Response to interpellation 2023/24:36 on cuts in non-formal education
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The government proposes extensive state grants to non-formal education in 2024. L argues that the support is not extensive as it means that 100,000 activities will not take place 1. S considers that the cuts threaten study associations, democracy, and public health 2 1. S argues that the government should not have implemented drastic cuts before an investigation was completed 3. S criticizes L for using ABF as a scapegoat and argues that the non-formal education council has not found any inaccuracies in ABF Botkyrka 4 5. S considers that the cuts hinder improved public health and sports activities for young people 5. L argues that sports promote integration and crime prevention.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Mr. Speaker! Anna Wallentheim has asked the Minister for Social Affairs whether he and the government have considered what consequences the cuts within folk education risk having for the sports movement and, in the long run, for public health in Sweden, as well as how the Minister and the government intend to compensate for these cuts within folk education, especially considering the significant role sports play for community cohesion and the development of young people. The work within the government is so distributed that it is I who shall answer the interpellation.
The Government proposes in the budget bill for 2024 that approximately 2.4 billion kronor be distributed in state grants to folk high schools and that approximately 1.7 billion kronor be distributed in state grants to study associations in 2024. The state support for adult education is thus proposed to also be extensive in the future.
Mr. Speaker! In addition to the health benefits and the social community that club sports provide for the individual, the Government considers that sports in themselves fulfill an important function in the work of promoting integration and in crime prevention work. If the Riksdag decides in accordance with the Government's proposal, the Government's intention is not to make any reduction of the funds distributed to the study association Sisu Idrottsutbildarna in upcoming decisions on regulation letters for 2024, where the use of the grant is specified.
Anna Wallentheim (S)
Mr. Speaker! Those who have read my interpellation know that it was actually directed to Social Minister Jakob Forssmed in his role as the person responsible for sports, with the hope of having an overall discussion about the sports movement at large but also about its important connections to popular education.
It is instead Education Minister Mats Persson who is here today to take this debate from his perspective, with a connection to folk education. That is understandable, and I am grateful for it. But I also hope that the Education Minister understands that I will be focusing on the sports movement as a whole, while also making connections to folk education and its role for society.
The sports movement is, as I mention in my interpellation, one of Sweden's foremost and largest popular movements. It is a full 3.3 million members who are engaged in 19,000 sports clubs and almost 750,000 active leaders who devote countless volunteer hours to making our sports movement function.
Every day across our country, in all of Sweden's municipalities, the Sisu Sports Educators are on site to support leaders and members by offering competence, support, and inspiration tailored to the association's needs and conditions.
Sisu is also the study association that has the most active young participants among all our study associations. The work takes place largely in their local areas. It takes place at the football pitch, at the athletics arenas, and in the club cabins.
The opportunity to engage in the associations on their home turf is of immense importance for all the hundreds of thousands of children and young people who are active. It is about developing through, among other things, folk education. Every invested krona therefore has a positive effect. But that is true for every invested krona in every study association. It is therefore with great sadness that I note that study associations, with the right-wing government's policy, are not only threatened but in black and white actually decrease with the budget proposal.
In today's society, study associations and popular education play a decisive role in promoting individuals' development, strengthening democracy and community, and serving as a valuable resource in crime prevention work.
That in a time when we have clear democratic divides and increased gang crime, where they primarily target the recruitment of children and young people, cutting back on study associations and folkbildningen, I consider to be remarkable.
It is, of course, gratifying for me as a great sports lover and advocate for our Swedish sports movement and model to learn that the government also recognizes the role of sports in society and how important it is. If I have understood the Minister for Education correctly, it means that in upcoming regulatory letters, it will be specified that Sisu Idrottsutbildarna shall not be included in the reduction being made on study associations.
This, however, creates new questions for me. Mats Persson says in his answer: "In addition to the health benefits and the social community that association sports provide for the individual, the government considers that sports in themselves fulfill an important function in the work of promoting integration and in crime prevention work." My questions then are: Does this not apply to all study associations? Is cultural activity, Swedish from day one, study circles, etc., not also something that promotes social community, integration, and crime prevention work?
If the Minister for Education agrees that all study associations actually have this orientation, should not all study associations be exempted from the cuts?
Linus Sköld (S)
Mr. Speaker! I see that the Minister has sat down, which is good – the Minister is obliged to answer questions, not to stand for several hours.
The Minister says that the state support for folkbildningen is proposed to be extensive even going forward. But whether something is extensive depends on what it is set in relation to. In relation to what folkbildningen has had to deal with previously, and in particular to what studieförbunden have had to deal with previously, the state support going forward is not particularly extensive. If one cuts out a third of the activities, the support cannot be said to be extensive.
It is about the fact that we will see 32,000 fewer study circles. It is about the fact that the money will suffice for 50,000 fewer cultural programs. It is about the fact that a total of almost 100,000 activities will not take place as a result of the government's policy. I return to what I said in the previous interpellation debate: I think it is nearly cheeky to claim that the state support going forward will be extensive. There will be 100,000 fewer activities! I would not call that extensive.
My question to the liberal Minister for Education, who is responsible for this, is in what way this will support the organization of civil society. In what way will the dismantling and slaughter of the study associations' activities support a strong democratic development in this country?
Isak From (S)
Mr. Speaker and Minister! I thought I would begin by addressing the Minister's last contribution in the previous debate, that is, the one we did not have the opportunity to reply to.
Yes, we are completely against cheating. Cheating, drainage, and poorly used tax money should not be allowed. That is why the Social Democratic government commissioned the investigation Steering and Follow-up of Folkbildningen, which is led by the Liberals - in any case a former liberal, namely Christer Nylander. The question is: Why could the government not wait for that report? What made it so urgent to carry out these drastic cuts?
