Response to interpellations 2024/25:688 and 2025/26:78 regarding the closure of service offices across Sweden

Civilministern Erik Slottner (KD)

Madam Speaker! It is nice to see so many Social Democrats gathered together at once! Now I also understand why I met Eva Lindh just outside. I said then that I had four interpellations without Eva Lindh having submitted any of them, but now she is participating in the debate – nice!

Madam Speaker! Peder Björk has asked me if I and the government assess that the completed and planned closures of service offices correspond with the mandate from the government, and if I and the government intend to take the initiative for a renewed mandate to Statens servicecenter to ensure that there is at least one service office in each FA-region.

Furthermore, Heléne Björklund has asked me what consequence analysis I and the government have made regarding the residents of Karlshamn losing the service office, how I and the government ensure that the elderly, persons with disabilities, and people without digital tools are not left without support when the office closes, and whether I intend to take the initiative for a strengthened mandate to ensure a long-term strong state presence throughout the country, including Blekinge.

The Government has tasked Statens servicecenter with developing a plan for a new organization of the service office network. In the execution of the assignment, the agency shall plan to eventually provide state services in all so-called functional labor market regions.

Statens servicecenter has submitted an interim report on the assignment which describes the starting points and principles for the future organization, including accessibility throughout the country. In the final report of the assignment, Statens servicecenter shall, among other things, describe the consequences for the accessibility of state services in different types of geographical areas. I have full confidence in Statens servicecenter's handling of the assignment and in the agency's assessment of which offices may be phased out based on the conditions specified in the assignment.

Regarding the service center in Karlshamn, the Government Offices have received notification that Statens servicecenter has decided to revoke the previous decision that this office should be decommissioned.

When the assignment to report a plan for a new organization of the service office network was submitted, there were 60 FA-regions in the country, according to the categorization from the Agency for Growth Policy Evaluations and Analysis from 2015 (FA15). Since the assignment was decided, Tillväxtverket has published a new update of the FA-region division for the period 2025–2035, which means that there are now 71 FA-regions (FA25).

The Government assesses that more mobile and flexible office solutions among the service offices of Statens servicecenter can contribute to a strengthened state presence and service to private individuals and companies in more locations in the country. The Government has therefore, in the budget bill for 2026, proposed that Statens servicecenter be allocated 10 million kronor to ensure an efficient citizen service.

On 16 October, the government decided on an amendment to the mandate of Statens servicecenter to report a plan for a new organization of the service office network. The amendment means that Statens servicecenter shall strengthen the work of providing state service within all FA-regions in the long term by also developing and providing flexible and mobile solutions for local state service.

The Government continues to consider the service centers to be an important activity for offering personal service from state authorities. Service centers shall, in the long term, exist in all FA-regions to meet individuals' needs for local state service within a reasonable distance.

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

Peder Björk (S)

Madam Speaker! When I submitted this interpellation in May this year, I did so because I wanted to draw attention to a development that has now become a reality. There are already 17 service offices in the country that have been closed, and another twenty are waiting in line. Several FA-regions are now completely without state service in the form of service offices. It is a direct consequence of the SD government's policy, which has withdrawn the foundation for a well-functioning operation at Statens servicekontor.

The SD-government's budget implies significantly reduced appropriations. It is about 150 million kronor until 2027. Those savings have led to the closures of service offices. Now the government is trying to make it appear as if they are acting. They pretend that they are investing in mobile and flexible solutions for local state services and add 10 million kronor in 2026. But, Madam Speaker, that does not change the fundamental picture and the consequences in the form of the closures of a large number of service offices around the country. And what is worse is that they continue to close offices while simultaneously talking about developing new, mobile, and flexible solutions.

Madam Speaker! In practice, the flexible solutions mean a transformation of several of today's offices so that they will lack permanent staff and have reduced opening hours. At the same time, the government claims that it wants to strengthen the state's presence. But in practice, the policy means that the presence is weakened throughout the country.

