Response to interpellation 2024/25:740 on limiting the number of subcontractors
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD considers it crucial to exclude unserious actors from public procurement to protect workers and prevent accidents 1. KD argues that contracting authorities can set requirements for serious subcontractors 1 and that one must work more strategically with existing rules 2, as a limitation of subcontractors conflicts with EU law 2. KD believes that one needs to drive away unserious actors so that only serious and honest actors appear in public Sweden 3. S argues that long chains of subcontractors and pressured prices blur responsibility and increase the risk of accidents 4. S wants to change the legislation to limit the number of subcontractor levels to two 5. S also proposes a strengthened role for safety representatives, reinforced resources for Arbetsmiljöverket 5 as well as establishing a commission to address workplace accidents. S considers that the number of subcontractors makes it harder to ensure the work environment and that it is a deficiency for Sweden when serious companies are squeezed out by unserious or criminal actors.
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)
Mr. Speaker! Eva Lindh has asked me what measures I and the government are prepared to take to reduce the number of workplace accidents and whether I intend to act to change the procurement regulations in order to thereby reduce the number of workplace accidents and limit opportunities for cheating.
As Minister for Civil Affairs, I am responsible for the procurement legislation. The measures that should be taken to reduce workplace accidents are, of course, broader than that. Effective work to exclude unreliable actors from public procurements is crucial to protect particularly vulnerable workers and minimize the risk of workplace accidents and fraud.
By having procuring entities set requirements for a good working environment in their procurements, ill health or accidents in the workplace can be prevented. That the contracts only go to serious companies with serious subcontractors is of great importance for the work of preventing workplace accidents and creating a safe and healthy working environment for the employees.
It is a known fact that the occurrence of criminal and unscrupulous companies increases further down the supply chain. The procurement legislation only contains rules for how a procurement shall be carried out. They do not limit the possibility for procuring actors to set requirements that a supplier specifies which subcontractors shall be used. The rules also allow for requirements that mean only a part of the contract may be performed by a subcontractor. The procuring actor can also set requirements on the main supplier that this has a well-functioning purchasing function that continuously follows up and evaluates its subcontractor links.
Contracting entities shall also carefully monitor the supplier that is to perform the assignment and, among other things, ensure that the supplier and subcontractors comply with labor law conditions. If there is a risk of unreasonable working conditions, contracting entities are obliged to set labor law conditions. Contracting entities have access to several tools to ensure that suppliers and subcontractors comply with laws and agreements, including questioning suspiciously low bids.
The Government has tasked the Competition Authority to submit proposals that make it easier to reject unserious bids in public procurements. The assignment shall be reported by September 30, 2025, at the latest.
A review of the EU's procurement directives is currently underway. In the initial work, the government has, among other things, stated the position that citizens should be able to rely on the fact that public contracts are awarded to companies that respect human rights and fair working conditions.
Eva Lindh (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you to Minister Slottner for the answer to the question!
People go to work and never come home again. Behind every such accident is a family that has lost a parent, a child, a sister, or a friend. The grief is, of course, infinite, and the loss cannot be repaired. But what makes it even more painful is that there are things we can do to at least reduce the number of workplace accidents and deaths at work, in light of the fact that they often occur in industries where work environment efforts are lacking, work-related crime is spreading, and failures in procurement drive an unhealthy competition.
A clear example is the construction industry. It tops the statistics on fatal accidents year after year. We see the same pattern. It involves hundreds of companies on the same construction site, long chains of subcontractors, pressured prices, and responsibility that is blurred by this. We know – not just in this area but always when overall responsibility is lacking – that safety becomes the big loser.
The Construction Market Commission presented its report a number of years ago, in 2021. They painted a dark picture of an industry with crime, tax evasion, and undeclared work where many serious companies are pushed out by unserious actors. It is also a problem worth mentioning. The unserious actors take land at the expense of the serious actors. It is them we want more of, not fewer.
When this is combined with the fact that the language and knowledge of Swedish work environment regulations are sometimes lacking or vary, it becomes more difficult to convey information and to ensure that training and preventive safety work on-site are truly guaranteed.
Just as the Minister says, this can be prevented, and it is not just about the issue we are debating today. The Construction Market Commission wrote in its final report that they have identified three things that have contributed to the increasing crime in the working life and to the fact that so many workplace accidents and deaths at work have occurred.
One of these three things is that the large construction companies have reduced the number of their own workers, and that is something that was highlighted very clearly. The companies rely to a greater extent on using subcontractors. The independent commission, which was led by Stefan Attefall, therefore lists the amount of subcontractors as one of the biggest contributing factors to the increasing crime and that the whole thing is not working because the workplace accidents are increasing.
