Response to interpellation 2023/24:477 on future recruitment of personnel to the Armed Forces
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M considers the Swedish Armed Forces' personnel supply to be of strategic importance and requires a ten-year perspective 1. M argues that conscription is a fundamental prerequisite for growth 1 and that the government enables personnel recruitment through budget appropriations 1. M emphasizes the importance of improving equipment for women, investigating conditions for reserve officers, increasing the number of officer positions 2 as well as being uncompromising against unwelcome behavior 2. M considers that school informants do an excellent job 3 and that Sweden has a good personnel supply system that needs further development 3. S argues that the Swedish Armed Forces have a large task ahead to engage more women 4 and requests measures for an equal labor market 4. S emphasizes the importance of improving the climate and tolerance as well as requesting incentives for recruitment to new locations. S considers that the Swedish Armed Forces have become better at recruitment 5 and that the defense should be made attractive 5.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Försvarsministern Pål Jonson (M)
Madam Speaker! Johan Andersson has asked me in what way I shall ensure that the Armed Forces succeed in recruiting personnel at the same time as several sectors of the labor market face new recruitments as well as re-recruitments due to departures.
Personnel procurement for the Swedish Armed Forces' war and basic organizations is of strategic importance in order to be able to organize fully manned and trained war units. The direction in the current defense decision clarifies that the number of positions in the war organization shall grow from approximately 60,000 to approximately 100,000 by 2030. This growth presents many challenges and becomes even more complex with, for example, upcoming large-scale retirements, manning of NATO's military structures, and more qualified instructors to meet the need for an increased number of conscripts.
To be able to manage this development, long-term planning of the personnel supply is required. This includes all categories of personnel. To maintain the long-term nature of the planning, the Armed Forces has, in its regulatory letter for 2024, the task of maintaining a ten-year perspective. Specifically, this means that the agency shall report a plan for the development of the agency's personnel composition in the war and basic organization 2025-2034.
Conscription is a fundamental prerequisite for the continued growth of the Armed Forces. The needs of the war organization cannot be met solely with employed personnel, and therefore the number of conscripts who are trained annually will increase to approximately 8,000 in 2025. The Supreme Commander also states in his military advice regarding the development of the military defense that the number of conscripts needs to increase to approximately 10,000 as early as 2030. An increase in the number of conscripts also implies an expanded recruitment base for both professional and reserve officers as well as employed soldiers.
The Swedish Armed Forces' personnel supply is not only dependent on good recruitment. The agency also needs to be an attractive employer that can retain and develop its staff. In the budget allocations for the military area for 2024, reprioritizations were made between appropriations for 2024 and 2025 as well as estimated supplements for 2026. This was done, among other things, for the purpose of enabling the Swedish Armed Forces to allocate resources to attract, recruit, and retain personnel.
According to the employer policy delegation, which has been in effect since 1994 and which the Riksdag has supported on repeated occasions, the responsibility for the agency's personnel matters lies not with the government but with the agency, in this case the Försvarsmakten.
The Government specifies overall objectives and tasks as well as organizational frameworks for the basic and war organization. The Riksdag and the Government then allocate financial resources to the Armed Forces to carry out the operations. With the exception of the number of conscripts and within these frameworks, the authority decides on the personnel composition of its organization.
If the Armed Forces identify a problem and the action required to solve the problem lies outside the agency's mandate and powers, does the Armed Forces have the opportunity to return to the government?
My view is that the Armed Forces conduct a targeted and structured recruitment effort in close cooperation with the Total Defence's duty and examination bodies. I follow the Armed Forces' work in this area closely.
Johan Andersson (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for a response that is, in my opinion, quite good. It is not common for one to say that from the opposition's side. It still feels as though the Minister for Defence and the government have taken the issues regarding future recruitment within Sweden's entire labor market, but above all within the Armed Forces, seriously.
We are facing quite large pension departures ahead on the Swedish labor market. We have sectors that will most likely grow. This is not least about the public sector and the re-recruitment of those who will leave their employment ahead due to pension departures and other reasons.
We know today that the Armed Forces have a job to do in order to be able to recruit from outside, given the security situation, given the growth that we have politically agreed to have, given our membership in Nato which was established yesterday, and so on. Here I have a couple of follow-up questions. I am well aware of the employer policy delegation and the distribution of responsibility between the Armed Forces as the executor and the government and the Riksdag in our mission to allocate funds and set goals. I would, however, like to ask what the Minister for Defence specifically sees as what needs to be done in order to be able to attract new labor to the Armed Forces.
