Response to interpellation 2024/25:621 on crisis preparedness for persons with disabilities
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 M argues that the government has taken measures to include persons with disabilities in the crisis preparedness through Socialstyrelsen's mandate and increased grants 1. 1 2 M emphasizes that crisis preparedness is prioritized in the strategy for disability policy and that MSB follows up on this 1 2. 2 M believes that those who do not need support should take responsibility for themselves so that resources can be allocated to vulnerable groups 2. 2 M highlights that MSB works with adapted information 2. 3 S advocates for an in-depth mapping of crisis preparedness from a disability perspective 3. 3 S wants MSB and Myndigheten för delaktighet to develop methodological support 3. 4 S emphasizes the need for systematicity and clear leadership 4. 5 M argues that authorities have already been tasked with developing an action plan 5. 5 M emphasizes that the government takes the issue very seriously and invests large resources in civil defense 5. 6 M claims that the capacity in civil defense has been built up during recent years 6.
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 Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Madam Speaker! Karin Sundin has asked me what measures I and the government intend to take to improve crisis preparedness for persons with disabilities and in what way I and the government will ensure that the authorities' crisis information reaches everyone – also persons with different forms of disabilities.
Individual preparedness is a central part of our collective resilience in both crisis and heightened alert, and ultimately in war. Not everyone can do it at the same level, and that is something we naturally need to take into account.
Among the measures the government has taken to ensure that persons with disabilities are made visible and included in crisis preparedness are, among others, Socialstyrelsen's mandate to support the social services and the municipal health and medical care's work with crisis preparedness and civil defense (S2024/00853 partially). In the implementation of the mandate, the perspective of persons with disabilities shall be taken into account.
In this context, municipalities and regions have a central role. Regions and municipalities are responsible for taking the necessary preparations to be able to manage their operations even during peacetime crisis situations and high alert. To provide regions and municipalities with the right conditions to take their responsibility, the government has increased the grants to the municipalities' and regions' work with crisis preparedness and civil defense.
In the Government's strategy for systematic follow-up of the disability policy, twelve prioritized areas of society are identified. One prioritized area is crisis preparedness, where the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, MSB, has a specific mandate to follow up on the national goal for the disability policy.
The government has also decided on a financial supplement to MSB to modernize shelters and strengthen the municipal rescue services' ability to act during high alert and war. This includes ensuring that the protection is accessible to everyone, including persons with disabilities.
Furthermore, MSB has been tasked to cooperate with its counterparts in Finland and develop a joint planning for cross-border large-scale evacuation (Fö2025/00710). This planning shall take into account groups that may be in a vulnerable situation, for example children, the elderly and persons with disabilities.
To ensure that the authorities' crisis information reaches everyone, there are several good examples. MSB coordinates the communication to the public and operates the site Krisinformation.se, which provides consolidated crisis information from authorities around the clock. On MSB's website, there is a text-to-speech function, easy-to-read versions, sign language and audio description, subtitles, as well as accessible PDF files.
Furthermore, MSB has begun work on developing specially adapted advice on crisis preparedness for persons who need extra support during a crisis or war. These pieces of advice have been developed together with persons who themselves have some form of disability or a special need for support. The advice is currently adapted for the blind and visually impaired, the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as those with mobility impairments, and is available on the agency's website as well as on Krisinformation.se.
It is valuable that persons with disabilities are given the opportunity to contribute their own perspectives in the work with crisis preparedness. Within, for example, total defense, it can play an important role in strengthening Sweden's defense capability. Commitment and competence from persons with different functional abilities contribute to a defense strategy where every individual's ability and potential is utilized to create a robust and effective total defense.
The Government has received the MFD's report, and it is currently being prepared within the Government Offices. I and the Government are keen that the crisis preparedness for persons with disabilities should be improved. Therefore, I will follow the developments in the area closely.
Karin Sundin (S)
Madam Speaker! Civil preparedness is about how we as a society should plan and organize ourselves to be able to handle future crises and reduce the effects of the crises. This is, of course, no simple task. One must plan for all conceivable scenarios everywhere in society and for all conceivable types of people.
I would therefore like to begin by reminding [us] what this is actually about.
It is about Bertil, who does not get around without his permobil and who risks getting stuck in his residence if the power goes out, if the elevators stop working, or if the batteries run out.
