Response to interpellation 2024/25:689 on location upon the merger of PTS and Digg
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD considers that the government has a sustainable sense of tact and that the merger of PTS and Digg has been well received 1. KD argues that the objective is for the merger to take place on January 1, 2027, but that the government must wait for referral responses before decisions are made 1 2 3. KD emphasizes that the government determines the agency's mandate and that there are conditions for localization in more than one location 2. KD argues that there are no indications that the operations in Sundsvall will be shut down 2 3. KD considers that Digg's operations in Sundsvall function very well 3.
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 Speaker! Peder Björk has asked me whether I and the government intend to make decisions in the near future regarding the merger of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) and the Agency for Digital Government (Digg).
Furthermore, Peder Björk has asked me if I and the government, in a decision to merge PTS and Digg, also intend to take a position that Sundsvall should be one of the locations where the new merged authority is located.
The Government gave PTS and Digg the assignment on 5 December 2024 to analyze and propose how Digg's tasks can be transferred to and organized within PTS (Fi2024/02416). The background to the assignment is the Government's assessment that the number of agencies should be reduced to increase efficiency in the public administration. By consolidating tasks within adjacent areas of activity, both higher efficiency and better quality can be achieved. A starting point for the Government is also that state presence and service throughout the country is important to simplify for individuals and increase the benefit to citizens. State presence maintains the legitimacy and trust of the public administration, and the Government makes continuous assessments and trade-offs when localization issues become relevant.
The change can also lead to better conditions for synergies and knowledge and experience exchange, as well as better conditions for implementing EU legislation within the digitalization area.
The authorities' joint responses were received by the Government Offices on March 14 this year. Digg and PTS have together done a good job in preparing a proposal on how Digg's tasks can be integrated into PTS and an analysis of what consequences this may have. The report is now on consultation, and the responses are to have been received by the Ministry of Finance no later than June 30.
We are now awaiting the responses from the referral bodies. The issue will then be processed in the Government Offices in the usual manner before the government takes a position on the proposal. It is still too early to say anything about the question of the agency's future location.
Peder Björk (S)
Madam Speaker! The Minister's answer actually surprises me a little, given that he has had a rather high tone and a rather high sense of urgency precisely regarding reducing the number of agencies in Sweden and increasing efficiency. Now that I am taking note of the answer, it feels unusually cautious. It is bordering on a somewhat complacent and passive approach to my questions about the merger of PTS and Digg.
Perhaps it is because the Minister is cautious because this is a somewhat different way of working. The merger was actually presented without there being any investigation that served as a basis for it. It is therefore, according to some kind of intuition from the government, that it is considered good to merge these agencies. Then, only once the agencies have received the assignment, does one get the answer as to what consequences this actually has.
I will also, in the name of honesty, say that both the Post and Telecom Authority and Digg see both advantages and disadvantages with making such a merger. But one is also very clear in this report that in the short and medium term, increased costs for their operations are seen, and one also sees that there will be an operational impact if the government chooses to proceed with the merger. Therefore, they want – the authorities are very clear about this – a decision from the government as quickly as possible. Today's answer to my questions, Madam Speaker, does not directly lead the thought toward speed.
At the same time, the authorities in the report and the response to the government's assignment are very clear that they want a continued localization of the operations in both Stockholm and Sundsvall. They are clear about this and highlight that need so that no negative consequences arise for the operations.
I can certainly respect that the Minister for the Civil Service cannot specifically point out the location for the future potentially merged agency today. But I wonder if the Minister can nevertheless venture to at least say whether the government intends to at all make a decision on the location or if you intend to leave this entirely to the agencies to decide for themselves.
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! Now, I do not think we should underestimate the government's sensitivity; I think it is often quite sustainable. That turned out, I think, also in the reception of this proposal – to merge Digg and PTS and make it a larger, more powerful digitalization agency. It has been very well received, I must say, not least within the tech industry, where they are very happy with that direction.
I can possibly agree that it could be made clearer in the answer that the government's direction is that a merger, or an incorporation of Digg into PTS, shall take place. We have also said that this, if no overriding arguments speak against it, shall take place on 1 January 2027. That is the direction for this work.
But I still want to have respect for the work that is ongoing, with the referral that is now out until June 30. Arguments for a different line that the government considers convincing may come, and then we must be open to that. Therefore, I do not want to lock myself into this, but the direction is that a merger shall take place.
This follows exactly the same order we have had with the six agencies that will become three from 2026 onwards. There, we investigated ten agencies. After the matter had been out for consultation and we received positions and comments from the agencies, we did not proceed with two of the mergers. We did, however, proceed with three of them so that six agencies become three. We are following exactly the same order now with PTS and Digg, so there is nothing strange from that aspect.
We think it worked very well with the order we had then. It was a new approach from the government's side, which is because we, from the government's side, in various documents are very clear that we want to reduce the number of agencies – it is part of what we call the review project.
Now it is becoming a bit of a situation where one wants to anticipate events. I may possibly have respect for the fact that as the opposition you are eager and want answers. But as a minister, I speak for the entire government, and the government has not made any decisions yet. What we have decided on is to begin a piece of work. In a first step, these authorities shall themselves weigh the pros and cons and propose how such a reform could take place. This is now out for consultation until June 30, and then the preparation shall take place.
Neither the government nor I have given any indication that the operations in Sundsvall will be shut down. But we must return to the issue of the location. We must first decide whether it should become an agency – should the two become one? That is what we can start by deciding. Then we will be able to provide information regarding the location.
