Response to interpellation 2025/26:167 on apprenticeship clauses for the enjoyment of funds from the Norrland Fund
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD notes that it is important to ensure a competent workforce within the construction sector and that the government strives to ensure the supply of competence in the long term 1. KD argues that the government cannot control the conditions for loans from Norrlandsfonden because it is a foundation 1 2. KD emphasizes that there are conditions for actors to offer places for APL or apprentices 2 3. KD considers that the current situation is due to high inflation and a recession 3. KD argues that structural reforms were needed earlier to manage the construction market 3. KD argues that the government's measures, such as removing the tightened amortization requirement, are needed to get more people into work 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.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Leif Nysmed has asked me if I am prepared to set requirements for places for apprentices and workplace-based learning for those who wish to receive funds from the Norrlandsfonden.
I begin by stating that it is important to ensure that there is access to competent labor within the construction sector so that we are ready when the pace of housing construction and associated investments increases after the current recession.
The Government is well aware of the challenges Leif Nysmed describes and strives to ensure the long-term supply of competence within the construction and civil engineering sector. Funds have therefore been allocated, among other things, for more places within both the university college and the vocational adult education in order to meet continued large competence needs across the country, enable transition, and promote matching on the labor market.
The Government has additionally tasked the Swedish National Agency for Higher Vocational Education to carry out a pilot activity with vocational education for adults according to the vocational higher education model, where construction and civil engineering is one of the relevant areas. The assignment has been extended until 2028.
The government has also made it easier to provide students in upper secondary school with workplace-based learning. State grants may be granted for compensation of costs to a company that provides the workplace-based part of a secondary school apprenticeship or a similar education, even if the company is not registered as an employer.
In the budget bill for 2026 (prop. 2025/26:1), the government proposes a temporary reduction in employer contributions for young people between 19 and 23 years old. The proposal means that the employer contributions for a young person are reduced by one-third.
Regarding the question of linking apprenticeship and APL positions to state support, I can state that the government cannot control the conditions or requirements imposed on those applying for loans from Norrlandsfonden because the fund is a foundation. Norrlandsfonden itself designs the conditions it deems appropriate based on the applicable regulatory framework.
Leif Nysmed (S)
Madam Speaker! I begin by thanking you for the answer. However, I note that none of what the Minister says in his answer will solve the shortage of APL or apprenticeship positions in any significant way – if at all.
As I have written to the Minister for Housing, there are many students in the construction programs who today have difficulty securing suitable APL places, i.e., workplace-based learning, and obtaining apprenticeship positions after school to obtain a professional qualification. Approximately 10 percent of the students who left the construction program in Stockholm County alone in the spring of 2025 received an apprenticeship position. 10 percent! That is around 30 out of over 300. Similar figures have been seen for previous years as well – also in different parts of the country, but I am bringing up Stockholm because those are the figures I know best.
This does not give our youth the hope for the future and the faith in the future that they deserve. I am worried about what happens to these young people, because it is they who are to be involved in building our society tomorrow and in the future. One way to go to give these young people a significantly greater chance is for the public sector to demand places for apprentices and workplace-based learning in procurements. The state can also set these requirements when state funds are paid out. For example, under the Sledd government, these very requirements were set to receive investment support for cheaper rental apartments.
My question to the Minister of Housing was the following: Is the Minister prepared to set the aforementioned requirements for those who wish to receive funds from the Norrlandsfonden? In the answer we have just heard, there are no ambitions from the government to set requirements for APL places or apprenticeship places. Instead, the Minister points out that Norrlandsfonden is a foundation and that the government therefore cannot set requirements for those who apply for funds from the fund: "Norrlandsfonden itself designs the conditions deemed appropriate based on the current regulatory framework."
In 2008, the National Audit Office stated that for approximately 50 state-established foundations where the state is the sole founder, the government has the right to change the foundations' regulations, which provides a direct opportunity to influence these foundations' direction. The Norrland Fund is one such state-established foundation. If it is as the National Audit Office has stated, is the minister then prepared to set the aforementioned requirements for those who wish to receive funds from the Norrland Fund?
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Norrlandsfonden has received an additional allocation to strengthen its long-term lending capacity. It is about solving a problem and improving the calculations for building housing, but many point out that it is difficult to secure financing, which results in too little being built. By increasing the availability of capital, more housing projects can be started, which means that the demand for labor within the construction, building materials, and installation sectors increases and the business sector's conditions are strengthened.
