Response to interpellation 2025/26:531 on fraud and crime in the workplace
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD argues that the government has done a lot to detect unserious suppliers and that the Action Plan for Public Procurement is a concrete tool to create barriers around criminal companies 1 2. KD urges authorities to tighten the control of subcontractors and design contracts that enable follow-up 3. KD argues that the government, through many measures, has now begun to succeed in breaking down organized crime and needs to remain in power to continue 4. S considers crime in the working life to be a comprehensive societal problem that requires a broad program with powerful interventions 5 6 7. S wants to legislate a maximum of two subcontractor levels 5 6 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Civilministern Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! I have noted that I have rather long interpellation answers, but I will try to get through them a bit quickly.
Sofia Amloh has asked the Minister for Employment what the Minister intends to do to limit the possibility of long chains of subcontractors. The interpellation has been submitted to me.
Procuring entities, labor market partners, the business community, supervisory authorities, and judicial authorities have a shared responsibility to ensure that criminal and unscrupulous actors are kept out of the market. Those actors who violate rules on working conditions and who commit crimes and obtain public funds on incorrect grounds shall not be awarded public contracts. Effective work to exclude these actors is crucial to protect particularly vulnerable employees and promote healthy competition between companies, as well as to safeguard the economy and maintain trust in our society as a whole.
Labor crime often occurs in industries where services are procured, for example within the construction and civil engineering industry. If there is a risk of unreasonable working conditions, procuring actors are obliged to establish labor law conditions.
It is a known fact that the occurrence of criminal and unreliable companies increases further down the supply chain. Procurement legislation does not limit the possibility for contracting entities to set requirements that a supplier specifies which subcontractors shall be used. The rules also allow for requirements that mean only a part of the contract may be performed by subcontractors. The contracting entity can therefore set requirements that the main supplier has a well-functioning procurement function that monitors and evaluates its subcontractors.
The Government has, in the Roadmap for Public Procurement 2025–2030, decided on three additional objectives for the national procurement strategy. One of these objectives is that contracting entities shall ensure that only serious suppliers are awarded public contracts and that the suppliers comply with agreements and applicable regulations and have serious subcontractors.
The National Agency for Public Procurement has been tasked to inform, guide, and facilitate the exchange of experience on how the roadmap can be realized, and the government has strengthened the National Agency for Public Procurement's conditions to support the municipalities' work in countering labor and welfare crime within public procurement. At the government's initiative, the agency has been allocated 50 million kronor over three years for this work. The Swedish Economic Crime Authority has also been allocated funds. The purpose of the initiative is to provide the municipalities with better tools to detect and exclude unscrupulous actors in procurements.
The National Agency for Public Procurement and the Swedish Economic Crime Authority have been given a joint assignment to develop the forms for and make available an operational and business-oriented support for municipalities that helps them to counter labor and welfare crime in the various parts of the procurement process.
Procuring entities have access to several tools to ensure that suppliers and subcontractors comply with laws and agreements; among other things, suspected low bids can be questioned. The Competition Authority has, on behalf of the government, submitted proposals aimed at making it easier to reject unserious bids in public procurements. Preparation is now underway in the Government Offices.
A review of the EU's procurement directives is also currently underway. Sweden has stated that the new regulatory framework needs to contain provisions that create conditions for good competition and counteract corruption, as well as provide opportunities for the exclusion of unserious and criminal actors.
Sofia Amloh (S)
Madam Speaker! Labor market crime concerns criminal, mafia-like companies that build their operations through black labor and illegal labor. It is sham employment, human trafficking, poor working environment conditions, and various subsidy crimes. Labor market crime also feeds organized crime. Labor market crime threatens serious companies and exploits workers under appalling conditions.
The criminal economy in Sweden turns over a staggering 352 billion kronor per year. These are funds that are not only stolen from our common welfare but also serve as a cash box for the gangs when they engage in shootings and drug trafficking. What the Minister reports in his answer is not incorrect – I have no objections to that – but it actually does not stand in proportion to how extensive the societal problem is. The more accurate description of the Minister's answer is perhaps rather that it is a fish out of water.
Workplace crime concerns systematic cheating and rule violations and crime in working life across a number of areas, from the work environment to economic crime. The consequences are enormous for the employees, for companies that behave properly, and for society as a whole.
Today's application of public procurement contributes to creating unhealthy competition. All too often, it is the lowest price that is guiding, and costs are kept down at the expense of a good working environment. These are flaws in the system that we must plug.
That is why we need to have a rule stating that there can be a maximum of two subcontractor levels and that it is not possible to pass the responsibility further to someone else. We need to ensure that it is known where the responsibility for the working environment lies. There shall therefore be a maximum of two subcontractor levels. There was nothing in the response from the Minister regarding this, and the Minister is welcome to come back regarding why the government has not done anything when it comes to this.
A blacklist of the unserious employers would also need to be established so that those who are conducting a procurement and so on know which companies one actually should not hire. The government has not managed to address that either. Why not?
