Response to interpellation 2023/24:27 on state support for municipalities' crisis management
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns state support for municipalities' crisis management. KD argues that municipalities are self-governing and responsible for organizing and financing their own operations, including water and sewage networks as well as accident prevention work 1. KD emphasizes that the responsibility for managing floods and adapting to climate change lies with the municipalities 2 3. KD highlights that state agencies can support municipalities with resources and knowledge 1 2 3. S considers it a municipal responsibility to operate water and sewage systems and ensure they have continuity and redundancy. S argues that the focus must be on the management at the time a crisis occurs.
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 Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam President! I have been asked in what way I intend to ensure that municipalities that in the future find themselves in similar situations to Heby, that is, with heavy rainfall and flooding, shall be able to receive support from the state and what this support would look like in that case.
The Government notes that climate change can result in large amounts of precipitation and risks of flooding, which can be difficult for individual municipalities to manage. The responsibility for managing stormwater and preventing floods is shared between the municipalities and individual property owners. The municipalities are responsible for the municipal water and sewage network, and they also have responsibility for planning and adaptations. Furthermore, according to the Act (2003:778) on Protection against Accidents, the municipalities have responsibility for accident prevention activities and for the rescue services.
In both the preventive work and in the acute crisis situation, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, MSB, and the county administrative boards can support the municipalities. MSB's flood portal contains, among other things, flood mappings and other hazard and risk maps. In an acute situation, the agency can contribute with flood barriers and water pumps. In such situations, the county administrative boards can also convene a cooperation conference with relevant authorities and actors to coordinate measures and produce regional situational pictures.
The Government is now preparing a revised strategy for climate adaptation that will take a collective grip on the needs that exist to manage a changed climate.
Regarding the state road network, Trafikverket is responsible for maintenance and for carrying out the necessary repairs. The agency also handles state grants for private road maintenance. Private road maintainers who receive operating grants can apply for grants for specific operating measures. These specific operating measures could, for example, concern measures to repair damage. In the budget bill for 2024, the Government proposes an investment of 100 million kronor per year during 2024 and 2025 for reinforced maintenance of private roads.
There are, therefore, quite a few state interventions in this area, but the basic principle is that municipalities are self-governing and therefore responsible for organizing and financing their operations on their own.
Marcus Wennerström (S)
Madam President! I thank the Minister for the Civil Affairs for the answer, but I am actually not satisfied.
My hope when I asked the question was that the answer would be roughly that we all want to be involved in creating a society that is as resilient as possible. I would have wanted to hear that the principle of responsibility as a basis means that we still have a goal of being able to support each other and all parts of Sweden when something happens. Above all, I would have wanted to hear that it feels a bit strange to receive a reference to Google Maps as the primary source of information about the situation on state roads. But Minister Slottner's interpellation answer makes me sincerely concerned.
Just as the Minister for Civil Affairs points out, Sweden's municipalities have an extensive responsibility when it comes to preventing and also managing what occurs within their geographical areas. But they are not alone in that responsibility. While Sweden is working on a broad front to transition to a deteriorated global situation, Trafikverket is also the sector authority for the transport sector. The money being pumped into the state's transition work exceeds by a wide margin the resources that are granted to the municipalities annually.
When cellars in Heby were flooded, when Tegelvallen was under water, when the treatment plant was forced to shut down as a result of the rising water levels, then the municipal crisis organization asked for help. It did not ask for help with anything enormous, strenuous or difficult, but it asked for help from the state to get a good picture of which roads in the municipality were passable. Then the answer was a reference to Google Maps.
The state in this case was Trafikverket, and several of the roads that were flooded were state-owned. From the Minister for Civil Affairs' response, I cannot interpret anything other than that the Minister for Civil Affairs considers this to be reasonable. From the response it appeared that MSB may be able to assist with flood protection in those types of events, but that is where the support seems to end.
I looked at what Trafikverket says. On their website, I read the following: "We and other actors in the transport system have a good ability to lead and make decisions within our own area of responsibility and operations during serious disruptions and crises. We can also disseminate fast, correct, and reliable information. If necessary, the actors in the transport system shall be able to participate in the coordination and coordination of measures as well as cooperate with others."
Even in the authority's instruction 2 § 5, it states that one shall "produce and provide current traffic forecasts".
All of this is delivered under a neat and fine vision: "Everyone will arrive smoothly, green and safely."
Madam President! Nowhere have I searched have I found any provision that, in the event of a flood, exempts the state from the responsibility it has for, for example, state roads. My question back to the Minister is therefore whether the Minister stands by the opinion that there is no part in the crisis management work that also concerns the Transport Administration. Is the answer to the municipalities that "if it gets flooded, then you have to handle it yourselves - regardless of whether the responsibility in everyday life is yours or not"?
