Response to interpellation 2025/26:280 on changes to the state-owned company Samhall
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns changes to the state-owned company Samhall. L considers that effective and individually tailored support is crucial for more people with disabilities to establish themselves in the labor market 1. L argues that the government has already taken measures through a review of Samhall's goals and mandate to Arbetsförmedlingen 1. L emphasizes that the government prioritizes individually tailored support and has implemented measures for the long-term unemployed and new study grants 2. L argues that issues are handled with deliberation and that they are developing uniform methods for prioritization in assignments to sheltered work 3. S considers it important that Samhall functions satisfactorily 4. S argues that the government's initiatives are of small scope 5 6, that the government has given a failing grade by doing very little to solve the crisis with record-high unemployment 6 and that resources and significant political proposals are lacking 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.
Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)
Madam Speaker! Jonathan Svensson has asked me if it is imminent that I and the government will move forward with changes to Samhall based on the investigation that was recently presented. He has further asked what I think about the measures presented by the investigation. Finally, he has asked what measures will be taken so that more people with disabilities will get a job.
I would like to begin by thanking the member for the interpellation and for these important questions. The Government considers that effective and individually tailored support is crucial for more people with disabilities to be able to establish themselves in the labor market.
The investigation report Increased quality at Samhall and more paths to protected work (SOU 2025:29) is still being prepared. I therefore do not have the possibility to comment generally on what I think about the investigation's proposals. I would, however, like to mention that the government has already taken measures based on proposals that have been submitted by the investigation.
Right now, a comprehensive review of the goals for Samhall's activities is underway. Furthermore, the government has tasked Arbetsförmedlingen with following up on whether the development measures that the agency has taken regarding instructions for sheltered work at Samhall have addressed previously identified deficiencies. Arbetsförmedlingen has also been tasked with developing uniform methods for prioritization and selection when there are multiple candidates for a vacant position at Samhall.
Jonathan Svensson (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer he has just given here in the Chamber.
The background to why I submitted this interpellation is that I believe it is very important that people with disabilities have manageable employment and a sensible job to go to. Samhall is a state-owned company that has extra responsibility for exactly that group mentioned in the interpellation. It is therefore why I think it is so important that this state-owned company functions in a satisfactory way. It is important for the individual, and it is also rational from a purely socio-economic perspective.
I therefore asked the concrete question to the government and the minister as to whether some changes will soon be implemented within the company to strengthen the opportunities for the group in question to obtain meaningful and developing jobs. In my opinion, it is a rather simple and open question. I therefore think it is unfortunate that the minister cannot comment on whether there are changes underway within the company. He can only state that the question is being prepared at the Government Offices.
The government has actually had a long time to consider whether it even intends to take any measures and whether it intends to proceed with any proposals. I think it would be appropriate to at least be able to say if anything is in the works and not just that this is being prepared.
The investigation that I mention in my submitted interpellation and that the Minister mentions in his answer is the result of a Swedish National Audit Office audit that was carried out and was completed as early as the spring of 2023. After the audit by the Swedish National Audit Office, it took seven or eight months before the Minister's representative wrote an investigation directive and appointed an investigation.
The investigator was given more than a year to examine the company, and just over a year ago, the investigator returned to the Minister's representative with a completed investigation containing various proposals to change the company.
When the then Minister for Employment Mats Persson received the investigation, he expressed himself, among other things, in the following way: Samhall plays an important role regarding realizing the potential of persons with disabilities. It is therefore crucial that their operations function in a good way. I look forward to familiarizing myself with the investigation's proposals.
Madam Speaker! I actually agree with the Minister for Employment's representative Mats Persson. This is absolutely crucial for being able to take advantage of the potential of the people who work at Samhall or who might work at the company. I therefore wonder why it is taking such a long time to prepare these issues. It has been almost a year since the Minister for Employment's representative said that he would look into the issues.
It has been three years since the National Audit Office directed sharp criticism at both the government and the state-owned company. It was argued that the government had not steered the company in a sufficient manner towards the intended social mission. It also criticized the company's way of organizing its work. Among other things, the staff groups were too large and contained as many as 30 employees per manager. It did not offer sufficiently varied work tasks, and it also did not follow its employees' career development in a satisfactory way.
I truly believe that the Swedish National Audit Office's observations and findings point to the problems in the company, but they also point to the great potential that exists if Samhall is given the right conditions.