I have heard Mats Persson highlight Botkyrka during both question periods and at other occasions, and it is clear that it is not a good example. But there, it is about municipal money. It was the municipality and the study association in cooperation, so it was municipal money. That is bad enough; the municipalities do not have much resources at all. But I have very clear examples of something else: I sat on the board of Folkbildning Västerbotten and was there when Studiefrämjandet almost had to shut down its operations completely because they were caught reporting the wrong number of study hours to utilize state funds. It was state funds that were supposed to go to the folk education and which did not.
So there were reasons to appoint the investigation. But why couldn't one wait for Christer Nylander's investigation? Answer that, Mats Persson!
Serkan Köse (S)
Mr. Speaker! I also want to say something about the Minister's last comment in the previous debate.
It is actually deeply concerning when political representatives, regardless of party, exploit organizations or institutions for their own political agendas. It becomes even more alarming when it is done by playing on popular misconceptions or prejudices. I still want to emphasize that. It is somewhat distasteful that the government repeatedly uses the Workers' Education Association and the study associations as a whipping boy in a rhetoric that solely aims to win cheap political points.
We are in complete agreement, as Isak From was very clear about, that cheating must be combated. It must not be allowed that our tax funds go to activities that engage in cheating. But let me also state that Arbetarnas bildningsförbund has done everything possible to address the allegations that have come from the municipality's side. They have written a solid report – an investigation – which they have presented and which I hope the Minister has received. In that, they have addressed the criticism and the allegations that have come from the municipality's side.
Let me also state that it is neither Mats Persson, ABF in Botkyrka, nor external auditors who are to investigate crimes, but rather it is the police's task. What I have understood is that no one has been interrogated during the three years that this has been reviewed. No one has been served with a suspicion of a crime, no one has been indicted, and no one has been convicted. Again: If there is cheating, we will get to the bottom of it, and if there are criminal elements, they shall be removed from our operations. But to repeatedly use an educational organization as a punching bag in a rhetoric that somewhere tries to confirm its own theory, I do not think is worthy.
I urge the Minister, instead, once again, to take part of ABF's own report and how they have worked systematically to combat both cheating and crime. Regarding the youth center he refers to, I can state that ABF Botkyrka-Salem does not conduct that type of activity. It was a municipal activity that was operated on behalf of the municipality, with municipal funds. That cooperation was terminated, and ABF Botkyrka-Salem is absolutely not interested in conducting youth center activities.
This is a way to shift the focus from an important issue when we are sitting and discussing the formation and study associations and their role. Not least regarding Anna Wallentheim's exemplary interpellation, I think we should focus on the core of this when the Sweden Democrats are dictating the terms for a liberal party. It is about cuts; they want to slaughter the support for study associations in Sweden by a third.
Let me say a few words, Mr. Speaker, regarding the current interpellation. Sisus chairman Karl-Erik Nilsson has said something very wise, namely that education is an essential component in a democratic and open society. With this in mind and with the insight into the role of sports clubs – it concerns, once again, 3.3 million members, 750,000 participants and 19,000 clubs – I believe that more support, not less, is needed. It is on the football pitch, in the clubhouse and at the athletics arena that the leaders, social actors and citizens of the future are shaped.
Once again I urge you, Mats Persson: Reconsider your decision!
FÖRSTE VICE TALMANNEN
I must remind all debaters of the subject of this interpellation. It concerns cuts within folk education and what consequences these risk having for the sports movement.
Gunilla Svantorp (S)
Mr. Speaker! I also actually intended to speak a little bit about the last point in the previous interpellation debate, but I can of course also speak about the future of folk education.
I want to begin by saying that I am very upset by the way the Minister, once again, uses ABF Botkyrka to muddy the waters. The Folkbildningsrådet has today issued a decision. They have carefully examined the folk education activities conducted in connection with the youth centers in Botkyrka, and they have found no evidence of irregularities in the use of state grants.
I must ask the Minister if he did not have access to this decision and if he has not had access to all documents and underlying materials and to everything that has been said about ABF Botkyrka when he, in every single debate, has chosen to highlight it instead of talking about the future of folkbildning. That is what I would like to have an answer to.
The Folkbildningsrådet has issued a decision today, and I think the minister should have highlighted that in his debate instead of attacking ABF.
Ensuring that taxpayers' money goes to the right things was another thing that the Minister mentioned in his previous interpellation debate. It is obvious - that is why the Folkbildningsrådet and Studieförbunden in cooperation have constantly tried to rectify what has gone wrong through all the measures that I highlighted in the previous interpellation debate.
It is clear that this must be rectified. However, I can wonder why the Minister becomes so upset that tax money is not being used for the right things in popular education when he is not in the least concerned that tax money is not being used for the right things in other places. School is one example – money simply disappears into profits in independent schools instead of being used for the children and for increased support.
Now I shall return to what this interpellation debate is about, namely the future of popular education.
If one chooses to do as the government and the Council of State are doing now and remove a third of the student unions, you will not be able to do what Anna Wallentheim has so exemplary posed questions about, namely contribute to improving public health by ensuring that young people can actually participate in sports activities even if they do not have the tradition from their home of being a sporting person. There will not be any such activities, for who will organize them if we do not contribute with national support?
The Minister claims that ABF Botkyrka has fiddled. Did the Minister have access to all the underlying documents? Did he have access to the decision that was made today? Did the Minister know about this? That is what I want to know.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.