Let me give an example: the accident that occurred at a workplace in Sundbyberg a couple of years ago. At that workplace, there were 119 different subcontractors in very many different tiers. This naturally makes the whole thing difficult. I wonder what the Minister will do about this.
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Mr. Speaker! I naturally share Eva Lindh's views on the problem of workplace accidents and on when it leads to the worst imaginable, namely a death. Every such case is a tragedy. Everyone is affected by it because we can all empathize with the feeling of what it would be like if a close relative did not come home again because he or she was crushed to death by a work machine. It would, of course, be horrific.
The responsibility for the working environment and reducing the number of workplace accidents is not mine as Minister for Civil Affairs, but the issue lies with the Ministry of Employment. I am, however, responsible for procurement and for the Public Procurement Act, and that is why the interpellation has been addressed to me.
One way to address this is to reduce the occurrence of unserious or criminal actors in public procurement. That is why we are now taking many measures to do what we can with the help of legislation to address unserious actors, for there are too many of them. There are too many unserious and criminal actors who succeed in signing contracts with the public sector in Sweden. This is not good.
This government is determined that, above all, criminal actors shall never be able to do business with the public sector. They shall never be able to win public contracts and thereby earn money in the public sector. It is, of course, completely unacceptable.
That is why we have moved forward with the Supplier Control Investigation's investigation and proposal. We have budgeted for this, and now Bolagsverket is working on developing a common register check so that it becomes easier for procuring authorities to detect unserious criminal actors at an early stage, and faster than today.
As I said in the response to the interpellation, we have also given a mandate to the Competition Authority to investigate how abnormally low bids can be excluded more easily. Behind abnormally low bids, there are often criminal actors and criminal activities.
We have also tasked the Competition Authority to develop some form of rating system, which could be good for favoring serious actors and making criminal and unserious actors visible.
We must also place a responsibility on the contracting authorities. This applies to both state agencies as well as regions and municipalities. There are opportunities today to set higher requirements on subcontractors than what is currently done. When conducting a procurement, it is very important to know what proportion of the procurement will be carried out by subcontractors. As a contracting authority, one must know how to ensure that the companies one procures goods and services from in turn set the same requirements when they hire subcontractors. The same obligations shall also apply to these. The contracting authority must have a system to follow up on this.
In the many round-table discussions I have had regarding public procurement, it has emerged that there are major deficiencies in control and contract follow-up. This is a major problem and is due, among other things, to a lack of resources. There are also organizational deficiencies and a pure lack of competence. One can then imagine how the situation is when it comes to the control of subcontractors.
I urge all contracting authorities to take part in the very high-quality training program that Upphandlingsmyndigheten has developed in order to be able to detect unserious and criminal actors.
Eva Lindh (S)
Mr. Speaker! This is terribly sad, and that is why I am raising the issue. We need to do everything we can so that no one goes to work without coming home again.
Just as the Minister pointed out, there are things that need to be done, and there are solutions. We know that stricter requirements for the working environment already at the procurement stage prevent accidents. We know that collective agreements and responsibility for the main contractors create clearer chains of responsibility. We know that reinforced supervision from the Swedish Work Environment Authority is effective. We know that a unified grip against crime in the working life is crucial. We know that it is incredibly important that safety representatives are given a stronger role in the work for a better working environment.
I think the government is doing some things that are really good, for example that it should be easier to reject unserious bids in public procurements. That is very good. It is also good that one is developing a blacklist and that one is setting higher requirements.
Just as the Minister is pointing out, it can sometimes be due to a lack of knowledge about what else can be done with the procurement regulations that we have. One can set higher requirements than some do. It is therefore also about increased knowledge and using the tools that exist.
What we are talking about here, however, is that we know there are long chains of subcontractors. As in the case I mentioned, there were 119 different subcontractors. That makes it difficult to know who is responsible, how the responsibility should be distributed, and who has control. It goes without saying that the more people who are involved, the harder it is to know who is responsible. When investigations have been conducted in hindsight, it has also been shown that it becomes harder to know who has the primary responsibility for safety at a workplace.
I wonder why the government cannot accept that this is something that can be changed by changing the legislation. One can limit the number of subcontractor leads. This can be done in procurements, but I think it should be stated in the legislation because we know that this complicates the work with the working environment and that it has an effect on the number of workplace accidents. Let us therefore do something about this and now! I do not understand why the minister cannot accept this and say "This is something we must look at."