When the government decided on the cuts to the service centers, there were 60 FA-regions. Even then, it was clear that it would not be possible to have at least one service center in every FA-region. Now there are an additional 11 FA-regions, and it is even more impossible to uphold the promise. It is a pattern we recognize. The SD-government says they want to increase accessibility, but in reality, it results in longer distances, less presence, and poorer service.

Madam Speaker! How can the SD government speak of investments when the total resources are still much, much lower than before their own cuts?

(Applause)

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

Heléne Björklund (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you to the Minister for the answer! From the Minister's answer, it appears that the Statens servicekontor in Karlshamn, which I have asked specific questions about, will remain. But is there then some other office that is to be closed? The Minister says that there should be one in each FA-region. Does that mean that some other municipality will have to start campaigns to save its service office? What does it actually look like? We are not entirely satisfied with the answer.

The Minister and the government also speak in their response about mobile and flexible solutions. But what is a mobile and flexible solution? Is it a bus that comes every other month? In that case, it is not state service throughout the country for us in Blekinge, but it is symbolic politics.

Our questions therefore remain. Will the Minister act so that there is state service throughout the country, even in Blekinge, as I expressed in my interpellation?

Within the span of a few months, we have witnessed two police stations in Blekinge being closed. The announcement that the service center in Karlshamn would be closed came at the same time, and it caused great frustration and disappointment among the residents. It damages trust and it damages the social contract. The questions to the government therefore remain. Do you intend to give any guarantees regarding state services throughout the country?

(Applause)

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

Ewa Pihl Krabbe (S)

Madam Speaker! I want to highlight another aspect of all these closures of state activities across our country, namely the situation of the librarians in our public libraries. DIK, the trade union for professions within culture, communication, and information, presented a report some time ago based on a survey conducted among approximately 1,800 library employees during the spring of 2025.

All libraries in the public library system shall work for the development of the democratic society by contributing to the dissemination of knowledge and free formation of opinion. They shall also promote the status of literature and the interest in education, enlightenment, schooling and research, as well as cultural activities in general.

They shall be accessible to all and shall pay special attention to persons with disabilities, the national minorities and persons with a mother tongue other than Swedish, among other things by offering technical aids as well as literature in easy-to-read Swedish and different languages.

Madam Speaker! Public libraries contribute a large amount of community service to the residents. In some cases, the service is part of the libraries' work with education, information technology, and participation in society, but a large part lies outside the library's stated mandate. In the survey I refer to, respondents were asked to estimate how much of the working time is spent helping visitors with, for example, banking matters, insurance matters, or administrative matters of various kinds. It can involve printing or filling out forms, interpreting, translating administrative decisions, and so on.

Madam Speaker! Among the public librarians, 32 percent estimate that more than 50 percent of the operations, that is, their working time, is spent on this type of service during a normal day in the operations. The survey was conducted in the spring, and since then, more and more state activities have disappeared across our country through the closure of a long series of service offices. Among other things, the tax office in Simrishamn will now be closed.

It will undoubtedly further burden the public libraries in these locations and affect those individuals who are dependent on support, not least persons with disabilities and elderly persons, who do not have the possibility to travel several hours away to receive advice and support.

This development runs contrary to the Administrative Procedure Act, which states that authorities shall provide individuals with sufficient help and service so that they can pursue their interests with regard to their individual needs. I would therefore like to ask the Minister if he considers it reasonable that the authorities' service is being shifted onto the librarians in the public folk libraries to such a great extent as the survey shows.

(Applause)

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

Isak From (S)

Madam Speaker! I thank Peder Björk and Heléne Björklund for two very important interpellations.

Does Civil Minister Erik Slottner think it is going well? Is the decommissioning proceeding according to the government's plan? Is the dialogue between Statens servicecenter and the relevant municipalities going well? Is the cooperation between the relevant municipalities and Statens servicecenter working, according to the government?

Madam Speaker! The Government and the Minister for Civil Affairs have received massive criticism from the affected municipalities. I cannot find that anything positive whatsoever has emerged regarding this. It seems rather to be that the Government wants to shift state social tasks over to the affected municipalities.