We see this as an important way forward. It does not solve all problems in the housing market, but it can get construction projects started that otherwise would not happen. It is also a basic prerequisite for there to be jobs to go to and thereby the opportunity to take in apprentices. A large part of the background that Leif Nysmed describes is, after all, the very dramatic decline in construction that has resulted from the high inflation and the prolonged recession.
Regarding the question of requirements for places for apprentices and workplace-based learning for those who wish to receive funds from Norrlandsfonden, my answer is the one I have already given. Since the fund is a foundation, my assessment is that the government cannot control the conditions or requirements imposed on those who apply for loans. But I will, of course, look more closely at the report from the Swedish National Audit Office that Leif Nysmed refers to and see if a change is possible. But the answer I have given is the answer I have to give today: Norrlandsfonden itself designs the conditions it deems appropriate based on the current regulatory framework.
I have met some of the actors who have been interested in taking part in the top loan function to put together calculations and start building. It is, of course, nothing that prevents one from already today using the opportunity that is available to offer places for APL or apprentices. If there are additional things to do there, we will obviously look closer at that.
Leif Nysmed (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank you for the answer.
It is pleasing that the Minister wants to look further into the possibility that we have noted exists here, but in that context, one must also understand why it is difficult for construction workers and construction apprentices to get a position at the construction companies.
Housing construction has, just as the minister said, collapsed in recent years. Construction is far below the annual need for housing as the government, with the support of the Sweden Democrats, has completely left the construction industry to its fate during a severe recession.
The first thing the Tidö government did was to remove the investment support for cheaper rental apartments and thereby stop the construction of at least 20,000 rental apartments. They have also not succeeded in getting the construction of small houses started, which they often bring up. According to the industry organization for small house construction, that very construction is at its lowest in 100 years. In that case, it is not surprising that there is a shortage of APL and apprenticeship places, and then perhaps the government should roll up its sleeves a bit and try to secure places out at the few construction sites that exist.
Based on the vocational training agreement, which regulates the apprenticeship programs, it is recommended that there should be one apprentice for every ten skilled workers. Let me take an example from one of the large construction companies. At the end of the 90s, they had approximately 1,000 skilled workers employed here in Stockholm, which could provide the opportunity for almost 100 apprentice positions. In our case, after the hopefully final layoffs have been carried out, the number of skilled workers will be 90, which would provide only 9 apprentice positions, according to the recommendations.
The construction sites are also, in most cases, divided into smaller contracts staffed by foreign companies and/or with foreign labor, and the smaller subcontractors have little or no interest in, or even competence for, training Swedish construction workers and construction apprentices. Unfortunately, that is how the harsh truth looks.
That is why I had hoped for a more positive answer from the minister. Even though one sees that it is difficult to set requirements specifically regarding the Norrlandsfonden, one could perhaps have come up with something else. We should discuss the issue of public procurement, as is being done in, for example, Region Uppsala now, where requirements are set.
Another way to increase the opportunities for our youth is to ensure that there are fewer subcontractors at our construction sites. It would increase the need for more own employees in the companies and reduce the need for long UE-chains, where work-related crime often spreads out and actually competes out the jobs for the youth who should be allowed to come in and learn the trade.
Pleasantly enough, I would still like to say, Trafikverket has for the first time set requirements on a limited number of subcontractors in the procurement of Ostlänken. It is a good step, I think. The Minister is responsible for Trafikverket, and I hope that he takes note of that procurement and sees what thoughts they have utilized there.
Even larger construction companies are positive about this. They have worked with such limitations for many years, with the result that they have more order and organization at their workplaces.
My question must be: Where are the proposals from the government that ensure our youth in the construction industry can complete their educations?
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! It is possible to include many questions in an interpellation debate. I think it is important that the member who has submitted an interpellation receives an answer to the question that is the basis for the interpellation. From what I understand, the question concerns apprentices and APL within the framework of Norrlandsfonden. I have given an answer, and I am prepared to look at the Riksrevision report that the member referred to to see if there is anything further to be done there.