Civilministern Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! I actually think, not entirely unexpectedly, that it is a somewhat unfair criticism of the government to say that this is a fish out of water. I do not think that it is.
I am indeed a party to the case and the Minister for Civil Affairs with responsibility for public procurement, but I think this government has done quite a lot when it comes to detecting and reaching the criminal or unscrupulous suppliers and achieving better functioning public procurements. I actually have a good conscience regarding much of what we have done.
Even though the interpellation answer was a bit too long for my taste, it was not comprehensive; there is quite a lot that I did not mention there, for example, the report of the Supplier Control Investigation, which we have now proceeded with and budgeted. Now, Bolagsverket is working on developing a supplier check, which will be of great use and have great significance in the work of detecting unserious actors at an early stage. The goal is, in fact, to never enter into a contract with a single criminal or unserious supplier, which is a goal shared by parties across the block divide. We have also done quite a lot of other things.
We worked on the roadmap for public procurement for quite a long time at the Ministry of Finance, and it is good. For those who use the roadmap, it is a concrete tool – or provides quite concrete guidelines, or however we should put it – for good procurement. We have added a new procurement policy goal that is precisely about excluding unserious actors, and in the roadmap, there are a lot of concrete tips, suggestions, and thoughts on how a procuring authority can best work to create barriers around those companies.
It is nevertheless the case that every state authority, every municipality and every region is responsible for its own procurement. There is today a possibility – I have noticed this also in many other contexts – to conduct much better procurements within the framework of public procurement than is done today. People cry out for a lot but rarely look at where they stand and trudge through by digging for what they themselves can do. How can the legislation be used in the best way to, among other things, minimize the risk of entering into agreements with criminal actors?
One can therefore do much more, and that was why I, as Civil Minister, concluded that during this mandate period we should not focus on changing the legislation but rather support ways of working and methods to, with the legislation as support, be able to carry out procurements as well as possible.
We have also tasked the Competition Authority with preparing proposals for a so-called blacklisting. We have also received proposals that abnormally low bids should be able to be excluded more easily than today, that is, to strengthen the legal possibility to do so. These are also some examples of such things we have done to tackle the criminal economy.
The last thing I will answer concerns this issue with the number of subcontractor seats. It is still the case that the Supplier Control Investigation looked into the question and concluded that, under current EU law, it is not possible to limit the number of subcontractors. That assessment was also shared by a massive majority of the referral bodies, and therefore the government did not proceed with this.
I would, however, really like to emphasize that there is today an opportunity for contracting authorities to set much higher requirements for subcontractors than what often happens today. I really want to urge contracting authorities to take advantage of that opportunity.
Sofia Amloh (S)
Madam Speaker! Although the Minister supplemented his answer in his second contribution, I would still like to assert that the answer is very meager. If there are no more measures or more answers to our questions regarding the extensive societal problem that work-related crime represents, I am actually becoming concerned. If this is the answer, it is actually a bit worse than I thought.
In 2007, the then-bourgeois government changed the regulatory framework for labor immigration. They made it a largely completely unregulated and liberal system, which led to largely free labor immigration. It enables an exploitation of people and an unhealthy competition, and it enables organized crime.
In 2009, the same government abolished the audit requirement for smaller companies. It was a proposal that received a great deal of criticism from a number of agencies: the Swedish Economic Crime Authority, the Swedish Tax Agency, the Swedish Enforcement Authority, and the Swedish Prosecution Authority. The National Police Board itself was concerned about what this would lead to regarding the possibility of detecting economic crime.
Now we stand here with the reality before us. We are now struggling with exactly the consequences that the current government was warned about, and the current government has not addressed them. The consequences have not been lifted here, and there seems to be no ambition to rectify them. Not least, the Swedish National Audit Office noted exactly these consequences in 2017. It is a comprehensive problem that requires comprehensive measures.
Madam Speaker! There are countless examples of how this occurs every day. The ultimate consequence is a fact when the work environment fails to such a degree that people die at their workplace. Furthermore, it took days to investigate who the individuals were, because one had zero – and I really mean zero – control over who was present at the construction site when the elevator plummeted and five people lost their lives.
It was noted that 43 different subcontractors were linked to the project in Sundbyberg, which was highlighted in the investigation of how the complex responsibility for the working environment was distributed. The responsibility for the working environment is passed around and disappears into thin air.
We Social Democrats want to legislate a maximum of two subcontractor levels in several affected industries – especially in the hard-hit construction industry. Why has the government not taken the concrete measures needed to make a difference in this reality? The elevator accident actually occurred several years ago. Responsibility for the working environment is being passed around. What concrete measures does this government have to put a stop to what is happening?
The government has no more answers, and that makes me deeply concerned. I give the Minister for Civil Affairs a chance to explain in what way, with extensive measures, one will intervene against this major societal problem, which fuels much of the crime we see.
