Response to interpellation 2025/26:516 on the financial conditions of elderly care

Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)

Mr. Speaker! Eva Lindh has asked me what concrete measures I intend to take to ensure that Sweden's municipalities have the economic conditions required to strengthen elderly care and meet the growing needs.

Sweden faces a demographic change where the group of elderly, especially the very oldest, is increasing in number. It is fundamentally a positive societal development that reflects increased life expectancy, better health, and a society where more people can live a long life. This is something we should be very proud of. At the same time, this development means that elderly care needs to continue to develop to meet both today's and future needs.

In Sweden, we have a system of local self-government. Elderly care is included within the local government's area of responsibility. Through the right of local taxation, the municipalities have both an extensive responsibility for and a great opportunity to influence the financing of their operations. Tax revenues account for the very largest part of the municipalities' total revenue. The municipalities' economic conditions are therefore, as with the rest of the public sector, strongly linked to the development of the tax base and economic growth. In order to strengthen the municipalities' economy and the conditions to finance elderly care in the long term, increased growth and a re-established work line are therefore of great importance.

During 2023 and 2024, the economic situation in the municipal sector was strained due to high inflation; we inherited, as is well known, a ten percent inflation. In order to strengthen the municipalities' conditions to carry out their welfare mandate, the government therefore increased the general government grants by 6 billion kronor in the budget bill for 2023 (prop. 2022/23:1) and 10 billion kronor in the budget bill for 2024 (prop. 2023/24:1). The level increases were permanent and therefore also apply moving forward. The municipalities also continue to receive targeted government grants for elderly care, such as the sector grant, which the municipalities can utilize based on their own conditions and needs. The sector grant amounts to 4 billion kronor for elderly care for 2026.

The economy of the municipal sector was strengthened during 2025, and this strengthening is expected to continue during 2026, primarily as a result of an improved economic climate and increased tax base growth. For 2026 and 2027, tax revenues are expected to increase further in line with a strengthened economic climate. Lower pension costs in 2025 improve the economic conditions in the municipal sector, and the result is therefore assessed to be strengthened. For 2026, costs are expected to increase in parity with the development of tax income.

Elderly care is a priority issue for the government, which continues to work on reforms in several areas for a stronger and safer elderly care throughout the country. In the budget bill for 2026 (prop. 2025/26:1), the government has strengthened and expanded the Elderly Care Boost (Äldreomsorgslyftet). The competence initiative is proposed to be extended to 2027 and cover 1.8 billion SEK per year for 2026 and 2027. The government notes that the Elderly Care Boost has had an extensive impact on operations and assesses that it is important that the municipalities also after 2027 continue to have the opportunity to train staff within the framework of this. In July this year, the legislative proposal regarding a language requirement within elderly care will enter into force. For the municipalities' work with the new regulation, the government intends, in accordance with the budget bill for 2026, to increase the general state grant by 90 million SEK for 2026, 165 million SEK for 2027, and 150 million SEK for 2028 and onwards. There, the Elderly Care Boost is also added, where the investments are included.

The Government has recently appointed an inquiry that shall submit proposals to strengthen the competence of managers within elderly care and improve their conditions to lead the work (dir 2026:26). The purpose is to ensure safe and secure care and nursing for the elderly by strengthening the conditions for a sustainable competence supply. The assignment shall be reported by April 2, 2027, at the latest.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Eva Lindh (S)

Mr. Speaker! I am actually going to do something that I do not usually do. Today, I want to appeal for us to have a respectful and civilized debate. The last two times I have listened to the Minister for Seniors, she has judged the Members of Parliament's ability and competence as if they do not have it. I do not think that is reasonable. I do not think that is how one behaves. We talk about politics and do not judge each other's ability.

I just wanted to say that initially. Now to the debate and the reason why I have submitted this interpellation!