Regarding the issue of Trafikverket as a procuring entity, during the three years that I have been Minister for Infrastructure and Housing, work has been ongoing to task Trafikverket with strengthening its operational capacity and procurement competence so that it becomes a better procuring entity. It is positive that the member has noted this. I am completely convinced that there is more to be done there, but there is also much to learn from that work.
When it comes to questions of competence supply within the construction sector, it is very volatile, and it is part of the problems that Sweden has suffered from for a very long time. It goes up in the economic cycle, and then it is difficult to get hold of people. Then, when one has practically gotten staff in, there is a downturn in the economic cycle. Then it becomes that volatility, which Leif Nysmed knows very well.
There therefore need to be better conditions for housing construction, regardless of whether it is a boom or a recession, and we are therefore looking at regulatory frameworks that need to be simplified. From today onwards, the new building permit regulations apply, which significantly facilitate those who want to extend, build new, or renovate. We are also looking at lead times, and at the end of the month, I believe it is, we will receive the investigation which is a supplementary assignment to the Environmental Permit Investigation regarding appeals, instance order, and so on when it comes to planning processes and environmental permits.
I could continue, Madam Speaker, and give several different examples where the aim is to address the structural reforms and that we should be better equipped regardless of whether it is a low or high economic cycle in Sweden. Against the background that the member's question specifically concerned the Norrlandsfonden, I would however like to return to the answer that I gave earlier. That is what the interpellation is about, even though I appreciate the various inputs that the member made on some other areas regarding housing construction.
Leif Nysmed (S)
Madam Speaker! The questions concern, in many respects, labor market issues. I know that the Minister has previously discussed and spoken about how the government does not work in silos but sits and discusses broadly. In my interpellation, I took up a part regarding public procurement, and I thought that you would be somewhat prepared that such questions could arise. I actually take the liberty of discussing them given that there is no silo thinking in the government.
I perceive that the SD-led government is very self-satisfied and pleased with the policy they have pursued. Why else have they not come up with measures that get housing construction started? Fundamentally, it is about us being able to have housing that people can afford to demand. There is no regulatory framework in the country that makes demand increase, rather it is about being able to afford to demand it. Otherwise, nothing is built. There, it is zero.
I therefore do not quite see how one can be so satisfied. I wonder if you have even seen how reality has hit the young people who want to become the construction workers of the future and who are to build the future Sweden. The measures that you have listed here help little against the problems that construction workers and construction apprentices are affected by today. I must say that it is weak leadership. That is my firm opinion.
There is an alternative, which I have presented here during the debate, but I perceive, as I said, that you are satisfied and content. I hope that the young people who see this realize that there is another alternative and a hope that housing construction will get started in the future, so that they also get a chance to become the skilled workers they are training for and can contribute to building Sweden.
TREDJE VICE TALMANNEN
I do not usually point it out every time, but I must nevertheless do so in this situation: The address in the chamber is made with names, and everyone speaks via the Speaker, which is why "you" does not appear in the debates.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Leif Nysmed, for the debate!
What the member pointed out concerns a KD-led department and work where one has had to address structural problems that have affected housing construction for a long time.
Much of what we see the results of today is a consequence of us having had a situation with very high inflation, and we are still in a recession. It is clear that it will not get better, Madam Speaker, because there have been neglected areas regarding both long lead times and complicated regulations, and that there is no land to build on.
That we now, Madam Speaker, take action on the structural reforms that would have needed to be in place before entering such a gloomy economic situation as we are still in is, of course, an important message to everyone.
I actually believe that Leif Nysmed agrees that it is good that we clear up complicated regulations and address the far too long lead times, and that he actually sees that this should have been in place earlier. It would have made us somewhat better equipped to handle the situation that now characterizes the Swedish construction and housing market, which also makes it difficult for many who have lost their jobs and still risk losing their jobs, and for young people who are not getting into apprenticeship positions.
This is, Madam Speaker, the consequences of years of procrastination, where we have now begun to focus on tackling the structural problems that exist. The Government has, for example, indicated that the tightened amortization requirement shall be removed and that the mortgage ceiling shall be raised. We are looking at different models such as rent-to-buy, which means that one can buy half of the apartment and successively pay off the other half, which significantly lowers the thresholds and strengthens the possibilities for demand.
So, there are many measures underway and that need to be implemented so that we can get more people into work in the important construction sector.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.