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! It is probably not entirely surprising that an interpellator is not completely satisfied with the answer he or she receives. That is often the case, and it is surely the case this time as well.
I cannot possibly answer questions concerning what individual municipalities receive as answers from individual agencies with reference to Google Maps or anything else. It becomes very difficult for me as a minister to have views on individual answers from individual agencies. I actually believe that Member Wennerström understands that it would be very strange and that I could very easily exceed the powers I have as a minister if I were to do so – especially when it is an agency that does not even fall under my department.
The basis is still that the municipalities are primarily responsible for water and sewage, for managing floods, for having a resilient road system - when it is their own roads, that is - and for having a water and sewage system that can handle all increasingly heavy rainfalls. It is like the basis, and that is also what I said here in my response to the member's interpellation.
Then there are several government measures at several different levels within several different departments and several different agencies to support the municipalities in the preventive work. When it comes to floods but also other threats and risks, there is direct support in connection with this. There, among others, MSB, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, has been mentioned as an important actor. The County Administrative Boards are also important in that work. SMHI is important with the knowledge they have there, as is Trafikverket, which is mentioned specifically in this case.
We also have a number of measures underway to strengthen resilience specifically. A new Water Services Act will come into effect from the turn of the year, which is intended to further strengthen resilience. We have a national strategy for climate adaptation that is currently being developed. The Ministry of Enterprise and Climate is responsible for that. We are also allocating 500 million kronor next year that the municipalities can apply for from MSB to be able to handle various damages that have occurred on the road network in connection with, for example, a natural disaster. We are also increasing the appropriation for the maintenance of private roads by 100 million kronor in 2024 and 2025 to be able to make the road network more robust. So yes, there will be a lot of measures from the government's side as well and from the state level to manage the risks of a changed climate.
The government also places great importance and puts a lot of work into upgrading civil defense in a so-called broad scope across many different sectors. There, we now have a structure with sector authorities and preparedness authorities where the county administrative boards are divided into civil area responsibilities. All of this aims to strengthen civil preparedness. This is what Minister Bohlin is primarily responsible for.
As regards the Swedish Transport Administration, Marcus Wennerström knows that it is not on my desk. If he wants to discuss the Swedish Transport Administration specifically and individual answers, Wennerström may submit the interpellation to the minister who has the Swedish Transport Administration under them.
Marcus Wennerström (S)
Madam Speaker! It is exactly as the Minister mentions, a number of different ministers or functions within the government have responsibility for different parts of this.
My basic question was never specifically about the answer regarding Google Maps. I thought it was absurd enough to still be brought in as an example.
What upsets me and makes me very confused is the answer that constantly reverts to it being the municipalities' responsibility, because it is not. If the Minister honestly reads the law on the responsibilities of municipalities and regions in the face of and during extraordinary events in peacetime and at high alert, the one usually called LEH, he sees that the municipalities' responsibility extends to having crisis preparedness and management capacity for the municipal activities. In addition to that, one should be able to open up for a collaborative structure with relevant actors.
The principle of responsibility states that those who have responsibility in normal circumstances also have it in a crisis. Regardless of whether the authority happens to fall under the government's powers or not, it applies to all authorities in Sweden. We do not exempt ourselves from that principle just because the waterways happen to overflow.
It was also for that reason that I originally posed the principle question to Carl-Oskar Bohlin. But since the Government Offices chose to pass the answer to the written question to the Minister for Civil Affairs, that is why I choose to pose the question to the Minister for Civil Affairs as well now. I assume that the government has chosen the representative who is considered most appropriate to answer the question.
The Minister for Civil Affairs also highlights the climate measures for which one can apply for funds as a municipality. In that regard, it is interesting that as recently as yesterday I was at the County Administrative Board, which devoted its fair share of the presentation it gave to lamenting the heavy cuts being made in precisely the initiatives on climate measures linked to crisis preparedness.
It is almost tragicomic to see how the cuts came just as we saw the consequences of climate change flooding large parts of Sweden. It wasn't just Heby that was affected, and it wasn't just the roads. It was Heby, but it was also Sala. Large parts of Värmland were also hit hard. And we all remember the floods in Gävle last summer.
I think that the important thing here is the question of principle. It is also the question of principle that I will direct to the Minister for Civil Affairs. As I asked earlier: Is the Minister for Civil Affairs' answer to the municipalities that "regardless of whether you have responsibility in everyday life or not, it is on your table to handle the crises that occur within your geographical area"?
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! The fact that I got a bit hung up on Trafikverket and Google Maps here at the beginning was because Wennerström himself spent quite a lot of time in his first speech talking about just Google Maps and insinuating that I supported and stood behind Trafikverket's response regarding Google Maps and so on; I do not intend to get involved in that. That is why, in a part of my speech, I abstained from just that.