This is for many, also for me, one of the most important issues we have: the elderly's right to dignified care and the staff's opportunity to use their competence to provide the care and support that people deserve. If one has worked, contributed and built our society throughout an entire life, one should also be able to feel security when becoming older. One should know that there is an elderly care characterized by quality, continuity and dignity.

That is not how reality always looks today. Already during the pandemic, there was much discussion about elderly care, as it exposed deficiencies that had been known for a long time. Much was said about lack of continuity, insufficient staffing, and weak organizational conditions. But the awakening that many hoped for did not come. Those hopes have not been realized during this parliamentary term.

Today, the number of nursing assistants in elderly care is decreasing while the needs are growing. We know that the number of people over 80 years old will increase by around 50 percent by 2030. Just as the Minister for Health and Social Affairs mentioned, it is a success for our society that many are living longer. Many also have better health at older ages. At the same time, many will of course still be in need of home care and elderly care.

Behind the statistics are staff members running between users without time to stop, many elderly people meeting new faces every week in the home care service, and relatives who wonder if their mother or father is receiving the care they need. I see this both as a relative and as a politician. I make many visits and am often present in elderly care. Everything is done that can be done, but one must run faster and faster because the resources are often not there.

The Minister responds, as she has done every time we have had a debate on elderly care, that it is the municipalities that have the responsibility, and that is true. It is the municipalities that have the responsibility for the organization of elderly care. Our responsibility as members of the Riksdag and as a government is to provide the municipalities with the conditions to manage elderly care. We Social Democrats believe that this government has not provided the resources needed to strengthen elderly care throughout Sweden.

This has effects. Kommunals' membership survey shows, for example, that 43 percent of the staff consider that the staffing is rarely or never sufficient. Just as many experience that the staffing is so low that there is a risk that the elderly will suffer poorly at least once a week.

Unfortunately, the differences between the municipalities are also large. Here, the government has also not eased things for the small municipalities, which are struggling very hard because resources have been removed specifically from them.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Jytte Guteland (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you to Member of Parliament Lindh for this important interpellation! Thank you also to the Minister for Seniors for being here and debating this with us!

I want to begin by underlining how important Swedish elderly care is and that we have sufficient resources to meet the needs of the elderly. I think the interpellor describes very well why this is so important. I myself worked in elderly care when I was younger, and I am now at an age where I have a mother who needs help in a residential facility. I therefore encounter elderly care in my everyday life, and I know how hard the staff works to help our elderly.

At the same time, there are difficult challenges. I am thinking, not least of all the time that many elderly people spend in solitude. Not least if one has great care needs, one becomes very isolated and is dependent on there being staff who have time, not just for the care but also to talk, to go that walk and try to come up with something so that the days do not become so terribly long.

With Social Democratic policy, we would have had more money for Swedish elderly care. We invest nearly 2 billion more in elderly care. For us, this is a priority area. We want more colleagues for the elderly care staff.

Kommunal reports that 43 percent of the staff say that the staffing is rarely or never sufficient. They experience pressure and stress and do not always have the opportunity to be there for the residents or at someone's home.

We want more people to be able to eat a Sunday dinner with a bit of luxury. We want more people to be able to go out for a walk. We want more people to experience that one can have a conversation, that it is not just about surviving.

That is why resources matter. That is why this interpellation is so important. The government chooses, in fact, to prioritize tax cuts for those who have the most in society over providing the municipalities with the conditions that are needed.

The Minister for Health and Social Affairs describes how she is passionate about the elderly and that they are the most important thing to her. If that is the case, there must be a proper struggle within the government over what is most important. Where do the funds do the most good? Do they do the most good for the wealthiest in the population, or do they do the most good for all the elderly who today cannot go out for a walk, for all those whose days are endlessly long, and for all those who sit alone and wait for someone to come and talk to them?

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Linnéa Wickman (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thanks to my colleague Eva Lindh, who is highlighting the conditions of elderly care here! Thanks also to the Minister for the opening response!

