Response to interpellation 2025/26:247 on the rescue service's future competence and recruitment needs
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the future competence and recruitment needs of the rescue services. M considers the rescue services to be a cornerstone of civil defense 1 and an instrumental part of the total defense that is now emerging 2. M wants to shorten and practically focus the state's education to lower the thresholds for further education 3 and wants the parties to take responsibility for contractual solutions that promote education 4. M emphasizes that the municipalities have the primary responsibility for competence supply 1. S considers the rescue services to be important for Sweden's total defense capability 5. S thinks it is good that the Authority for Civil Defense takes the lead in the work on future education systems 5 and welcomes the possibility of counting in previous professional competence 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.
Minister för civilt försvar Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Madam Speaker! Johan Andersson has asked me what the government's proposal for future competence supply for the rescue services is, whether I and the government intend to propose an education system for being employed within the rescue services, and what the reason is if we do not intend to do so.
As we have been reminded by reason of the war in Ukraine, the rescue services have a vital role during war. The rescue services need to be able to handle, among other things, the extensive and severe consequences of long-range combat with robots; for example, one must be able to rescue people who have become trapped under demolished buildings. Given this life-saving role, it is of great importance that there is a well-functioning supply of competence within the rescue services.
The Government places great value on the efforts that rescue service personnel carry out to protect people's lives and health as well as property and the environment. The rescue service is a cornerstone of our civil defense and a security for everyone in Sweden.
The rescue service is primarily a municipal responsibility. It is the responsibility of the municipalities to ensure, based on local conditions and risk profiles, that there is personnel with the necessary competence within the rescue service. This follows from the Protective Measures Against Accidents Act (2003:778).
There are no mandatory national graduation requirements regarding rescue work. The State shall, however, offer support and training in the field of rescue services. The Authority for Civil Defence shall conduct training leading to graduation in matters such as rescue work. This is regulated in the Ordinance (2003:477) on training in protection against accidents.
The Swedish Defence Preparedness Agency is currently reviewing its full-time training for firefighters. The objective is that the length of the training shall be shortened from four to three terms and that the operational skills shall be given a clearer focus. The intention is also that the basic capability within rescue services during high alert shall be included in the training. A starting point for the review is that it should be possible to credit previous training and professional experience in order to thereby be able to complete the training more quickly.
In the work of designing the new education, the Swedish Defence Preparedness Agency has regularly met with representatives from the Rescue Services Council and SKR (Sveriges Kommuner och Regioner) to discuss needs and conditions. Furthermore, a survey has been conducted among the country's rescue service organizations, and a reference group consisting of representatives for municipal rescue services has actively participated in the work of concretizing needs and expectations for the future education. Admission to the new education is planned for the spring of 2026, for the start of the education during the autumn of the same year.
I also want to emphasize in this context that the government is taking urgent measures to strengthen the municipal rescue services' ability to carry out operations during high alert and, ultimately, war. The importance of a well-functioning rescue service under such conditions cannot be overstated.
The government decided in a fast-track in December 2023 that those subject to total defense duty shall be required to complete refresher training with civil duty within, among other things, municipal rescue services. Since September 2024, 1,300 people have undergone such training, and 900 training places are planned for this year.
Furthermore, at the end of 2025, the government made a decision which means that those subject to total defense obligation from 2026 onwards may be required to report for and undergo long basic training with civil service within rescue services, and a number of other areas of activity, in a similar manner as during conscription. This is of great importance for society's collective capacity during high alert and, ultimately, war.
As a consequence of this broad activation of civil duty, the government has in January 2026 tasked the Swedish Defence Preparedness Agency to carry out basic training within municipal rescue services after muster, no later than from the third quarter of 2027.
The municipalities thus have an independent and important responsibility to ensure, with the support of the state, that their rescue service personnel have the necessary competence. Furthermore, measures are underway to develop and streamline the state's full-time training for firefighters as well as to strengthen the municipal rescue services' capacity during high alert and, ultimately, war. I will closely follow the continued development in the rescue service area in these respects.
Johan Andersson (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for a good and comprehensive answer. I have a few follow-up questions linked to the answer, but there were many good parts in it. The question was also well-described.
The rescue services are incredibly important in this part; the situation in Ukraine shows this, among other things. It is, to the highest degree, about Sweden's total defense capability. Today, there are approximately 140 rescue service organizations in Sweden's municipalities, of which 94 have full-time firefighters. There are about 700 full-time and part-time fire stations around the country. Approximately 16,000 people work today in the rescue service's response service, of which about 5,000 are full-time. About 10,000 work as so-called ribbare, rescue personnel on call.
This means that the education part is an important issue. Kommunalarbetareförbundet has produced a document called Brandmännens utbildning och kompetens. The Minister shall receive a copy from me later, even though I believe he has seen it before. The document points out the importance and value of competence supply.
All over the country, work is underway to figure out exactly what the future competence supply and the future education system should look like. Several emergency services organizations are looking at their own models, and therefore I think it is necessary that the Civil Defence Agency takes the lead in this work. The government minister has described in just this part, I think, feels good, that is to say that the assignment has been given and they are in the process of looking at the issue in order to get these parts in place.
We also have civil service, which will entail a different situation regarding this. I hope that civil service can be a basis for the rescue service's competence supply in the long run. Even within the rescue service, we see retirements – it may not be acute right now, but it looks different around the country – and one notices that it is difficult to recruit, especially part-time firefighters. This applies particularly in the countryside, which naturally also has an impact.
The rescue service's mission has truly changed. The Minister described what the situation looks like. Previously, it was very much about quickly heading out to perform an intervention. You extinguished, or whatever it was you did, and then drove back again. Today, it is linked to so much more.
