to steer? One simply hands it over to the authority itself. I wish for a couple of concrete answers to my concrete questions.
I would like to conclude by still welcoming the Minister to my home municipality, which I saw that he is going to visit on Monday next week. Welcome!
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Madam Speaker! I want to give a little gold star to Sofia Amloh. Thank you for this! I will meet people who work with installations. They are happy and grateful that this government is removing things that are inefficient and investing in vocational training. Sweden needs more installers for small houses, low-rise houses, terraced houses, high-rise buildings, wind turbines, and nuclear power plants. Very many more are needed. We shall talk about that, and it will be very fun.
And Sofia Amloh was here when we had the debate on other interpellations. I believe that Serkan Köse had something else important to do, because he did not come. Jim Svensk Larm would also have been here, but he did not come either. But I and Sofia Amloh were here. That is what you get a gold star for - when you as a parliamentarian are engaged and do not just stand and talk about system collapse. That is a pretty strong word.
There is talk that directors general at the Swedish Tax Agency should not be able to sit on the board of the Public Employment Service. That means that the current party leader for the Socialdemokraterna, who was previously a director general at the Swedish Tax Agency, should not be able to sit on the board of the Public Employment Service. She certainly can, just like the former director general we are now bringing in.
After eight years with the Social Democrats, Arbetsförmedlingen has received an inheritance. What was supposed to be Europe's lowest unemployment is now the third highest. You should know that we fight every day. So far, unemployment has not increased during this mandate period, on the contrary. Employment has increased, and we are fighting very hard for this.
We are committed to ensuring that people get into work. In that case, it is first and foremost relevant to invest the money where it does the most good. Then I must simply appeal to the logos of the Social Democratic debaters. One must make up one's mind. It is not possible to just stand there and crank and talk about how things are cool, that it is not working and that it is a problem that one sees how people who brew coffee or work as baristas have it or that one sees how it is as a pizza baker.
I am so proud when I travel around our beautiful country and meet the community builders who do so much good and generate the tax revenues that pay Serkan Köse's fee, and my fee as well, for that matter. That is how you build the country.
You have to decide. Are complementary actors good, or are they bad? Now we are taking money in the part that was intended as a substantial expansion of complementary actors. It is still very much with 50,000 places on a monthly basis. But they must be checked, every single one. And Arbetsförmedlingen has the resources for that. It is their mandate. They have strong digital tools to carry this out. They have received a reinforcement in the instructions and the regulatory letter when it comes to doing this. And they have an internal audit that makes it so that we have this debate at all.
You must decide. Do you think these funds do more good in Sweden's vocational educations, in vocational adult education and at the university colleges, which we know deliver people to important missions in society, to both public and private employers? They ensure that Sweden keeps running and ensure that Sweden functions.
That is how you build a strong Sweden. It is the work line, and it is the education line. We shall ensure that we get down the Swedish unemployment. It would have been the lowest with the Socialdemokraterna. It became the third highest, and then one must wonder: Was it something that the Socialdemokraterna did wrong for eight years, or is it just talk?
Serkan Köse (S)
Madam Speaker! After listening to the Minister's answers and arguments during this debate, I feel like Sisyphus, who in Greek mythology was condemned to constantly roll a stone up a hill only to see it roll down again. Every attempt to get concrete answers from Johan Pehrson feels equally futile.
Madam Speaker! Johan Pehrson addresses many parts in his response, but the interesting thing is that when one listens to Johan Pehrson, not very much concrete comes forward. Johan Pehrson's politics over the past year have been like a season of a bad reality show, full of drama but without real content. Therefore, it becomes a bit strange that Johan Pehrson refers to a debate in the chamber where members did not participate. It was about a colleague taking that interpellation debate. But otherwise, we are here, Johan Pehrson. We are committed when it comes to labor market policy. We take the issue very seriously, and we want the government to do more.
Reference is made to the claim that someone from Skatteverket would not sit on the board of Arbetsförmedlingen. We have never said anything about that. We are talking about a consultancy firm, about a lobbyist who sits on the board of a consultancy firm. How well does that align with the assignment that the person in question takes on? That was what we questioned. We believe that it also damages the trust in the agency.
But today we are discussing something else. We are talking about the control over the authority and about incorrect payments. The government needs to act. Johan Pehrson needs to take his responsibility.
Johan Pehrson is a world champion at shifting the responsibility onto someone else. In this case, Johan Pehrson shifts all responsibility onto the authority but also onto the previous Social Democratic government. For a year, Johan Pehrson, you have been a minister. We expect the minister to take responsibility for the labor market policy and take responsibility for the consequences of the conducted labor market policy.
Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Madam Speaker! It becomes a bit cute when we in the chamber are to give each other, so to speak, characters of different figures. Don't forget Godzilla! It is a fantastic creature that fights against dark matter and monsters. Whether it is Serkan Köse or Johan Pehrson who is Godzilla, I leave it to the observers to judge.
Yes, but I take full responsibility for the fact that unemployment has fallen since I stepped in and began to steer. But one must also understand that these are long lines. We have a situation in the labor market where many are unemployed despite the fact that unemployment has fallen. We are now trying to work on helping people back in, towards more self-determination and so that they can contribute as nation-builders, whether it is as a barista or as an electrician. Everything is important.
Then this goes through the education line. The Liberals have the simple idea that one should focus on the type of education that one knows gives the best and most results. That is why we invest in vocational adult education and in the university colleges. We know that 20,000 places here do great good. This leads to more people in a more difficult economic climate, which we are currently in, getting the jobs that are simultaneously being shouted for on the labor market. Then we get more train drivers, plumbing installers, electrical installers, and assistant nurses. All of that is completely central, but it never goes through the Social Democratic extra services that we have cleared away.
It is efficiency and responsibility. I love that the Social Democrats say: responsibility for the tax money.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.