It is like this: The basic responsibility for water and wastewater systems and for water and wastewater systems to withstand, for example, heavy rainfall and flooding and adaptations to a changed climate where we make forecasts or assume that we will see more extreme weather in the future, that basic responsibility lies with the municipalities. We also know that Kommunsverige as a whole faces large investment needs in precisely the water and wastewater systems, which among other things – not solely, absolutely not solely, but among other things – depends on expected increased rainfall during shorter periods and increased occurrence of, for example, heavy rainfall.
Since then, the responsibility has been shared. As I tried to explain in my previous contribution, many different government agencies have missions and tasks within this area, which are both directly funded and included in the agency's instructions and must be completed within the given framework. It is not always obvious and crystal clear exactly who is responsible for exactly which detail in all situations, and sometimes, as said, the responsibility is shared. It will certainly sometimes be the case that the municipalities, in the event of an incident, think that some agency should take responsibility, but the agency refers back to the municipality. These conflicts will always exist; they often occur precisely when the responsibility is shared.
Many authorities - I mentioned MSB, Trafikverket, the county administrative boards, SMHI - still have the possibility to support, both in terms of manpower, financially and in terms of knowledge, to strengthen the municipalities, both in the preventive work and, when a disaster has occurred, in the more direct work.
That is approximately where I will land in this answer - much more clearly than that I will not be able to be here and now. It is very possible that the government will return with more measures when we have a climate adaptation strategy and other things ahead. But now the budget is set. We will return to the assignments in regulatory letters and instructions, but the economic frameworks are set. We see that we are strengthening, for example, the maintenance of individual roads, and we see that the support in the form of the state grants that MSB can distribute for environmental adaptation measures remains at half a billion kronor. It is therefore the money that is there. If the government sees a need for further clarifications or changes to the distribution of responsibility, we can return to that, but I do not have any such announcements to give today.
Marcus Wennerström (S)
Madam Speaker! We should not dwell too much on Trafikverket again, but since you, Erik Slottner, return to the fact that I mention Trafikverket, I still wanted to point out that large parts of your answer consist of explaining Trafikverket's mandate. Nowhere is crisis preparedness mentioned as part of that mandate, so therefore I dwelt a little on just Trafikverket in my answer to you.
It is the same thing when it comes to water and sewage systems. Of course, it is a municipal responsibility to operate water and sewage, and the municipality also has a responsibility to ensure that the water and sewage system has good continuity and redundancy and can handle different types of disruptions.
At the same time, it is not only the wastewater system that is overflowing. Rivers and watercourses are also bursting. One cannot therefore diminish this to it just being a municipal activity that is the basis. And regardless of whether it is or not, it is precisely there and then, when the crisis occurs, the consequence we are to handle, not the root cause. To say that wastewater is a municipal basic mandate and that we therefore will not handle it is like the ambulance arriving at a person with a heart attack and you starting to talk about how you should have made other lifestyle choices and dietary choices earlier. The focus should be on what is important, and that is the handling there and then. That is where the question lies.
I said initially that I was concerned, and that relates to the fact that the government is now, through a government investigation, conducting a review of precisely the law on extraordinary events. It dates from 2006 and naturally needs to be reviewed. I welcome the review fundamentally, but if the basic attitude is that as much of the responsibility as possible should be shifted over to the municipalities, which I read into the responses that are returned, we are in a difficult position. We must dare to gear up and see that we, as the Minister for Civil Affairs mentions at the end, are a collaborative system, where many must pull together. We are not competing companies trying to grab our small pieces, but it is a system where we must help each other.
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam President! I truly agree with the last point: This is something we need to work on together in municipalities and authorities, that is, at the local and the state level.
We will certainly have to review various boundary issues. Given the new challenges that exist, including a changed climate, the government will certainly need to return with changes of various kinds to better manage this. Some of these legislative changes and additions have already been mentioned here, but it would not surprise me if even more initiatives come during the mandate period.
I have in my speeches here highlighted the need for both preventive and direct support from the authority, in order to raise the knowledge level and to be able to build more resilience so that we can manage, for example, floods better. When it comes to direct support, MSB also has several opportunities to deploy when municipalities are affected as a result of rivers flooding or roads being destroyed. There are tools available at the authority today, and the government is also making investments next year so that they can be utilized.
I believe it is important that from a state level, from the government's side, we are careful that the municipalities still have the basic responsibility. Otherwise, one can create a culture where we want to shift more and more of this to agencies and strip the municipalities of the responsibility - I believe that would be dangerous.
In the municipal merger investigation that I have commissioned, we are to review the possibilities of merging municipalities. One of the arguments for this is precisely that we are concerned that some municipalities are not robust enough to, among other things, be able to work with the types of issues that a changed climate entails. The municipalities need to join together to work together at a local level; this is one of the many good reasons why that investigation was commissioned.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.