Every day, invaluable work is performed in Swedish elderly care. I have seen it firsthand when I have accompanied the municipal home care service in Sätra in Gävle, but also during many other visits around my home county of Gävleborg. I always meet employees who, with great commitment, help people live safe and dignified lives. Often, it is not just about care interventions. It is about being the one who asks how the day has been, who sees when something is not right, and who breaks the loneliness that is an everyday reality for so many elderly people.

That is why elderly care is so important. That is why we must talk about how it should be developed and how it should be financed when the needs are rapidly increasing. We must also be honest that a system shift is needed.

Kommunens investigation shows that only one-third of the care staff believe that there are conditions for good care every day. 15 percent believe, according to the survey, which was released in January this year, that the staffing is sufficient. The crisis in elderly care has become everyday life.

In many places, the staffing situation is also difficult ahead of the summer. Yesterday, we could read that Älvdalen Municipality has moved to emergency status due to the shortage of healthcare and care personnel.

Against that background, I become concerned when I hear the Minister's answer and when we can now make a final assessment of SD's and the government's mandate period. What is largely missing, however, is the answer to how the government intends to provide the municipalities with the long-term economic conditions that are required.

When the Social Democrats have proposed that state grants to welfare should be inflation-proofed so that elderly care is not affected by hidden cuts year after year, the government has said no. When we have proposed a targeted multi-billion investment in staffing in elderly care, the government has said no. When we wanted to provide long-term conditions for the skills supply by making the Elderly Care Boost permanent, the government has said no. When we have proposed to abolish the unfair quarantine deduction, which particularly affects healthcare and care personnel, the government has said no. When we proposed a new elderly care law, the government said no.

We have consistently prioritized larger investments in welfare while the Tidö parties have prioritized tax cuts for the wealthiest. These are priorities that have consequences.

All over the country, staff go to work every day, all year round, around the clock to take care of those who have built our country. The staff deserve respect for their work, and they also deserve for us to listen to them and act. The elderly deserve a care where there is time for the human being – a care without time-hunting and with staff one recognizes and feels secure with.

There is a fundamental contradiction in the government's policy. On one hand, the minister emphasizes the municipalities' responsibility through their right of taxation after very tough years. On the other hand, the government says no to several of the reforms that would make a difference for the country's municipalities in their opportunities as employers to meet the need for development.

Furthermore, the government has worsened the economic situation with its non-existent labor market policy. The truth is that without more resources, it will not even be possible to maintain the current level of elderly care in this country. And we all know that much more was needed.

My question to the Minister for Health and Social Affairs now, when only 15 percent of the staff consider the staffing levels to be sufficient, is whether it was really reasonable to lower taxes for the very wealthiest instead of investing in elderly care.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Magdalena Sundqvist (S)

Mr. Speaker! The Minister describes that Sweden faces a demographic change where the number of elderly, especially the very oldest, is increasing. It truly underscores the importance of this issue.

The Minister also describes that Sweden has a system of local self-government and that elderly care is included within this. This has so far not prevented governments from taking initiatives to influence what elderly care should look like. During the Social Democrats' time in government, Äldreomsorgslyftet was introduced, which allows staff within elderly care to pursue further education during paid working hours. I see it as very positive that you have also continued with this important initiative. I might have wished that you had made Äldreomsorgslyftet permanent during this parliamentary term.

I have listened to the Minister in several debates about our elderly. I have also listened to your Tidö colleagues the Sweden Democrats, who had a press conference here this week and who have issued election promises on how elderly care should be developed if they are allowed to participate in governing during the next mandate period.

I am in the Riksdag as a substitute due to the receipt failure, and I may not be used to hearing what is said here. But what was said at the Sweden Democrats' press conference was probably the worst I have heard. It was a total blackening of the staff who choose to set the alarm in the morning, get up and work hard. This Tidö party's judgment of this entire professional group was about a lack of personal suitability, about them not wanting to be at work, and about many completely lacking empathy and respect for human dignity.