I therefore pose the question again as to why it takes such time to get down to business and deliver the necessary changes that may be needed within the company. I also wonder how it can be that the Minister cannot even comment on whether there are changes underway. I want an answer to this from the Minister.
Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)
Madam Speaker! The Samhall Inquiry submitted the report Increased quality at Samhall and more paths to sheltered work on March 26, 2025. The inquiry showed, among other things, that the target group for sheltered work at Samhall is becoming increasingly larger and that the support needs of the target group have increased in recent years. The composition of the individuals who have been assigned to sheltered work is, according to the inquiry, largely unchanged compared to ten years ago, but those who are assigned today have, among other things, longer periods of unemployment. A larger proportion are also born outside of Europe.
The investigation assesses that the need for sheltered work is great and will likely grow in the future, but that the state's management of the company has had too weak an emphasis on quality. According to the investigation, this is a problem both for the individuals who have been assigned employment with Samhall and because it limits which individuals can be assigned.
The investigation assesses that the quality of Samhall's operations needs to increase and be sustained over time. According to the investigation, Samhall needs to be given lasting opportunities to hire more managers, develop the range of work tasks locally, and offer an introduction to the work, with lower expectations of productivity, greater room for development efforts, and better opportunities to try and master different types of work tasks.
In addition, the investigation proposes, among other things, that the government shall task Arbetsförmedlingen with following up on the processing procedure and the work with workplace-based interventions for job seekers with disabilities, and that access to other forms of sheltered work shall be expanded.
The report has been subject to consultation.
The government is strengthening the governance and quality of Samhall. As I mentioned, a comprehensive review of Samhall's goals is underway, and as I mentioned in the previous answer, several measures have already been taken that are in line with the Samhall Inquiry's proposals.
Jonathan Svensson (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
The Minister's presentation was largely an account of the investigation's conclusions and recommendations, even though he returned slightly to what the government thinks towards the end. I therefore still question how it can take so long to process these issues.
If one looks at the resources that have been added to the Government Offices in recent years, one sees that quite large budget supplements have been made, and from other departments, a relatively large number of propositions are delivered to the Riksdag. I do not dare to swear that the Ministry of Employment delivers the least of all, but it is in the absolute bottom tier when it comes to proposals submitted to the Riksdag and initiated initiatives in its own policy area. I still think it is important to have this entered into the record.
If the Minister does not wish to comment on the proposals contained in the investigation but instead continues to refer to the fact that they are under preparation, I can proceed to another part of my interpellation which I do not feel I received a full answer to in the Minister's opening remarks.
I asked what measures will be taken so that more people with disabilities will be able to find work. In the answer that the Minister had prepared and then gave here in the chamber, he accounted for initiatives that have already been implemented or are already initiated. These are certainly well-intentioned initiatives that can improve the situation for many people in the group we are discussing here today, but they are, again, initiatives that have already been started. Furthermore, they are initiatives of relatively small scope when one considers the problems that exist in the labor market for this group.
I have debated this issue with former Liberal Ministers for Employment several times during the term, and this is the first time I have received so little answer in the opening statement. I find that regrettable, because this is an important issue for very many people in this country and for the large group who are actually in need of society's support on this point.
Madam Speaker! People with disabilities face specific challenges in the labor market compared to the rest of the population. According to Statistics Sweden, this group is employed to a significantly lesser extent than the population at large. Unemployment is significantly higher than in the population at large, and those who actually work do so to a significantly greater extent on a part-time basis than among the population at large.
Alarm bells should be ringing here, and concrete measures should be proposed to solve the issues. However, too little is being done. With a Social Democratic labor market policy, Madam Speaker, there would have been a reform agenda in this area that actually addressed the problems that many people with disabilities face in working life and on the labor market.
We could, for example, have ensured that Arbetsförmedlingen and other relevant actors had a satisfactory level of resources to be able to work with this group. We would have tried to clear up the mess surrounding, for example, work aids, where different public actors make different assessments regarding the right to work aids. We would also have ensured that the far too long processing times for, for example, wage subsidies, as well as the time it takes to obtain a disability code from Arbetsförmedlingen, had been significantly shortened.
These are measures that I unfortunately do not experience the government is capable of delivering, whether in budget bills, in lists of bills to the Riksdag, or in the management of the state authorities. Therefore, I want to ask the Minister again, just as I did in my interpellation, what the government intends to do about this problem.
Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)
Madam Speaker! I would like to once again thank the interpellor for the commitment to these issues which I feel we completely share.