My question to the Minister is how he views the work currently being carried out in the various rescue service associations to look at the educational components and to find opportunities for local solutions in order to be able to conduct training and, in that way, be able to recruit more easily. We have the central training, if I may call it that, from MCF and the schools that exist all around the country. However, there is also a great interest in finding local, or regional, solutions to be able to do this all around the country. What view does the Minister and the government have in this regard?
Minister för civilt försvar Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Johan Andersson, for the question!
I think the question is urgent. In his follow-up question, Johan Andersson also highlighted a number of aspects that are of great relevance for achieving high capacity in the rescue services.
I want to be the first to say that I support the initiatives that exist to broaden the educational offerings. The idea behind redesigning and shortening the SMO training, i.e., the training provided by the state, is partly to give it a clearer practical orientation, and partly so that one can take the step into it from other educational stages. If one, for example, has worked as a part-time firefighter and wants to take the SMO training, one should be able to enter at a shorter stage and complete approximately half of the training. This, in turn, lowers the barriers for people to further their education, strengthen their own competence and ability, and take the step to start working as, for example, a full-time firefighter.
I fundamentally think that this is good. The reshaping of the education also creates conditions to educate more. We see that there is a great need. The number of rescue service employees in peacetime should increase. We also need to build a war organization that allows us to dramatically increase the number of employees in the rescue service in the event of high alert or, in the worst case, war. It is also for this that the government is currently taking measures and steps. It is fundamentally good.
I want to say something about the rescue services in general and about its ability to provide competence and further education.
We here inside do not constitute parties on the labor market, but I can still state that the agreement that has been concluded between SKR and the signatory trade unions in this case carries consequences. We will have to see how the parties themselves choose to evaluate the agreement.
It is naturally important that there are contractual solutions in this part of the labor market that make people want to seek employment in the rescue services and that the rescue services can retain their staff. It is important that, within the framework of scheduling, there are conditions to provide advanced training for existing staff. We shall see how the parties themselves choose to evaluate the agreement now that it has been in force for a while.
Johan Andersson (S)
Madam Speaker! I can start by saying something regarding the agreement. As the Minister knows, there is a multi-party body that looks at this matter of evaluating how agreements are formulated. It is a change that was made based on the so-called electricity hours rule and an EU treaty that Sweden and all other EU countries have ratified. There are several parts linked to this. Work is ongoing here, and we will have to see where it lands.
I thought it sounded positive that one is opening up to being able to find regional solutions. I also think it is a good underlying principle that one should be able to count in previous professional competence; I interpret this as that this is included in MCF's mandate. This means that the possibility of this becoming good is very great.
For my part, I will follow this issue, because I believe it is to the highest degree urgent. A functioning rescue service is to the highest degree a part of the civil defense. It seems that the minister and I are in agreement on this point.
We will have a training seminar for Members of Parliament on January 28, linked to these issues, together with MCF, Pliktrådet and other actors in this part. The reason for it is that a discussion has arisen across the country regarding how this issue will be handled.
This is an interface. It is the municipalities that have the responsibility out in the country, but the education part is also a state matter. The responsibility is shared, and thus it easily ends up falling between the chairs. I do, however, feel secure with the answer that the Minister has given. The Government sees this part and has given MCF a clear mandate to work with these issues, which feels good.
It remains to be seen where we land and what will happen in connection with this. We will have to return to the issue in the future when it has crystallized a bit more and when we know where it lands going forward.
Minister för civilt försvar Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Madam Speaker! I thank Johan Andersson for the point. I did not perceive a concluding question.
I think it is good that we have a consensus here. I also think it is good that Johan Andersson in the parliamentary rostrum highlights the question of the rescue services' conditions and that we have the privilege of coming here to discuss these issues. This is important. A rescue service that can function across the entire threat scale is an instrumental part of Sweden's capability in civil defense.
We come from a history where the rescue services have only been dimensioned for a peacetime accident – that is how it has been for the last 25 years or something similar. It is important that we now change course on this issue, and I perceive it as there being a great deal of support for that line.
We must ensure that all pieces fall into place so that we have the prerequisites to train new rescue service personnel in a purposeful way. The parties must take their responsibility regarding the contractual part so that there are prerequisites for a rescue service that can accelerate rather than brake. Sometimes I receive somewhat alarming signals from employees in the rescue service in that regard.
Even though the government does not exercise any direct influence in this matter, it is naturally a matter that the government has reason to follow closely. The entire policy direction is that the rescue service's capability shall increase, not the opposite. There are many parts to this. It concerns, among other things, additional supply of funds to the rescue service during high alert, regarding civil obligations, and regarding a new war organization.
Seventhly and finally, it is about the fact that the regular, peacetime activities must also function. A good educational platform is a foundation for this. It is naturally also important that there are agreements between the parties that serve that purpose.
Johan Andersson (S)
Madam Speaker! I will just pick up on the last thing the Minister said regarding the signing of the agreement. Both the Minister and I are well aware that this is a matter between the parties, but we shall, of course, follow it. At the national level, we have a responsibility to ensure that it works across the entire Swedish labor market, not least within the rescue services.
I have great hopes that solutions will be found so that this turns out well in the end. It is important that we from the national level lay the foundation when it comes to the education part so that those parts are also there.
I think this shows that this is a way forward. I will, as I said, return. I will follow the question and see where it lands.
Minister för civilt försvar Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Madam Speaker! I thank Johan Andersson for the interpellation, the questions, and the discussion. I perceive that we are in agreement on all essential matters in these issues. Johan Andersson can rest assured that this government will continue to work on increasing the capacity of the Swedish rescue services, as it is an instrumental part of the total defense that is now emerging.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.