So that is how the Sweden Democrats describe the professional group that is one of the hardest-working in our society. That is how they choose to describe the professional group that everyone applauded during the pandemic. Now it seems the applause has completely run out – and also the efforts to facilitate the everyday lives of this professional group. Not a word was said about putting forward proposals so that the staff would get a better working environment and more time with the elderly.

I wonder if the Minister shares the Sweden Democrats' view on this professional group, and since you usually emphasize that you are in complete agreement on your side of the politics, I can imagine that the answer is yes. Or does the Minister think, like the Social Democrats, that those who work in elderly care, in home care, and in elderly care homes rather deserve better working conditions and to avoid paying for their own work equipment, and that they need to get more colleagues and more time with the elderly they meet and help during their workdays? In my opinion, it is a prerequisite that we have that view on the professional group in order to ensure safety and security for the elderly.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)

Mr. Speaker! I think it might not be entirely appropriate to hold to account people who cannot be here to defend their position. I answer for my part, for my party, and above all for the government's views when it comes to these issues.

I cannot emphasize enough that, in large part, everything we have done during this mandate period regarding elderly care has been about increasing the safety and security for the elderly and ensuring that the elderly's privacy and independence can be protected – and thus also the freedom of choice and the quality in all parts. This applies to all the reforms we are moving forward with.

An incredibly important perspective has been to strengthen all the fantastic employees in their work. They go to work every day and work hard. I know that it is incredibly tough in many places, given that the supply of skills is the hardest nut to crack when it comes to elderly care, but also the fact that the skill level in some cases is far too low. But step by step, we are raising the requirements to work within Swedish elderly care, and that is about precisely strengthening the employees in the workplace.

We are investing in Äldreomsorgslyftet, which I can truly give a commendation for having introduced. It is perhaps the single most important and best state grant that has been designed in this chamber. It gives bang for the buck directly, as I usually say, and reaches those it is intended for, that is to say the elderly, and strengthens the employees on site.

SKR has concluded that thanks to the Elderly Care Boost, we have succeeded in slowing down the skills shortage in Swedish elderly care. It is clear that we will then continue to develop it.

Year after year, we have put spokes in the wheels so that the municipalities can actually be able to utilize this state grant. Unfortunately, so far only about 1.2 billion of 1.8 billion are being utilized. Therefore, we have chosen not to proceed and expand it even further, now that the language requirement is also included. But I truly hope that every single krona in the Äldreomsorgslyftet is used in the municipalities and comes to those who need it most, that is, the employees, to strengthen competence and thereby increase the quality for the elderly.

We have been clear in our bill that we see a need to continue strengthening the supply of competence in the municipalities. It is also the government's mandate. Step by step, as we have said, we have strengthened the competence. We are now introducing the language requirement so that the elderly can understand and make themselves understood. For many years, we have seen very large deficiencies. The Social Democrats failed to address them, but we are doing so now. The starting point is, of course, that the elderly must be able to understand and make themselves understood.

You do not get the freedom of choice and the opportunity to influence your life situation that you deserve if you cannot understand and make yourself understood. It is A and O. It is, of course, also about medical safety, documentation and medicines and that it must be right, Mr. Speaker. But it is just as much about the work environment and strengthening all those who work in elderly care. We should not kick out those who do a fantastic job but perhaps do not speak perfect Swedish, but rather ensure that they can stay and strengthen them in the Swedish language so that they can perform their fantastic contribution and the elderly can understand and make themselves understood.

The language requirement is at least as important for the work environment as it is for medical safety. In that case, it is admittedly a matter of life and death. But securing the Swedish language and having the language requirement will reduce frustration and unnecessary conflicts and, above all, contribute to a better and more pleasant work environment.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Eva Lindh (S)

Mr. Speaker! The Fiscal Policy Council has noted that there has been a reduction in ambition within the welfare sector. Ivo has pointed out serious deficiencies in elderly care. PRO's mapping shows that municipalities are already being forced to make cuts. This is happening at the same time as the needs are increasing. It is not sustainable.