Peder Björk (S)
Madam Speaker! I live in Sundsvall and represent Västernorrland here in the Riksdag. It could, therefore, appear as if I am choosing to raise this issue for somewhat local-patriotic reasons because I want to protect jobs in Sundsvall. That is of course not insignificant, but it is definitely not the main reason why I am raising this issue here in the chamber.
I do it because I am concerned given how the government has previously handled the state presence and service throughout the country and on the decisions that have been made previously during this term. Through several decisions, this SD government has shown that one actually does not care about state presence and service throughout the country.
There are several examples, not least from the county I represent here in the Riksdag. For example, one chooses to move the headquarters of the Folke Bernadotte Academy from Kramfors to Stockholm. One chooses to move Sidas operations in Härnösand from there to Stockholm.
As if this were not enough, Madam Speaker, the Minister and the Government choose to close 35 state service offices around the entire country. The background is that the Government clearly points out that they are to make budget cuts and in this way force Statens servicecenter to remove the state presence and, above all, the state service around the entire country. This, Madam Speaker, is the reason why I am asking these questions today. I am concerned, because one cannot really be sure how this Government chooses to handle these issues.
When it comes to the service centers specifically, it has also shown that the Minister and the government are not interested in taking responsibility for the consequences of the decisions they themselves have made, having completely handed over to Statens servicecenter the decision on where the service centers should be located around the country. One could imagine that the government had an idea of what the service should look like and where the offices should be located around the country and actually pointed that out. But that is something they have chosen to refrain from.
That is exactly why I am asking the question about the location and about the idea and thought behind the merger of PTS and Digg. It is also why I would have liked to have an answer today on whether the government is prepared to actively designate locations.
To this are also added questions about how this activity shall be conducted going forward. It may well be my question now, Madam Speaker: Even if the Minister does not wish to promise today that a location will be designated, is the Minister prepared to be clear about what direction the authority shall have for its activity when PTS and Digg are merged, or will it be very much up to the receiving authority, PTS, to decide what direction it shall be even for the activity that it then takes over from Digg?
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! I understand that Peder Björk wants an answer now regarding the exact location. But I cannot give such an answer, because we have not made any decision on this yet. We have not even made a decision on whether the authorities should merge. The member is anticipating the events. I understand the impatience, but if we make a decision on a merger, or an incorporation of Digg into PTS, the intention is that this should take place on 1 January 2027. This gives us all the conditions to have an orderly process and provide ample time for preparations.
It sounds, I think, from Peder Björk a bit as if the activity will disappear in Sundsvall if the government does not manage this. It sounds as if Peder Björk has heard the director-general say that there is such a will. I have never heard that.
Björk himself said that in the reports and analyses that have come from the authorities, one rather guards that the operations should exist in both Sundsvall and Stockholm. I therefore do not quite understand why this concern is now being whipped up. I would like to appeal to Peder Björk not to whip up concern, because there is no signal either from my side or the government's side, or from the authorities, that one wants to shut down in Sundsvall.
This will become a large agency if we decide to merge these agencies. There are absolutely conditions for having locations in more than one place. But I cannot answer yes or no here today because we have not even made a decision on a merger.
But do not stir up any unrest now, and do not spread any rumors that it will be shut down in Sundsvall, because no such direction exists at all.
Regarding the last question, if PTS is to decide what kind of mandate the authority shall have, the answer is: No, absolutely not. The government does that. If we merge the authorities, there will be a joint instruction and a joint regulatory letter. It is the government that decides what the authorities shall work on and what mandate they shall have. There will be no change in this regarding the new authority.
Peder Björk (S)
Madam Speaker! I do not actually think that I am spreading much concern. The government itself does that very well through its actions and the policy it pursues.
This government's policy stands in stark contrast to previous Social Democratic governments and the policy pursued then, which fundamentally aimed at actual state presence and service throughout the country. The relocation and new localization of state agencies was one of the tools to achieve this.
I was the chairman of the municipal executive board in Sundsvall when the Social Democratic government decided to create Digg and also decided that the new agency should be located in just Sundsvall. I want to be clear that this was not about the government wanting to be kind to Sundsvall or Västernorrland, but it was about the government making a thorough analysis and seeing that the best conditions in the country for an establishment were in Sundsvall. One had both the insight and the starting point that not everything actually needs to be centralized to Stockholm. Then the choice fell on Sundsvall.
Given the answers from PTS and Digg regarding the government's assignment, it also seems that the choice made by the Social Democratic government was very wise. I hope that this government also will at some point manage to look beyond Stockholm and actively choose to decide that the future location for a merger of PTS and Digg shall be both Sundsvall and Stockholm.
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! As has been said, there are no indications today that it would not be so. But I repeat: The report is out for consultation until June 30. The Government shall then prepare whether we should at all proceed with a merger. Given the nature of the report and how this has been received outside of politics, I still think much speaks for a merger taking place. But we shall await the consultation bodies, and then the whole matter shall be prepared. If the Government concludes that we want to merge these two agencies, we will of course also take a position on the location.
I would still like to praise Digg and Statens pensionsverk, who in Sundsvall have joined forces and now share premises. They are fine premises. One gets more colleagues and can share many common spaces. One gets a better working environment while simultaneously reducing premises costs per employee. It was a very good initiative. I was there and inaugurated the premises as well.
I have no grudge against Sundsvall. I like Sundsvall and have been there many times during my time as minister. We have several agencies there. I also have no objection to Sundsvall having agencies.
Digg's operations in Sundsvall are working very well. Digg also has operations in Stockholm. The operations are located in both Stockholm and Sundsvall, but the headquarters is located in Sundsvall. From Digg, the issue has never been raised or said that they want to leave there either.
Again: There are no indications today that we would abolish the authority in Sundsvall. But the decision must be taken first once we have decided that the two authorities shall merge.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.