We have come some way in terms of engaging more women in the Armed Forces, but we have a great deal of work left. I had the privilege of being in Finland together with the committee a few weeks ago, and they look with quite positive eyes on Sweden, where we have come further in the recruitment of female labor. I would, however, like the minister to elaborate, if he has the opportunity, on what more we can do to achieve a more equal labor market linked to the Armed Forces.
Försvarsministern Pål Jonson (M)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Johan Andersson, for an important interpellation!
The Armed Forces' most important asset is its personnel. We will never succeed in growing our defense if we do not strengthen the personnel supply. It is absolutely crucial. We need more conscripts, also so that more people will later choose a path as an employed soldier - reserve officer, specialist officer, or officer.
Just as Johan Andersson says in his interpellation, there are many sectors that will now grow simultaneously and attract these people. It is about the police, the Coast Guard, the customs, and the Armed Forces. It is about people whose characteristics are now in high demand.
Regarding more women within the Armed Forces, it was the case that when the previous government, with Johan Andersson's party, reactivated conscription, which we in the opposition supported, we moved from voluntary recruitment to obligation. We also made the obligation gender-neutral, which was excellent. Instead of a pool of 50,000 people, we got a pool of 100,000 people to be able to recruit from.
When we moved from voluntary recruitment to conscription, the proportion of women in the Armed Forces also increased. During the voluntary recruitment, it was at 12-13 percent. Now it is somewhere between 22 and 23 percent. Is this good enough? No, I think there are reasons to work more on this area.
What can we do then, if I am to be a bit more specific, to get more women to choose the Armed Forces and also continue within it? One area where I believe there is great potential for improvement is personal equipment. It has taken too long to provide ballistic body protection for girls doing national service. There have been deficiencies when it comes to underwear and rain suits. Getting good ambassadors from the Armed Forces who can attract more women there, I also think, is very important.
Let me also say something about what the government is doing otherwise, which I did not mention in my response to the interpellation. We have launched an investigation in the area of personnel supply, in order to increase the availability of personnel. It concerns increased availability of conscripts, reserve officers, and civil servants.
There we look at a few things. One is that the employed soldiers actually have the opportunity to stay for up to twelve years within the Armed Forces. But we notice that many leave within four years. There may be different reasons for that. It could, among other things, be that one moves forward in one's career and chooses to become a specialist officer or an officer. That is good. Then one stays within the defense family.
But we have also seen many early departures. The National Audit Office has conducted the review of continuously employed soldiers. Many have perceived that the deficiencies in training activities or in personal equipment have also characterized them. Therefore, it is good that we will now receive an in-depth basis for what would make it possible for the employed soldiers to stay longer within the Armed Forces. It is an area that the investigation is looking at.
We are also looking at, for example, the possibility of an explicit right to leave of absence for reserve officers, so that more can choose that path. And we are looking at how the Armed Forces can use civilian employees to a greater extent.
It is some of the measures we are taking linked to the ongoing investigation on personnel supply, which aims to achieve increased access to personnel in the Armed Forces. It is crucial for the growth we need in this serious security policy situation.
Johan Andersson (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the further development of the answer, Minister for Defence!
Just as the Minister of Defence says, there is a great deal left to do to increase the volume of women in the Armed Forces. The Minister of Defence points out some points.
I believe that much is about ensuring that we have a good picture of our defense forces and, of course, that there are good conditions with protective equipment and so on. But it also certainly involves a lot about the climate itself and the tolerance. It is a cadre that we have not had within the Armed Forces previously and which is now coming in. Previously, it was very male-dominated and regulated in that way.
The Minister for Defence himself raised a matter. This week, we had a meeting with the Association of Reserve Officers. They pointed out precisely that those who are reserve officers today experience that it is very difficult to get leave from employers, which I was surprised by. They had a strong request: that one should consider or contemplate the possibility of getting leave in order to serve as a reserve officer at certain times. Now, it is a matter that perhaps primarily should be handled by the parties in the labor market. But much emphasis was placed on the importance of trying to resolve those parts and on the conditions.
There is also more to highlight in the upcoming investigation. That is what I truly hope for. And I take the Minister for Defence at his word, that those questions will be included in the investigation's continued handling.
Similarly, when it comes to civil servants, it is also about the possibility of moving forward, about career opportunities. Many have learned the basics and know the operations well. There are certainly some who are good. That is roughly how one reasons also within other sectors of the Swedish labor market. I am thinking of the police and others. One can use those who are already in the system today, quickly train them, and achieve it in different ways.