Elderly care is not just a budget item among others. It is, I would like to say, a promise between generations. The older generation that has been involved in building up Sweden should be able to feel secure. People should know that they receive the support they need in the autumn of their lives with security, continuity, and dignity.

We Social Democrats do not stop at pointing out or describing the problems. We also have proposals to solve them. We want to implement a billion-kronor investment for more staff in elderly care. It is about more colleagues for those who already work in the operation, to reduce stress, to improve the working environment, and to create better continuity. It is, of course, primarily about giving elderly people the time they deserve.

Care is not just about carrying out interventions. It is very much about relationships, security, and human encounters. It requires time and also resources. That is why we want to strengthen the foundation for the state grants to the municipalities so that the municipalities will know what applies and be able to plan long-term.

We have a special initiative on elderly care with almost 2 billion. We want to make Äldreomsorgslyftet permanent. There we agree; we sing the praises of Äldreomsorgslyftet. It is truly deserved. It was needed not only now but also in the future.

We have said that we need to have a clearer focus on language training. Many do a good job, but they also need to reinforce their knowledge of the Swedish language. That is obvious. Just as the Minister for Health and Social Affairs says, it is about medical safety. It is also about being able to understand and convey what is needed between the staff and the elderly person. We believe that one should be able to read Swedish during working hours and receive support to reach the requirements that the operation sets.

Mr. Speaker! In the long term, elderly care must receive more money. It is not only the municipalities' responsibility. It is also the state's responsibility. We must also abolish the minute-by-minute management that for all too long has turned care into a schedule rather than a human encounter.

There is a difference there. Several of us have worked in elderly care. But the minute-by-minute management has become increasingly stricter and now controls a large part of the operations. Sometimes it is about being able to take that time to sit down with the elderly person, to calm that person and make them feel safe. It saves anxiety and also time so that something can be done together, the elderly person and the staff.

I do not think we are getting a clear indication of whether the Minister considers that elderly care needs more resources and more long-term resources to be able to manage the incredibly important mission. It is needed both for the sake of the elderly and to appreciate the work that the staff performs in elderly care.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Jytte Guteland (S)

Mr. Speaker! We Social Democrats believe that it should be safe to grow old in Sweden. You should be treated with respect and dignity, feel that it matters and that there is time for those who get older. I believe that many people feel this way. But the question is how to act so that it becomes a reality.

I watched a film called Det omätbara. It described how development in Sweden has been over a very long time and how many in the home care service are now rushing to keep up with the minute schedule and manage to pass by very many elderly people during a day. It is very far from the dignity, the respect and the quality that politics says it wants to deliver.

We Social Democrats want to address this. We see the development Sweden has had. We see that the elderly today are suffering from it. We see, just as the interpellor pointed out, that there is a generational contract that today, unfortunately, is broken many times.

Many of us also experience in our daily lives that we have elderly people sitting alone in residential homes and wondering why no one comes and talks to them or why the days are so long. They may also not receive help with their hygiene for very long periods of time.

We need to do something about it. An elderly care boost is needed. We Social Democrats want an elderly care boost. We want to strengthen the foundation through state grant funding in the cost crisis we have. We also want an elderly care boost.

We are making a series of initiatives to strengthen the quality of life for the elderly in Sweden. It is incomprehensible why the government does not think it is more important to invest in elderly care than in those who have the highest incomes.

(Applause)

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Linnéa Wickman (S)

Mr. Speaker! I think it is good that we can agree that Äldreomsorgslyftet is very good. I also wish that we could agree to make it permanent. We know that more education will be needed for a long time to come.

The problem is, after all, that the result of four years with the government is that 15 percent of the staff consider the staffing levels to be sufficient in the country's elderly care. The question is also not whether the government has provided any state grants, but why it has provided too little.

