Response to interpellation 2023/24:541 on the transition study support and regulatory simplifications
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
L argues that the government has taken measures to facilitate the administration of the transition study support, which causes processing times to decrease significantly 1 2. L emphasizes that the reform is important for welfare and the green transition 2. L believes that the responsibility for the problems lies with S, who ignored CSN's warnings that the timeline was too fast and the regulatory framework was not adapted 3. L claims that they are now implementing regulatory simplifications at a fast pace to rectify S's failures 3. S argues that the government is not increasing the pace sufficiently and that tens of thousands of individuals risk not receiving a decision in time 4. S claims that 10 billion kronor risk being wasted due to delays 5. S argues that the Riksdag can implement the changes faster than the government 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.
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! Niklas Sigvardsson has asked me if I have taken the initiative for an analysis of how much of the allocated funds will not be used because the regulatory simplifications will not come into effect according to CSN's proposal, and what measures I intend to take so that money is not wasted. Niklas Sigvardsson has also asked me why the government, against the will of CSN and the parties, chooses to postpone the entry into force of the proposed regulatory simplifications.
The Government has introduced the transition study support in exactly the way that was announced in the bill Flexibility, transition capability and security in the labor market (prop. 2021/22:176), which was adopted by the Riksdag with a large majority. The transition study support is, however, a completely new type of study support, and the administration of the support is complex and time-consuming. The Government has therefore taken a number of measures to facilitate the administration and has, among other things, ensured that the resources at the Central Swedish Student Aid Board, CSN, are temporarily increased during 2023-2025.
To facilitate administration, CSN has been tasked with developing proposals for regulatory changes that can lead to shorter processing times and more automated processes, but without changing the fundamental purpose of the reform and without expanding the target group for the support to any significant extent. CSN presented its proposals for regulatory simplifications on 13 November 2023.
It is important that proposals simplifying the processing of the transition study support can be implemented as soon as possible. The Government has therefore recently decided on simplifications, which entered into force on 1 April this year. The rapid entry into force is due to the fact that these changes are of a smaller scale and are regulated by ordinance.
CSN has also submitted proposals for simplifications of rules that are of a larger scale and which require changes in law. This presupposes, among other things, that the relevant referral bodies are given more time to submit comments. The proposals also presuppose processing by the Council on Legislation and the Riksdag, and the proposed entry into force was therefore not judged to be feasible. The Ministry of Education therefore prepared a supplementary memorandum with a different entry into force, which the referral bodies instead were asked to take a position on.
With the measures that the government has taken, there are good conditions for the reform to develop positively moving forward. The government will continuously follow how the reform is implemented and has a close dialogue with CSN and the parties regarding how the introduction proceeds. This naturally includes following and analyzing the forecasts that CSN provides regarding the use of the support.
Niklas Sigvardsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
It is not the first time that I and the Minister have debated this issue, and by reason of the answer, it is probably not the last either. It may sound like minor details we are discussing, but this means very much for very many in our society. It is for all those who can take part in the transition study support that it is established, and this is so that we as a country shall have a workforce that can transition throughout their lives. It is also about being able to educate oneself and realize oneself not just during one's youth, but throughout life.
When I submitted the interpellation in February, 75,000 applications had been submitted to CSN, and approximately 7,000 had been granted. Fortunately, a few more have managed to be granted now, but on April 1, when the fourth application round opened, 10,000 new applications arrived in just the first day. This shows that if all the thousands of people who are entitled to the support are to receive a decision in time, the question of simplifying the rules is necessary to pursue and at a faster pace than the Minister presents here today.
It is an extremely important reform. The state and the parties in the labor market have together stepped forward and said that clear measures need to be taken and the rules of the game for the Swedish labor market changed through LAS, and what the employees should get a share of: further development through transition study support. But unfortunately, it is now tens of thousands of individuals who do not receive the message that gives them the courage to jump into studies that allow them to grow and strengthen their position on the labor market.
That is why I wish for the government to see the seriousness of the matter and for the Council of State to increase the pace. We need the Council on Legislation and referrals to the Council on Legislation, but we in the chamber of the Riksdag want to work as quickly as possible. I have said countless times in this speaker's chair that we in the Social Democrats, the largest party in the opposition, are willing to go as fast as possible to get this implemented, because there are thousands of individuals waiting for support. There are proposals regarding changes to working conditions, establishment conditions, and income conditions, and regarding shortage occupations and the like.