It is about Linda, who is deaf-blind and needs guidance and interpretation in her everyday life and, of course, also in a crisis.
It is about Mohammed who is deaf and therefore cannot follow the instruction to listen to the radio in the event of a crisis.
It is also about Maria who has autism. She has difficulty absorbing the authorities' information, and she has a very hard time planning for what is not planned.
It is also about Johanna who, despite starting to get on in years, manages on her own but does not quite keep up as before. She has difficulty walking, difficulty carrying heavy things, and from time to time has a bit of difficulty with her memory.
It is about, Madam Speaker, that approximately 20 percent of the population between 16 and 84 years of age has some form of disability – approximately one and a half million people. It is not a homogeneous group. They are affected in different ways by their disability in everyday life and, of course, when the crisis comes.
If we are to be honest, we have quite a lot left to do before we as a society can say that we are handling these inequalities in a good way. The UN committee that has reviewed how Sweden complies with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities stated last year, after a dialogue with the government, that Sweden lacks a comprehensive strategy based on human rights to reduce the risk of disasters.
They further noted that Sweden needs to strengthen the capacity to carry out humanitarian interventions and manage disaster situations.
Sweden also needs to become better at coordinating preventive work and reactive measures that include a perspective on disabilities, both at the national and local level.
Not least, Sweden lacks effective communication in risk and disaster situations for persons with disabilities, particularly for persons with intellectual, neuropsychiatric and mental disabilities, which is something different than physical disabilities.
I thank the Minister for the answer to the interpellation and note that the answer contains both good intentions and good examples. But I lack the comprehensive strategy. It does not appear that there is a systematic and structured work as the UN calls for.
I therefore repeat my questions to the Minister: How does the Minister and the Government want to improve the work? How is better systematicity and structure to be achieved in this work?
Eva Lindh (S)
Madam Speaker! Last spring, I met many children and young people who felt strong anxiety about when the war will come. That was their perception. Many were paralyzed by fear. I also spoke with several young people who reached out and asked: What should we do? How will we know when it eventually comes? These were students – children and young people – with different types of disabilities. It makes one quite sad to hear, of course, because the anxiety can be very great. These students understand and realize that they do not have the same conditions as everyone else to find out what one should do. This has been highlighted in a good way by my colleague Karin Sundin.
That the UN's monitoring committee reviewed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and issued rather sharp criticism due to deficiencies in crisis preparedness raises many questions, which Karin Sundin has now also posed to the Minister. Persons with disabilities risk falling through the cracks in the event of a crisis or war.
The obstacles are quite many. Perhaps there are those who listen who wonder what this could mean. We are talking about the fact that there is a warning and information system in Sweden. But if one has a hearing or visual impairment, one cannot take part in that system. This means that one risks not being evacuated. There is a shortage of shelters in all of Sweden, but even when they do exist, they are not always accessible. Thus, one might not be able to get either into a shelter or out of one's apartment if one does not have assistive devices. This means a health risk or even a danger to life.
When it comes to the education and the exercises we need to carry out, a perspective on functional impairments is lacking. This means that persons with functional impairments cannot participate in them.
Has anyone done anything? Yes, some countries have actually worked on this. Sweden could look at them and take inspiration from, for example, the USA and the UK, but closest perhaps is our neighboring country Norway, which has developed a national plan and is working with this.
We have had debates earlier about civil preparedness, because we naturally think it is important. It always is, but especially now when the issue is so acute given the security policy situation that Sweden and many countries find themselves in. It is high time to think not only about the large majority of the population but also about the large minority who have functional impairments and who need help and support and a preparedness plan for if the crisis or the war comes.
Statsrådet Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Karin Sundin and Eva Lindh, for two important contributions and important questions!
I do not fundamentally believe that there are huge party-dividing opinions in these issues. We have had a decided strategy regarding the follow-up of the disability policy since 2021.
If one chooses to comply with the said UN rapporteur's criticism of Sweden, one fundamentally rejects the work that the previous government initiated in this area. Now, the government makes the assessment that a new national action plan for disability policy should be able to be decided during 2026.
In the strategy I just mentioned, crisis preparedness is one of twelve prioritized areas, where MSB has a specific mandate to monitor the work and to report on it continuously in its annual report. My view is therefore that the issue is on our agenda and that we take it very seriously.