Madam Speaker! It has emerged that the Nordmalingskontoret in Västerbotten is to be closed. It is very clearly stated. What has affected Västerbotten the most is that the office in Piteå has been phased out, especially considering that it was done at the same time as Northvolt issued large-scale warnings and layoffs in Skellefteå and at the same time as the Swedish Migration Agency was phased out in Skellefteå. This caused very many to seek support and help from Statens servicecenter in Skellefteå.

What has now been brought to my attention is that the offices in Vilhelmina, Storuman, and Sorsele have been told that their opening hours will be changed. The affected municipalities have asked Statens servicecenter: We hear that the opening hours will be changed. Is that true? Are you not going to have a dialogue with us about it? Why and to what extent will they be changed in that case? The answer from Statens servicecenter was then: Yes, there will probably be changes, but we cannot go into it. We will announce it when it is ready.

If this is the government's view on dialogue and cooperation with the municipalities concerned, one can fully understand that the municipalities concerned are upset.

Madam Speaker! My questions to the Minister are: Is it going well? Is it going according to plan? Is the dialogue with the relevant municipalities going well? Is the cooperation proceeding as the government intended?

(Applause)

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

Lars Isacsson (S)

Madam Speaker! Thanks to the interpellants! I also want to thank the Minister for the answer.

The Minister says in his response that the Statens servicecenter will, in the long run, provide state services in all FA-regions. The very words "in the long run" say everything about the government's way of governing. In reality, offices are being closed here and now. The state cannot be a temporary guest in large parts of Sweden. It must remain, especially where people, companies, and the future are growing.

In Dalarna, we have the Ludvika and Smedjebacken FA-region. It is one of Sweden's most expansive industrial growth regions. There, the state has withdrawn and closed its service office. In Ludvika and Smedjebacken, green industry is being built. It is about green steel, energy transition, and power lines. Additionally, beer is brewed, and new mines are to be opened. While private investments worth billions are rolling in, the state is withdrawing.

When Statens servicekontor was to be closed, Leif Pettersson, the chairman of the municipal executive board, said in Nya Ludvika Tidning that "the state cannot just leave." There is a company there – Hitachi – that has an order backlog of 400 billion, but the state is just leaving. At the same time, the government writes that it will strengthen the work and eventually reach all regions. What is happening in Ludvika and Smedjebacken is not eventually; it is happening now.

It is not just about service offices, but also about the state's presence and legitimacy. What does it say about the government's ability to govern the country if the state cannot keep its promise of an office in every FA-region?

I had a debate with Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch here in the chamber. Then she said to me: If I were in charge, there would be more service offices in Sweden, not fewer. If the Deputy Prime Minister does not believe she can be part of the decision-making, then who is it that rules?

The government says that instead of fixed offices, there will now be more flexible and mobile solutions. This is intended to contribute to a strengthened state presence. In practice, it results in worse opening hours, fewer staff, and longer travel distances. It is not a strengthening, but it is a stealthy dismantling.

In Avesta and Mora, there should be flexible mobile offices. They have already reduced the opening hours. At the municipality's service center, they clearly notice that they receive more questions on the days when the state service office is closed. It is not cooperation; it is a shift of responsibility. The municipalities have to receive more visits, more frustration, and more questions that are actually the state's responsibility.

Madam Speaker! It is not reasonable that Ludvika and Smedjebacken, an engine of Swedish industry, lack what the state itself calls basic services. The government has also shown that it is possible to back down. That happened in Karlshamn after the interpellator Heléne Björklund worked hard for this and succeeded in stopping a planned closure. Why can one not do the same in Ludvika and Smedjebacken? There, the need is at least as great.

When the state turns off the lights in municipality after municipality, the signal is that you do not count. I believe the opposite: that Sweden holds together when the state stands firm. The question to the minister is therefore simple: When will Ludvika and Smedjebacken get their service office back for real and not just in the long term?

(Applause)

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

Niklas Karlsson (S)

Madam Speaker! I have been a rather fierce critic regarding the government's policy, not least when it comes to the closure of the state's service offices. I have previously expressed in the debates that the government's message to Sweden's citizens is: We do not see you. We do not hear you. We do not care.