We propose that the number of subcontractors should be limited to two. Also, many others have said that it is reasonable, as it can lead to better order and clarity regarding what is happening.
I really want to emphasize that this is an important issue. We must have order and clarity in our workplaces. Let us look at all possible things that can be done. We Social Democrats have not only proposed a limitation of the subcontracting chain but also some of the things I have spoken about, such as a strengthened role for safety representatives, reinforced resources for Arbetsmiljöverket, and a shared responsibility. This is one part, but let us look at this one here and now and do something about it.
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Mr. Speaker! We have looked at the question of limiting the number of subcontractors. That assignment was in the Supplier Control Inquiry, and the investigator concluded that with current EU law, it is not possible to limit the number of subcontractors in that way. In the consultation round that subsequently took place when the inquiry was released, the consulting bodies were very much in agreement that this would conflict with EU law. I know that LO, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, had a different opinion and argued that it would be possible. Possibly there were one or two consulting bodies that thought one could find opportunities. Beyond that, the consensus was compact: This conflicts with EU law.
Signals are being given here, if not otherwise between the lines, that it is because of many subcontractors that people die in workplace accidents. I think it is important to point out that I do not have any such clear statistics on my desk. No statistics are kept in that way. We only know the number of accidents with a fatal outcome and in which sectors they occur. No deeper public statistics are kept on this. But according to the reviews I have received, it belongs rather to the exceptions that fatal accidents are due to subcontractors specifically, so we perhaps should be a bit careful about drawing all too certain conclusions.
But with that said, it is very important that subcontractors, when they perform work and enter into contracts with the procured supplier, shall follow the same regulatory framework as specified in the agreement that has been concluded – that is obvious.
I also agree with what Eva Lindh says about it not being the legislation itself that is the problem. During the many round-table discussions that I had with a very wide range of actors to review the procurement strategy, it became, I think, very clear that it is not the law itself that is the problem. I then concluded that we do not spend time and effort there, because the law on public procurement is incredibly thick and extensive. A very large amount is EU-regulated. If we were to start changing it, it would be a multi-year task. I then thought that we should instead work more strategically with the legislation we have.
We have been working for some time now on developing a new roadmap. We hope to be able to present it relatively soon so that we, with today's legislation, can work even smarter and even better. We have also taken many measures to reach the unserious and criminal actors. I hope that, in turn, this will also lead to fewer unserious and criminal subcontractors.
Eva Lindh (S)
Mr. Speaker! No, it may not apply in every fatal accident. We are also talking about a broader perspective when it comes to workplace accidents and poor working environments. Let us nevertheless be clear that what has been highlighted is that workplace accidents and poor working environments are more common where cheating and work-related crime occur. One of the things that has been highlighted regarding work-related crime is that the number of subcontractors and subcontractor chains is a variable that makes it even more difficult to ensure the work environment.
Let us not be afraid of work even if it is difficult, but let us take hold of this and do all we can. Let us establish a commission to truly and seriously address the workplace accidents that occur. I know that this is not the government's responsibility, but I just want to state that it is important.
We may not agree on whether this would be possible or not. But EU law can be possible to review in order to, if it were good, limit the subcontracting chain to achieve a better working environment and reduce workplace accidents – which is what we are proposing.
I actually also think – even if it might surprise the Minister; I do not know – that when companies that are very serious and want to take work environment responsibility seriously and really do something about the issue are squeezed out by unserious or criminal actors, it is a deficiency for Sweden and involves greater difficulties in the future than we have today. We need more serious actors, and we need a better work environment in our workplaces.
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Mr. Speaker! I agree one hundred percent with the last thing Eva Lindh says here. We need to drive out the unserious actors. In an ideal world, at least, only serious and honest actors should be present in public Sweden. That is also why we have already taken a number of measures and will need to do even more to make it easier to find that type of actor and avoid signing contracts with them.
I also believe – I have not said this here – that increased digitalization with various AI tools means that we will be able to find discrepancies. It will also be a help for procuring authorities to be able to detect unserious actors through digitized procurement processes. Introducing e-commerce where the entire procurement chain is digitized is also a way to make it harder to cheat the system. There are therefore several more things we can do to promote serious, good, and honest actors.
But an appeal to all contracting authorities, regardless of whether they are small or large, is: Do not sit and wait for new laws to potentially arrive, but use the tools that exist within today's legislation. I see with my own eyes that this is not being done everywhere. We may have to advertise for our authorities here in the chamber at least, so use the National Agency for Public Procurement's expertise! They also help at the municipal and regional level with how one can act to detect and ward off the unserious actors. This is an appeal I want to make in my concluding remarks.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.