If the investments had been sufficient, we would not have repeatedly heard the alarms about competence shortages, high workloads, and the difficulty of recruiting staff.

In my home county of Gävleborg, the latest tax forecast shows that the municipalities are expected to lose 181 million kronor in tax revenue this year. That is the economic reality in Tidösverige.

Mr. Speaker! We have been able to see that the Moderates during the spring have spent a lot of time trying to explain why so many women are critical of the party's policy. I do not believe the answer is that women do not understand the government's and the Moderates' policy. They understand it very well.

It is largely women who work in elderly care. It is women who often take a greater responsibility for relatives. It is also women who see that the government time and again says no to proposals that would strengthen our welfare and elderly care. They see that the tax cuts have largely gone to the very wealthiest in the country.

(Applause)

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Magdalena Sundqvist (S)

Mr. Speaker! I did not previously ask the Minister to answer for what others think. I asked for the Minister's opinion on the assessment that the Sverigedemokraterna put forward regarding the personnel group.

As one of my party colleagues mentioned, it is 43 percent of the staff who rarely or never experience that the staffing is sufficient. Yesterday I read in another article that seven out of ten want to leave the profession.

I would like to assert that the insufficient staffing we have today is one of the absolutely most important factors. We must remedy this regardless of who sits in the government. If we manage that, we will provide the staff with a reasonable working environment. The elderly will get the time they deserve and need, and the profession will increase in attractiveness. We will get more competent people applying for the jobs, and that is truly something we need.

When one reads the government's proposal, one sees that it is a lot of tough measures and very little about how the staff should be supported in helping the elderly. I think of this in combination with what I heard this week – something I will never forget – about how the Sverigedemokraterna completely disparage an entire professional group. With that view, we will not get more people who want to work in elderly care.

Now the minister said a few winged words that I intend to take with me: We have fantastic colleagues! I advise the minister to invite the Sweden Democrats, explain what valuable work those who work in elderly care do, and urge the Sweden Democrats to show this professional group the respect they deserve.

(Applause)

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Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)

Mr. Speaker! I will begin where I left off, in the work that the government has carried out during the mandate period to simply raise the requirements step by step for working within Swedish elderly care.

The final step in this is extracts from the records of convictions and suspicions. It is something that I think is incredibly important, not least for clearing out those who are directly unsuitable to work there. They are not many, but they cause an incredible amount of damage for an entire professional group and, above all, for the elderly who are affected.

An important part of the work has been precisely that employees must be able to trust their colleagues. As we step by step raise the requirements to work within Swedish elderly care, I understand that some think this does not quite align with the competence shortage we have. But it is precisely because anyone cannot work within Swedish elderly care. It is a very advanced profession that requires a lot. It requires competence, it requires the Swedish language, it requires incredible amounts of patience and empathy, and it requires the ability to provide proper treatment.

It is about needing to be suitable and being able to trust one's colleagues because this is often a team effort. These parts are primarily intended to increase the safety and security for the elderly and raise the quality within Swedish elderly care. It is about simply increasing the attractiveness and status of these important professions step by step, because not just anyone can work within elderly care.

There is another part that I have noticed during many of my study visits. We sometimes talk about minute-by-minute management and how bad it is for stress, pressure, and culture in general. I completely agree.

There are parts where one uses a planning tool and at the same time has poor leadership and a manager who does not see and confirm their employees but instead manages by the minute. Then no consideration is taken that Agda needs more time in the toilet or with showering because she has become so much worse, and one has not used the planning tool in the way it was meant to be used. Then it becomes a catastrophe. Then you get sick leaves and staff who go from full-time to part-time, and you definitely get staff who leave the profession. So we cannot have that.

If I am asked by my municipal representatives whether I recommend the minute-by-minute management, I say every day of the week: No, I do not! But I do not intend to legislate against a specific planning tool.