I have demanded insight and reconsideration. In today's interpellation answer, one can nevertheless see tendencies that the government is beginning to listen. They are now allocating 10 million kronor for something called flexible and mobile solutions. Right must be right. It is a small, small step in the right direction.

The problem is only that this still captures the criticism I have previously expressed – that the government has no idea why the service centers exist. What is now being proposed may be practical and cost-effective, but it does not solve the problem fundamentally.

I will give an example. The Riksbank's Jubilee Fund publishes an annual book every year. This year it is about justice. One of the works is authored by Professor Lena Halldenius, who writes about respect, resources, and relations. She writes as follows:

"Municipalities are constantly looking for different ways to make savings within their operations, for example within elderly care. For that purpose, a medium-sized municipality recently made the decision to shut down a lunch service that elderly residents in the municipality could have visited a few days a week to eat at a subsidized price. The service was considered unnecessarily expensive, and the elderly people who used to go to the lunch service were offered to instead receive pre-cooked food delivered to their homes. Even after the change, the affected persons could therefore still receive cooked food from the municipality, moreover without even having to go out; the food would be delivered to the door. Practical and cost-effective! But the affected people protested. Eating portion-packed municipal food alone in one's kitchen is simply not the same thing. They argued that the municipality did not seem to understand why the service was so important to them: that it was the socializing it was about."

This is exactly where the government ends up. It is possibly practical and cost-effective to have mobile and flexible solutions. But it is not the case that closures have meant that Statens servicecenter has disappeared. There is, after all, the possibility of traveling five, six, seven, or eight miles to the nearest service office instead. There is also the possibility to use the telephone or to have digital contact with the service offices.

No, this is about the fact that you have no idea or understanding of why the state service office should exist in the entire country. It is about respect – respect for all of Sweden's citizens. Regardless of where one lives in our country, one should have proximity to this. There must be accessibility and there must be a presence.

The small maneuver we are now seeing from the government regarding the establishment of flexible and mobile solutions is no solution to this problem. More service offices are required. It is necessary that we stop scrapping the proposals that are currently on the table.

What the government is now presenting is insufficient, ill-considered and unjust. It is a lack of respect.

(Applause)

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

Zara Leghissa (S)

Madam Speaker! In Norrbotten, we are now seeing the result of the government's downsizing of the Statens servicecenter. The service office in Piteå has closed its doors. Jokkmokk is next in line for downsizing, and more towns risk following suit.

It is not just about doors to an office being closed. It is about a worsened work environment for the staff when the workload increases as the opening hours change. And the mobile offices require changed and extended travel times to and from work.

It is about the state withdrawing from people, the rural areas, and entire regions in our Sweden. Service centers are not a luxury. They are not an optional service. They are a fundamental part of the state and the physical presence of the state – Försäkringskassan, Skatteverket, Arbetsförmedlingen, Pensionsmyndigheten and Migrationsverket – in people's everyday lives. Here lies the opportunity for people who lack digital competence, who have functional variations or language difficulties, or who live in places with less access to transport. It is where the retiree goes to get help with their application. It is where the newcomer goes to get help understanding the letter from Skatteverket. It is where the small business owner goes to resolve their administrative issues. It is where people go every day to work.

When the state disappears from places like Piteå and Jokkmokk, a clear message is sent: You are not as important.

But when it comes to our Sweden, the whole country must live, not just big cities like Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg.

The government talks about efficiencies. But, Madam Speaker, is it really efficient that elderly people have to travel ten miles to get help? Is it efficient that the municipalities are forced to take over tasks that the state leaves behind? Is it efficient when more people are left out because they cannot use digital services or do not have access to the technology? Is it efficient to worsen the working environment for the staff? No, it is not efficient. It is short-sighted, unfair, and a betrayal of the countryside.

We Social Democrats know that state presence means more than just a cost item in a budget. It is about trust, about security, and about equality between city and country. Therefore, Madam Speaker, I want to ask Minister for Civil Affairs and Digitalization Erik Slottner: How does the government intend to ensure that all citizens in the entire country, even in Norrbotten, get access to state services?