This is urgent, and here I share the concern that the parties - LO, Svenskt Näringsliv and PTK - have jointly expressed in connection with CSN's proposal. CSN's assessment is that it should be possible to implement these rule simplifications, which could increase the pace of CSN, so that more have received notification when they are to begin their education.
Therefore, I cannot really be satisfied with the answer given by the Minister that there is no time for the required Government Offices review and that it must be postponed. This means that both the first and second rounds of applications will be further delayed and that CSN will not be able to process the system in time. I give the Minister the opportunity again to answer why it is being delayed.
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! I perceive that we, in broad political agreement, are doing everything we can to try to get these rules in place as quickly as possible. I also perceive that an incredibly large number of initiatives are now being taken so that a faster processing can occur than what has been the case previously. We now have a situation where CSN every week processes more applications than are coming in. This means that week by week, the pile of applications that has been held since the reform was launched is being worked through.
It should also be remembered that the reform was launched significantly earlier than originally intended due to demands from the parties. Some of the teething problems that existed from the beginning were such as all actors knew could arise.
Given that it is still the case that one is currently doing their absolute utmost to reduce the application times, and it is clearly moving in the right direction. Every week, CSN processes more applications than new ones come in, which means that the pile of applications is being cleared at a very high rate.
By the government now acting very proactively and giving CSN these tools to be able to handle applications in a faster way and making rule simplifications, the processing times will decrease significantly. This is important, because this is a good reform that makes it possible for people in the middle of life to transition and educate themselves for different types of shortage occupations. It is good for Sweden and good for the individual.
Niklas Sigvardsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I share the view that it is positive that CSN has increased the processing rate. It is very pleasing, among other things for those whom I visited about half a year ago at the office in Gävle and who work with exactly this. Much is changing through a semi-automated system support that was implemented a few weeks before Easter, and that too is positive.
But for it to have full effect and for CSN to be able to handle more and have shorter processing times, regulatory simplifications need to be put in place. Even though the Minister can beat his chest because it is going a bit faster now, the annual reports from CSN show that the average processing time was 170 days for the transition study support during 2023. That is far more than the time from when the application period begins until the students are to start their studies. It is not reasonable to let people who may have started a family, established themselves with a steady income and are trying to piece together a life puzzle be put in limbo, so that they possibly have to wonder whether they will have money during these months or if the support will even run out - for the time being, we are not yet at the levels that we will be at in a few years, when this is fully built up.
I met as recently as yesterday with the Negotiating Council for Public Sector Employees, who spoke about these simplifications of rules and about what the Minister mentioned at the end, shortages. After an appeal in ÖKS, the Appeals Board for Student Aid, a number of judgments were issued with outcomes that no one really had seen the intention of. I know that the Minister went out and said: If this goes against the intention we have, we shall change it.
It took eleven months to carry out this work at the Ministry of Education before it was sent out for consultation, and one continues to let the entry into force be delayed by another half year. This means that people who are already in shortage occupations risk not receiving the support for over a year and a half, even though I believe we agree that this is not the intention of the system – I hear the Minister of Education talking about it. It shows some of the inertia when we work with regulatory simplifications in the transition study support.
I want to return to why we are doing this and why we have this debate. It is about thousands of people who want a share of this support, many of whom are entitled to the support but do not receive notice in time. According to what is stated on pages 19 and 20 of the budget basis that CSN has presented to the government, there is a risk that during 2024, 2025, and 2026, 10 billion of the projected support will not be able to be paid out. 10 billion is an extremely large amount of money, and it is intended for those who want an opportunity to transition, further develop themselves, and strengthen their position on the labor market.
It is for all those who will not receive notice in time and who perhaps will not begin their studies that we have this debate. I want to point that out very clearly. Therefore, I pose the question to the minister again, because I am not quite satisfied with the answer yet: What is the minister doing to further speed up the pace of the regulatory simplification process?
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! I think Niklas Sigvardsson should be very pleased with what I am expressing. What we are doing is improving the regulatory framework. The processing time is decreasing significantly. CSN now makes decisions on more applications every week than new ones come in, which everyone who can do the math will realize will mean that the pile of applications will eventually disappear.