What I, on the other hand, intend to do is to work to strengthen the leadership in Swedish elderly care. Regardless of whether it is private management, municipal management, a large municipality, a small municipality, north or south, quality in elderly care, low sickness absence rates, easier recruitment, many who work full-time and are satisfied with their employment, and above all, elderly people who feel safe and secure and who are happy and have a quality of life, often coincide with one thing, and that is the leadership.

That is why I have recently commissioned an inquiry to develop a leadership program, just like the one we have within the school system. We would never dream of removing the principal and assistant principal within the world of schools and preschools. But within elderly care, there is nothing similar; there are no support functions for all the skilled social workers and nurses who work as unit managers.

I believe it is crucial to strengthen leadership within Swedish elderly care if we are to achieve better quality. We must have a leadership that sees and validates its employees and that raises the status and attractiveness of these important professions. Above all, we must have a leadership that, when asked "Who are you for?", answers: the elderly.

I look forward to receiving this investigation, not during this mandate period but the next, and thereby also being able to launch a leadership training within Swedish elderly care.

My question naturally becomes: Is this something that the Social Democrats support?

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Eva Lindh (S)

Mr. Speaker! Quality does not arise by itself. Quality requires staff, competence, and time.

That is why I asked the Minister what concrete measures the Minister intends to take so that the municipalities will have the economic conditions required to strengthen elderly care and meet the growing needs. Not even once have I heard the Minister answer that question.

I have heard the Minister speak about raising the requirements. Absolutely, we shall have high requirements. She speaks about raising the status for the staff. Yes, I agree. She also speaks about raising the competence among managers. I agree with this as well.

However, for the staff to be able to do a good job, resources and time are required. But every time we have a debate, it is only talked about the municipalities' responsibility. But we have a responsibility. We who sit in government and parliament have a responsibility to give the municipalities the conditions to increase the quality within elderly care. It must be done for the staff's sake, so that one does not have to run themselves ragged during the day.

It hurts my heart every time I meet nursing assistants, for example, who say that they go home with a heavy heart because they have not been able to give the elderly living in the facility what they need. I have spoken with home care staff who go to an elderly person's home and have not been able to provide the care and the nursing that the elderly person needs. This is what it is about.

If we are to be able to talk about truly investing in elderly care, we need to provide long-term financial conditions for elderly care of high quality. It is what the elderly are worth, and it is also what all the staff who work hard in elderly care are worth. But I have heard nothing about that from the Minister.

(Applause)

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Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)

Mr. Speaker! With new requirements come also requirements for co-financing. That is always the case. When new laws and rules for the municipalities are introduced, the government, and the Riksdag which enacts the law, are obliged to provide the money.

That is also the case when it comes to Äldreomsorgslyftet and raising competence. When it comes to the language requirement, the money is specifically in Äldreomsorgslyftet, but there is also other money, which I began by explaining. It is such things that run annually for additional costs for the language requirement.

We will introduce mandatory, and not just voluntary, extracts from criminal record registers and suspicion registers to increase safety and security for the elderly. This will also be able to be done during existing employment. This will also surely be followed by requirements for co-financing, but it remains to be seen what the investigation says about the whole thing.

Today, Mr. Speaker, we have been very much in agreement on many parts. I perceive that the Social Democrats also think it is a good idea to strengthen precisely the parts regarding leadership to increase the attractiveness and status of this important profession. But it is primarily about raising the quality and ensuring that the safety and security for the elderly becomes better.

There is, however, a fundamental contradiction that we have not spoken so much about. We talk a lot about money and money that does not exist. Money that definitely does not exist is the money in the Social Democrats' budget.

When one stands here now and talks about everything one promises and makes promises about things that are to be improved, it still boils down to the fact that in the Social Democrats' budget, which was presented here, that is, 50 billion kronor are missing. We spoke earlier here about the care deduction – there is no funding there at all. If one were to implement it, it would cost 20–40 billion.

It is one thing to stand and promise and say that one wants to invest and raise the ambition. But when one has not financed the promises in one's own budget, it becomes rather thin.

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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