If one chooses to zoom out a little, it is naturally important that we together build a society where everyone can contribute to the total defense according to their ability. The total defense obligation covers all Swedes between 16 and 70 years of age.
I can add another layer to this. It is natural that for society to be able to channel its resources to those who have the greatest need, all of us who do not have a need for support and help in our daily lives must take the responsibility we are obligated to take to manage on our own during crisis and war, so that we do not become a burden on society. Then resources can be allocated to a greater extent to particularly vulnerable groups – including parts of those affected by disabilities. It is among other reasons why the government puts great effort and force into informing the entire Swedish population.
What demands are we making on our citizens to manage on their own during crisis and war, so that, for example, municipalities can take on the care responsibility they have even under disrupted conditions? As a matter of fact, I had a visit today from Hadja Lahbib, who is an EU Commissioner for, among other things, preparedness issues. She said that Sweden represents the gold standard when it comes to preparedness – the highest standard when it comes to preparedness work. One of the examples she had was that she had not only been given a copy of the brochure Om krisen eller kriget kommer but also received it in braille. That folder is therefore produced to meet groups affected by different types of disabilities. I think that is a clear and concrete example of how MSB strives to reach out.
Karin Sundin (S)
Madam Speaker! I do not believe there are either large differences in substance between myself and the Minister in this matter. Just as I said in my first intervention, there are good intentions, ambitions, and examples in the Minister's answer. But I believe there is a difference in the level of ambition.
As the Minister pointed out in his response, municipalities and regions have a central role in crisis preparedness. The Agency for Participation has reviewed the municipal crisis preparedness. From their interviews with responsible officials and politicians, it appears that issues regarding disabilities and human rights have low priority in the municipal work. Many municipalities lack a strategic and overarching perspective on disabilities in their crisis preparedness work.
It looks better in the activities that work with support for people with disabilities according to LSS or the Social Services Act, for example, LSS housing, daily activities, and elderly care. But those are limited perspectives linked to a rather narrow area of activity from a municipal perspective. It does not include the many people with disabilities who do not live in LSS housing, participate in daily activities, or in any other way receive support from the municipality according to the Social Services Act or LSS.
The risk with such a narrow perspective is that many people with disabilities will lack support on the day society is hit by a disruption or crisis. The Agency for Participation notes that this group constitutes a dark figure of unknown and varying size within the municipal crisis preparedness.
What is positive in this review is that most municipalities say that they want to conduct a more strategic work. They do not, however, know how to do it. They say themselves that they have too little knowledge and that they desire support for the work. They desire normative agency support, methodological support and guidance, as well as analytical support.
It goes without saying that it is difficult for the municipalities to formulate a reasonable level of ambition for the work when guidelines are lacking. Without guidelines, we risk having completely different levels of crisis preparedness for persons with disabilities in different municipalities and in different regions.
In the report, the Agency for Participation states that there is some that can be done. They have three clear proposals to the government on what should be done.
Firstly, a government agency should be tasked with reviewing how the municipalities include a perspective of persons with disabilities in their work with crisis preparedness and civil defense.
Secondly, an in-depth mapping of crisis preparedness from a perspective of disabilities should be carried out. That mapping should cover both municipalities and regions, and one should also take an international view. Just as my colleague Eva Lindh highlighted, there are good examples. Let us actively seek them out, preferably with a focus on the Nordics and Nato. There are good examples there.
Thirdly, MSB, that is the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, and the Agency for Participation should be tasked with developing the methodological support that the municipalities desire, and let this include methodological support for the regions.
I wonder, Madam Speaker, whether the minister responsible for civil preparedness intends to act based on these very clear proposals, which are addressed to him specifically.
Eva Lindh (S)
Madam Speaker! I did not intend to enter into a rebuttal regarding what has or has not been done previously. Now that we are in the third – and soon the fourth – year of this mandate period, I intend to focus on what is happening right now.
My advice to the Minister is to see it as that my colleague Karin Sundin and I are not only asking questions on our own behalf. There are people who feel anxiety, and the Minister now has the opportunity to convey that he truly sees that this is needed and that the government is acting. The Minister has the opportunity to show understanding for the anxiety that exists among many people who have disabilities and show that he sees that anxiety.