We are taking new measures to make the system even simpler and further reduce processing times. We have taken a number of measures, and we will now take additional measures. If the Social Democrats in the Riksdag wish to act by legislating in various ways and anticipating the government's work, the Social Democrats have that possibility, but I have not understood that the Social Democrats wish to do so. I assume that the Social Democrats think we should treat the Riksdag with the respect that the Riksdag deserves when it comes to legislative changes.
This is an important reform that makes it possible for people to transition in the middle of life. It makes it possible for the welfare state to increase the availability of competent labor. It makes it possible for people to take jobs in the green transition and in the industrial expansion we see in Sweden; places that previously had it tough economically now have a big boom. It also makes it possible for people who have grown tired of their jobs to find something new in the middle of life. This is an incredibly good reform for the individual, for the welfare state, for industry and the green transition, and for Sweden as a whole.
We are now seeing point by point how the reform is being launched better and better and how the processing times are decreasing. The large pile of paperwork from 2022 is thinning out slowly but surely and is becoming smaller and smaller. Eventually, there will be no pile of paperwork at all. It is a development that Niklas Sigvardsson should welcome and receive with joy and not stand here and complain about.
Niklas Sigvardsson (S)
Madam Speaker! If I am perceived as complaining, I suppose I must accept that, but what I am actually expressing is that tens of thousands of individuals have not been able to access the support until now because they have simply given up after a six-month wait, as they have asked themselves whether they will receive student support and whether they dare to jump into their studies.
Even during this half-year, CSN has said that they cannot guarantee that those who applied on April 1 will know if they receive support when the studies begin in August. CSN has been open about the fact that they cannot guarantee that students who start studying here and now will know this before the studies begin in August. That is why I am so eager. If this eagerness instead becomes complaining, then so be it.
It is about the tens of thousands who have not been informed. I think the government has shown that it can be extremely fast in other matters, regarding both the work in the Government Offices and the work here in the Riksdag, with extremely short motion periods, practically non-existent ones.
For the rest of us in the opposition, there is in principle an open goal here in an issue where we parliamentary parties are extremely in agreement and where we can jointly press the yes button here in the Riksdag and implement the regulatory simplifications.
In the authority that has investigated this, in large parts of the parties, and in the referral responses, it is unambiguous: People want it to go fast, they are satisfied, and they accept the changes contained in the texts that have been presented and in the memoranda that the government has decided on, except when it concerns the point of entry into force. There, people want it to go as quickly as possible so that the processing rate can be increased.
CSN expects the regulatory simplifications to be in place when they make their calculations, and then it is 10 billion that risk being lost. This figure should make the minister a bit more eager to make a change.
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Niklas Sigvardsson, for the debate!
It is one thing I do not quite understand. CSN flagged during 2021 and 2022, before the reform was to be implemented, that the reform could not be carried out with the decided timetable because there would be problems with carrying it out so quickly. Who was in power then? Yes, it was the Social Democrats.
What did the Social Democrats do in 2021 and 2022? We are now implementing regulatory simplifications at a very fast pace, and these are having a tangible effect. Why did the Social Democrats not introduce them during 2021 and 2022 when they were in power? Then we would not have had these problems. Then the regulatory framework would have been adapted from day one until it was introduced.
What we are doing now, which is making the processing times decrease, is regulatory changes and some legislative work. Why didn't the Social Democrats do that when they had the chance? Then we would not have had these people as queues who have to wait for their place of education.
The responsibility for this lies with the Social Democrats and no one else. It is a very heavy responsibility that falls on previous Social Democratic governments because they have not taken their responsibility in this matter. It has been hoped that it would work out despite the authority repeatedly warning and saying: Do not introduce this timeline! And if you do, then make sure to change the regulatory system so that individual people do not get caught in the crossfire!
The Social Democrats chose, however, not to listen, and what is the consequence then? Well, that individual people get caught in the crossfire. Niklas Sigvardsson talks about tens of thousands of people. That is what it is about, and the responsibility for us having ended up where we are rests heavily on the Socialdemokraterna.
Now we are doing everything we can to rectify your failures, Niklas Sigvardsson. We are working as hard as we can. Please support this work – I welcome it – but also take your responsibility!
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.