(Applause)

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Agneta Nilsson (S)

Madam Speaker! Today I stand here for the third time regarding the reduction of the state's presence in our country because SD and the government have decided that local service offices shall be removed. Today, the hope is that it is the third time it will be granted and that Civil Minister Slottner and the government will obey me. However, it looks bleak for the Swedish people in this matter. Closure of service offices has already begun. In Skåne, offices have disappeared in a good number of municipalities. Soon, Eslöv's service office is next in line. In January, it will be finished, according to the planning. Then, everyone who needs help will be forced to travel to the next office.

Madam Speaker! The Regional Development Board in Skåne decided this spring to support the Social Democrats' initiative to write to the government and demand that the decommissioning of the service centers be stopped. All parties stood behind it; it was a united board. There it was understood that the so-called adaptation that Statens servicecenter needs to make to meet the government's austerity requirements will worsen the contact with state authorities for a large number of people.

I am going to quote a Christian Democrat member in Skåne's regional development committee:

Withdrawing service offices is at odds with the state's responsibility to counteract inequalities in society. When authorities are centralized to larger cities, distances increase both geographically and socially. It is a threat to the cohesion of our society.

That is the end of the quote.

The government does not even have its own party representatives with it out in the country.

Madam Speaker! When a quarter of the offices are closed, many people are left in the lurch. The decommissioning of the offices hits unevenly. When the state cuts back on the service offices, people in Eslöv and across the entire country are affected. It is not solely a question of budget and figures, but it is also about people's security, trust, and everyday life being worsened.

When SD and the government remove offices, it is a perverted justice. Instead of being as close as possible, one should now be as far as possible from an office. The further away, the better – that seems to be the reasoning.

For whom is this effective? For an elderly person, a person with a disability, or a family with small children without a car, it becomes more expensive. It takes longer, and it creates increasing gaps and a feeling that the state does not consider everyone to be equally worthy. In any case, it does not become effective.

The government's savings may provide a short-term gain on paper, but in the long run, it risks resulting in higher costs. More incorrect applications and longer processing times, and this government's savings create a growing mistrust in society and ultimately weaken democracy.

Madam Speaker! How do the Minister and the Government view the fact that the governing politicians in the regions and municipalities concerned do not agree with SD and the Government regarding the cuts, regardless of which party they belong to?

(Applause)

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Eva Lindh (S)

Madam Speaker! Perhaps the SD government thought that the reduction of 150 million regarding the state service offices would not be noticed so much. They perhaps thought that it would escape notice in a somewhat elegant way and that people would not react.

But every time I visit a municipality and meet people, especially the elderly and pension organizations but also others, those I speak with themselves bring up the issue of the service centers. It is about difficulties and about not getting help to do things correctly. You do not get help to fill out forms, and you cannot get answers to questions.

But very clearly, it is also about something fundamental, namely trust. It is about feeling trust that the state is for the benefit of us all – that the state is there and that one can get the help one needs.

This is, I believe, something that we in these times of unrest need to be very careful about. To shut down state service offices in this situation is not only bad generally, but it is particularly bad in these times.

Now more government service offices are being closed, also in Östergötland: in Motala, which Johan Andersson will touch upon, and also in the eastern part of Östergötland. There, the city office in Norrköping has been closed, and now the office in Finspång is to be converted into an unmanned office, where there is no longer staff to get help from more than a few days a week. It is nicely called flexible. That is how it is usually called when one tries to make something nicer than it actually is. But what does flexible mean? It means that people will not be able to get the help they have received previously.

The Minister says in his response that the government assesses that more mobile and flexible office solutions among the service offices of the Statens servicecenters can contribute to a strengthened state presence and service to private individuals and companies. Does the Minister for Civil Affairs really believe this? If so, he is probably one of the few who do.

We Social Democrats want instead that the state's presence be strengthened and that we should expand the service offices. But every time we discuss this, the government tries to make it sound nicer than it is. Now the 10 million, which came as a kind of bandage on the wounds, have become something that the SD-government describes as that one is now going to do it a little better. But it won't get better!

When you take 34 buns and give back half without sugar, it doesn't become more buns. It becomes fewer buns. Here we see exactly the same thing. The service offices' activities and support across the country are being shut down and disappearing. This means that people have to travel further. They do not know where to turn for the help they need – there was a reason why we expanded the service offices. Furthermore, people's trust in the state is deteriorating.