Sometimes it is not just about what one does but also about what one says. The government says that all Swedes need to act to strengthen Sweden's resilience. The State Council has said so. It is true that we all need to help each other, but it is not shown that it is also the case that the government takes responsibility for the heavy assignments that municipalities and regions take on and that people are prepared to take. One must also nationally – from the government's side – show that one steps up and helps with what municipalities and regions need. It is about resources as well as help with strategy, plans, and preparedness for precisely these issues. It concerns civil preparedness in general but especially the issues we are talking about now.
Give a statement, Minister! Calm the people who may be sitting at home and who will be asking us questions! Give them a statement that the Minister truly takes these issues seriously!
Statsrådet Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Madam Speaker! I can possibly please the interpellator and Eva Lindh by stating that MSB, the Agency for Participation, and the National Board of Health and Welfare have already been commissioned to develop an action plan in this social area, which is one of twelve prioritized social areas for disability policy. It is to be delivered to the government on December 1 this year. In that case, we expect an action plan for how this work is to be carried out further. Perhaps it is also this that is being requested in terms of support to, for example, municipalities and regions.
Regarding Eva Lindh's question, I hope it appears with all clarity that this is an area that the government takes most seriously. We are now investing very large resources in building up the civil defense.
I can, to be completely honest, understand that there has been criticism of the municipal emergency preparedness work from a disability perspective historically, simply because there has been room for general criticism of the municipal emergency preparedness work. In many cases, it has been non-existent in many places until just a couple of years ago. Right now, however, there are many municipalities making very large efforts to increase their own capacity in this area. This must naturally also include people with different forms of disabilities, who are often covered by some form of municipal care responsibility. This is the core of the municipal operations and must be able to be maintained also in the event of heightened preparedness. It must naturally be a fully integrated perspective in the operations that the municipalities carry out.
My point towards Eva Lindh was not to say that the previous government did a good or bad job in this area. I only stated that there seems to be a rough consensus on the direction of the work that we are trying to carry out here. We are continuing a piece of work that we inherited from the previous government and are trying to improve it, among other things through the action plan that I just referred to. Decisions have been made regarding it, and it is to be delivered by December 1st of this year at the latest. Naturally, we hope that this leads to improvements.
Karin Sundin (S)
Madam Speaker! It is good that the government is tasking its agencies to act within this area. This is, however, only part of the work. What I am calling for is systematicity.
The Minister returned once again to those activities that today in daily operations work with persons with disabilities according to LSS and the Social Services Act. The question, however, concerns the many and the great breadth of disabilities that we need to embrace within the crisis preparedness work. For a responsible Minister, it is a matter of leading the development.
I want to send Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin a quote from the report that I have mentioned in the debate. It comes from one of those who participate in the agency's investigation panel. The person says as follows: I have never seen any information aimed at people with disabilities. There is a shelter in the basement where I live, but if an alarm comes, I wouldn't even be able to get there. It is probably just a matter of lying down and dying quietly so that one is not in the way for those who are healthy and strong.
That feeling, that anxiety, and these very gloomy future prospects must be taken seriously and must also be met by clear leadership. It must lead to leadership. It must lead to systematicity and a better structure in the crisis preparedness for the entire population – not just for those who need braille or for those who need support from the municipality today, but for the entire breadth of the population who have different forms of disabilities. Sweden must have good preparedness for everyone. That also includes these people.
Statsrådet Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Madam Speaker! I believe, as I have said, that we do not fundamentally have such different views on this issue, and my view is that the government will receive additional tools in the form of the reporting from the government assignments.
Let me return to what I stated initially: One of the most important sub-components we can devote ourselves to right now is to ensure that there is a capability in civil defense to begin with. Bluntly speaking, it has been non-existent for quite a long number of years. I have in previous interpellation debates stated that from the time the Riksdag in 2015 decided that civil defense should be resurrected – it was then completely dismantled – nothing happened in the first few years because the government at the time did not allocate any funds to civil defense. This has only occurred in recent years.
We are still at the beginning of a comprehensive capacity building. If that capacity has not existed in civil defense, that capacity has been lacking for all citizens – whether disabled or not. But now we see how this capacity is rapidly growing, and it is obviously important that this capacity can be directed to those most in need in society. But this also places higher demands on all of us who belong to the group that is not most in need: We need to take our responsibility and manage to take care of ourselves and thereby constitute a resource for the total defense rather than a burden.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.