The government prioritizes individualized support for persons with disabilities, and effective and needs-based support is seen as a crucial part for more people to be able to establish themselves on the labor market. It is the entry point to the reform agenda, if one wants to call it that, that the government has in this area.
As the interpellator is present, it is not all about Samhall. I repeat it again: We have received the investigation, and we have begun work on some parts. Other parts are being prepared, and we will get back to those.
Another part in this, however, is Arbetsförmedlingen. The Government considers that effective and individually tailored support from Arbetsförmedlingen is crucial for more persons with disabilities to be able to establish themselves in the labor market. Let me mention there, for example, that several measures to strengthen the support to this target group have been implemented during the mandate period.
Arbetsförmedlingen has since 2024 been tasked with using its own staff to provide reinforced support to the long-term unemployed, including persons with disabilities. Furthermore, the agency was tasked in 2025 to carry out information initiatives to increase employers' knowledge about available support for this target group.
During 2025, the government has also introduced a new grant for adults with disabilities who are studying within regional vocational adult education. The grant is given to the municipality or region responsible for the education and shall be used for staff who provide better support to students with disabilities, either individually or in groups.
In the budget bill for 2026, which the Riksdag recently passed a decision on, the government has also proposed a reinforcement of the special educational support to folk high schools to facilitate study for persons with disabilities. In addition, a new targeted grant to folk high school programs for this target group is proposed. The purpose is to strengthen the folk high schools' ability to meet the needs of participants with varying support needs and to counteract the closure of programs.
The government, of course, continues to follow Arbetsförmedlingen's and Samhälls' work in providing purposeful support to persons with disabilities, but I can gladly point out again that the government prioritizes individualized support for persons with disabilities.
Jonathan Svensson (S)
Madam Speaker! The Minister says that the government prioritizes individualized support. This is, of course, very welcome, but I still experience that it is clear that the so-called individualized support is not sufficient. We see, time and again, how long-term unemployment in the group we are discussing here today continues to increase.
I think, therefore, that it is obvious that the measures are not sufficient, and that is why I am having this interpellation debate with the Minister for Employment just today. It is to get more measures, because this is obviously not enough.
I think this is a clear failing grade for the government. In a situation with record-high unemployment, large skill requirements in both the public and private sectors, and a constantly rising long-term unemployment among people with disabilities, very little is being done by the government to solve the crisis.
One cannot manage to ensure that the active labor market policy is resourced in a satisfactory way. One has not managed to produce any significant amount of political proposals or propositions from the Ministry of Employment during the mandate period to solve this crisis – it has echoed very empty on the list of propositions from the government's ministries. One also cannot, three years after the Swedish National Audit Office audited a state-owned company, comment on any of the proposed measures that are now being prepared.
Madam Speaker! The Government is giving a walkover on the area of labor market policy towards all those people who are standing and waiting to get a job, to settle their debts and contribute to society by working. I think that is quite bad.
I therefore want to ask the Minister if he really cannot comment on whether there are any changes in progress within the state-owned company Samhall and what is intended to be done to improve the situation for people with disabilities in the labor market.
Arbetsmarknadsministern Johan Britz (L)
Madam Speaker! Let me be a bit more concrete, if I did not succeed in doing so earlier.
A process is underway to handle the investigation that has been received and referred. We are already doing several different things there today. Other matters are still being prepared in the Government Offices. I believe it is good that one handles this type of issue with some deliberation.
Let me mention two things that are connected to what the Samhallutredningen has proposed.
I mentioned that we are reviewing the goals for Samhall's activities. The Samhall inquiry considered that several different goals for the activities should be changed, including the goal for transitions to the regular labor market, in order to place a clearer focus on the quality of the activities and in the transition work. The Ministry of Finance has, together with the Ministry of Employment and in dialogue with Samhall, begun a review of Samhall's goals. In that review, the Samhall inquiry's proposals are, of course, taken into account. This is an example of one thing that we are working on.
The investigation also suggested reviewing the process for how Arbetsförmedlingen assigns individuals to Samhall, which is a rather delicate task. In the 2026 regulation letter, we gave a mandate to Arbetsförmedlingen to follow up that the agency has taken development measures regarding assignments to sheltered work at Samhall. The mandate also includes developing uniform methods within the agency for prioritization and selection when there are several candidates for a vacant position at Samhall.
With these examples, I hope that the interpellor has at least taken away something in response to the questions that have been raised in this very important area. We are in complete agreement that the situation for people with disabilities in the labor market needs to be improved progressively. However, it is a matter of doing the right things.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.