This is a bad decision. I wonder how the Minister for Civil Affairs himself views the cuts and what the effects of them mean for all the places that we represent throughout Sweden.

(Applause)

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

Markus Kauppinen (S)

Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the announcement regarding Karlshamn. But it confirms that the government lacks a fundamental plan for the state's presence.

The state should not close service offices just to save money in the short term. In the debate here, it has probably been noticeable that we Social Democrats stand up for a good state presence and service throughout the entire country.

The Minister must see what happens when service is cut. The service office in Tranås was closed at the end of 2024 due to cuts that the government pushed through. I have been sent a petition with 562 names, which shows how disappointed the residents in Jönköpings län are with the government. I intend to hand it over to the Minister after the debate, if he accepts to receive it.

Closing the office means that tens of thousands of residents in Tranås and surrounding municipalities lose the opportunity for a physical meeting with the state. There are those who cannot manage all their affairs digitally – the elderly, the sick, and persons with disabilities. It is they who are hit hardest.

The Minister speaks of efficiency, but this is a policy that increases inequalities and makes everyday life harder for many. The state has a responsibility to give everyone, regardless of where they live, access to the help they need from Försäkringskassan, Skatteverket, or Pensionsmyndigheten.

Madam Speaker! I would like to ask the following questions to Minister for Civil Affairs Erik Slottner: How does the government justify withdrawing services in municipalities such as Tranås? How does the government ensure that those individuals who are dependent on physical meetings, those who cannot use digital services, will continue to have reasonable access to necessary state assistance without being forced to travel long distances?

(Applause)

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Adrian Magnusson (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you to the interpellants and the Minister for the debate and for the answers to the interpellations! This is a question that we have struggled and bled over in this chamber before.

In February this year, I visited the Statens servicecenter office in Ystad, my hometown. It is the last office remaining in southeastern Skåne, as the office in Simrishamn was phased out a little later in 2025. I met staff at the Statens servicecenter in Ystad. I met staff who were very proud of their work. They were very happy to be working at the Statens servicecenter and were grateful and proud to be able to help people in their everyday lives with the types of problems that can arise when one has to fill out different forms or have contact with the state in different ways. They were proud to be able to help and support people who were in need of it.

Since then, this wave of closures of state services has hit across the entire country. It has particularly hit southeastern Skåne. The Skatteverket office in Simrishamn is being closed, as Member of Parliament Pihl Krabbe mentioned here earlier. I know that the staff at Skatteverket have written to the Minister for Civil Affairs regarding this. I do not know if the Minister for Civil Affairs has responded, but I know that he has been written to. The service office in Simrishamn has been closed, as I said, and police stations in southeastern Skåne remain closed to the public.

This wave has created an anxiety among the few state institutions that still remain in southeastern Skåne. This week, I was shopping at home in Ystad. When one is a Member of Parliament from a small town, it often happens that people approach you when you are going shopping. It sometimes takes a little longer to shop than one had intended. This time, an employee from Statens servicecenter whom I had met previously approached me and told me that their lease would expire in January 2026 and that they were quite worried about what will happen to the service office in Ystad.

Given how the other closures of service offices around the country seem to have been handled – it seems to have been the length of the lease agreement that has decided whether the offices should be closed or not – I became deeply concerned. This contract expires in January, and according to the dialogue I have had with Statens servicecenter, there is still no new location decided for the service office in Ystad.

I do not intend to stand here and cry wolf. There is no closure decision – that must be made clear. But again: Given how these closures have been handled, one becomes concerned when there are two months left and Statens servicecenter still has not found any new premises in Ystad.

In the best of worlds, there could be a gap so that there is a period when the Statens servicecenter does not exist in Ystad. But that gap risks, given how this has been handled, becoming quite permanent. The residents in southeastern Skåne pay state tax like everyone else. They also deserve to have a present state and not a state that is completely absent.