I have another question regarding this. We will always have tight sectors based on the labor market situation and other factors. In that context, I am thinking of local placement. Now the operations will grow even more, and we will hopefully open operations in new locations. How does the Minister reason regarding that? Is it also highlighted in the investigation how this will be stimulated?
Other stimuli linked to that may be required. It is usually about work for accompanying persons and the entire social part. I believe we must become much better at handling it. A number of years ago, it was very popular. Then people talked a lot about tandem recruitments. Can more be done there?
Försvarsministern Pål Jonson (M)
Madam Speaker! I think Johan Andersson is wisely reasoning about the importance of being rock-solid against unwelcome behavior. It is approximately one in ten conscripts who experience unwelcome behavior. But of those, there are twice as many girls as boys. In male-dominated professions, it is unfortunately often so. I know that the Armed Forces are working hard on this. I have had interpellation debates about this earlier. Work is being done on values-based work and there is careful follow-up. The Armed Forces' personnel responsibility board can also act when it comes to this.
But it must be rock-solid if we are to succeed in getting more women into the Armed Forces. If we do, it is my assessment that we will get a better and stronger defense. One should not opt out of the Armed Forces because one has been subjected to unwelcome behavior.
When it comes to reservists and the right to leave for service, it is one of the 14 points that it is explicitly stated that the investigation shall look at. It is a very experienced investigator, Roland Ekenberg, who was previously the head of the national home guard. I therefore have good hope that it will land in well-founded and wise conclusions.
Johan Andersson raises another dimension when it comes to the Armed Forces. Previously, one probably held the view - which naturally remains - that working within the Armed Forces is partly a lifestyle profession, partly a profession where one is expected to be mobile and move around to different places in Sweden but also increasingly abroad. In that case, it is important that there are good conditions also for those accompanying, regardless of whether it is men or women who accompany their partners.
Connected to our Natointräde, that is also being looked at now. We will be sending down approximately 250 people. Within the next six years, we will have full staffing there. We are looking at those conditions. It is important.
The investigation will look at both reserve officers and civil servants, conscripts and the professional soldiers. But in order to succeed in making the basic organization grow, we also need more officers. If we are to have more conscripts, we must also have more who train them. Therefore, the government made an investment in this budget to expand the officer program with 25 places. We are moving from 250 to 275 places.
Depending on what the Defence Preparation Board says in its final report in April, it is possible that we will need to take more measures for it. We are also adding more economic resources to enable the expansion of the officer program. It is important for growth.
Johan Andersson (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister for Defence! It still feels as though there is a great consensus on how we will work further with this part.
I also believe that there are several important factors. I know that the Armed Forces have become better at that. It is also about marketing outwards. Now there has been great interest and focus among the population for various issues linked to this, not least from Russia's annexation of Ukraine and the threat situation. It has come much closer, and there has been a great focus on those parts. Hopefully, there will be a pressure linked to that.
But it is also a matter of taking the opportunity to process it and try to make it attractive. We Members of Parliament have carried out a number of visits in our constituencies to school classes in grade 9 and to upper secondary schools. There has been a great focus on precisely civil preparedness, on what is happening now, on the defense's role, how the future will look and other things. It is a matter of being able to process that.
I would like to hear a bit about how one works with that part. What other areas and opportunities for processing does the minister see?
Försvarsministern Pål Jonson (M)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Johan Andersson, for this debate! I appreciate that Johan Andersson is out visiting schools and talking about security and defense issues. I notice an increased interest in these issues, not least among young people.
What I want to emphasize, which I perceive the Armed Forces is doing perfectly, is that school informants go out to schools and achieve very fine results because the knowledge level among young people is raised regarding what the current security and defense situation entails and also what it means to perform military service. Those results have been good, and the school informants' efforts are a good way to raise awareness among young people.
The basis of our personnel supply consists of conscripts, and it ultimately relies on us having conscripts who enjoy being in the Armed Forces and want to continue within the Armed Forces. The results are now good. Over 82 percent of the conscripts perceive it as a positive experience to complete their conscription. Over half of them say that they want to continue within the Armed Forces in one form or another. Directly after completing conscription, approximately 25 percent usually continue, but many can also continue their commitment in some voluntary defense organization or in the Home Guard at a later stage.
Let me say that I think we have a pretty good personnel supply system in Sweden. I notice that there is a great international interest in the system we have with both conscripts and standing forces. We had a visit this week from the German Minister of Defence, who is interested in the Swedish model. There has also been great interest from the Netherlands, among others, and partly from Great Britain. I think, therefore, that the fundamentals of our personnel supply are good, but there are naturally reasons to further develop it, because if the Armed Forces are to be able to grow, one is completely dependent on the personnel.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.