Civilministern Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! Now the debate has been broadened. I can remind those outside the chamber who may be listening to this debate what the question was. The interpellation that I am to answer contained a single question: What does the Minister intend to do to limit the possibility of long chains of subcontractors? That was the question, and that is what we are discussing in this interpellation debate.
Now, the entire welfare crime and work-life crime were added together. I have answered what I, as Civil Minister, have done and told which initiatives I have taken regarding the law on public procurement. If we are to tackle the problem with welfare crime and work-life crime, we must, however, work with much more than just the law on public procurement – that everyone understands.
That is why many ministers in other departments have given new assignments to various authorities and made different budget investments. Not least, the Economic Crime Authority has received resources and assignments that relate to this. Customs Service has also received a lot. This interpellation was addressed to Minister for Employment Johan Britz, but because it was addressed as it was, it was passed to me. I am responsible for subcontractors in public procurement, so it was correct that the question came to me.
The debate being conducted by the member of Parliament touches upon Britz's area of responsibility. The member should probably submit a new interpellation and broaden the scope of the question slightly so that it reaches the Minister for Employment next time. I say this as a small tip.
Very many measures are being taken. About ten authorities have also received a joint mandate to work against welfare crime. I have already answered why we have not proceeded with legislation stating that there may be a maximum of two subcontractors that a procuring company can use. The investigation commissioned during the previous government's time in power concluded that this contradicts EU law and that it would probably be illegal if Sweden introduced such legislation. A large majority of the referral bodies share that assessment, and we therefore are not proceeding with this.
With that said, I have an appeal to all authorities: There must be a tightening now! Use the opportunities that exist regarding requirements for companies to keep track of their subcontractors! Use the opportunities that exist for post-controls! Design the contracts so that it is possible to follow up on the procurement! There are plenty of best practices and plenty of suggestions, thoughts, and examples of good procurements that benefit small companies and the idea-driven sector and which strengthen competition, but also ensure that one has control that no unserious or criminal actors are signing contracts with the public sector.
Sofia Amloh (S)
Madam Speaker! It is quite symptomatic of this government when the minister says that he will only answer a single question when it concerns such a large societal problem. This interpellation debate is about fraud and crime in the working life, which are extensive problems. If one is to solve these problems and answer questions regarding them, one needs to broaden the perspective. Now, I would have asked a specific question, but the government must surely be able to handle something as extensive as this?
Johan Britz has answered such questions in the chamber before, and I think it is a bit strange that he is not doing so now. Recently, however, he has not met with various trade unions – above all, he did not meet the chairman of Byggnads in the morning sofa – regarding just this question, so I understand that he is not here today either.
Labor crime threatens serious companies and exploits workers under appalling conditions. This is a widespread and growing phenomenon. We must stop it here.
The Social Democrats want to launch a broad program with long-term and powerful measures to clean up the Swedish labor market. We want to introduce a Swedish mafia law. We want to allow a maximum of two subcontractor leaders and forbid criminals from running health centers, schools, and HVB homes. We want to blacklist fraudsters and reintroduce the audit obligation. We want to counter corporate stooges and unscrupulous companies. We want to see 10,000 more controls per year to counter tax evasion and undeclared work.
The list can be very long, and if we are allowed to govern Sweden after September 13, we will work through the points on it. We want order and clarity in the Swedish labor market. Organized crime does not belong here. We will ensure that we work through the list point by point. We will take the Swedish labor market seriously, in contrast to this government.
Civilministern Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! I may not be known for being one of the most formalistic people in this government, but I must still be a little formal. We have an interpellation debate here. We do not debate based on the interpellation's heading, but we debate the interpellation's content.
This interpellation consists of three sentences and one question. The question and the content of the sentences concern subcontractors. This is what the question is based on. It is clear, then, that the question will be directed to the responsible minister. If one wants a broader labor market policy and occupational health and safety policy debate, or a debate on crime in the working life, one must adapt the interpellation regarding content and the issue at hand. In that case, it might be directed to a different minister.
This is also not a new phenomenon. It sounds as if welfare crime is a phenomenon that has emerged during the last four years, but that is really not the case. This has unfortunately grown in strength over a long period, and all governments have in different ways taken measures to tackle it. It has, however, proven to be difficult. The criminals are unfortunately smart and many times faster than what the legislators are.
The government has, with many different measures and through many different departments – perhaps all departments – worked to get at the fraudsters and the criminals within this area. The voters must themselves decide who has the best track record regarding getting at the serious organized crime. I must say that we, from this government's side, over four years have shown that we, with many measures, both preventive and more powerful, more repressive ones, have now finally begun to succeed in getting at and breaking through the serious crime. One can, for example, see it in the drastic reduction in the number of fatal shootings.
If we continue with this direction in policy and do not change course, which the Social Democrats promise to do, I believe that we will soon see results regarding the extent of crime in the workplace and welfare crime. I do, however, believe that this government needs to remain in power for that to happen.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.