I hope that the lump in the stomach that the employee at Statens servicecenter felt when she spoke with me is only a false worry and that one does not need to feel that worry. I hope that my lump in the stomach also is a false worry and that this will be resolved. But there is a clear worry, for me but above all for all those who are in need of Statens servicecenter in south-eastern Skåne and in Ystad.

If the result is that this office is closed, we will no longer have a state service office in southeastern Skåne, and the state presence will decrease further. This will harm people where I come from, as well as their trust in and respect for the state – I can guarantee that.

(Applause)

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Johanna Haraldsson (S)

Madam Speaker! In the impact assessment that Statens servicecenter has prepared in connection with the decommissioning of the service office in Tranås municipality, one can read: ”The authority's local operational presence is important in several aspects. State authorities have largely digitized their service. There is … a continued need to offer local state service alongside the digital channels for individuals who need to meet the authority physically to resolve their matters. The service office activity is in this way important to maintain legitimacy and trust for the state authorities.”

Just as it is stated to read in the analysis, access to state services throughout the country is about several things. It is about equal service. Many elderly people, persons with disabilities or language difficulties, and those who have difficulty handling the authorities' digital tools need to be helped with contacts with authorities – Arbetsförmedlingen, Pensionsmyndigheten, Försäkringskassan, and Skatteverket.

But it is also about trust in the state and the authorities. One should be able to trust that the state and society are there when you need them and that the state is accessible and does not withdraw.

Madam Speaker! When the impact assessment of the closure in Tranås was published, the service office in Tranås had already been closed for three months because the lease agreement had expired. The impact assessment had already played out its role. The possibility of quick savings appears, from an outside perspective, to have been the only reason why it was decided to close the office in Tranås. The municipality and the local politicians received the information only after it had already been closed, without any possibility for dialogue or influence on the decision.

The thousands of individuals who have visited the service office in Tranås and received help with their matters and contact with various authorities now have a longer journey, and many risk not receiving the support and help they feel they are entitled to at all. The government's cuts to the service offices mean that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get help for those who need it the most.

We Social Democrats expanded Statens servicecenter and opened several new offices so that the state would become more accessible and to increase the service to the citizens. This is clearly not an important priority for SD and the government. Step by step, the expansion is now being erased and the progress is being reversed when a quarter of Statens servicecenters' offices are closed.

The disappointment over the closure of state service offices is great in the localities affected. When we Social Democrats in Jönköping County turned to the residents of Tranås and asked what they thought about the government's closure of their service office, over 500 people signed the protest list against the closure. They want the state to be there and provide the support one is entitled to. Many turn against the state withdrawing.

I wonder what the Minister has to say to all those who are protesting against the closures of the state service centers, in Tranås and in other places, and to all those who need the support that the government is now withdrawing.

(Applause)

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

Johan Andersson (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer to the interpellation!

On March 25, the Minister and I stood here in the chamber and debated the decommissioning of the service office in Motala, which had been known for a couple of months. It was a rumor, but on March 25 we had it confirmed by the Minister.

I do not intend to provide much statistics regarding this; we did that in connection with that interpellation. But I can only state that the need remains. Today, those living in Motala or the western part of Östergötland, which covers five municipalities, have to travel to Linköping. It is not like traveling to the USA, absolutely not. But it is still a distance, especially for those who most need the service that the service office can deliver.

Both Motala municipality, Region Östergötland, and surrounding municipalities responded very negatively to the idea that the service center should be decommissioned. They referred to statistics and supporting data. I have all of this, if the Minister wants it. He has received it before, in double or perhaps even triple copies, I believe. But there is additional supporting data.

On June 1, the service office was shut down, as stated. It has been six months now. It may be a bit too early to conduct a consequence analysis of this. But I have a concrete question for the Minister, which I would very much like to get an answer to. The Minister has an incredible opportunity, in connection with writing the regulatory letter to Statens servicecenter, which is the authority for these offices, to also ensure that some form of analysis is conducted on what the consequences have been for the population out there.

The Minister has spoken about – and is doing so now also in his response – that it is about mobile solutions. In six months, we have not seen any mobile solutions in my part of the country. They might come, hopefully by Christmas, and lie in a package under the tree in the square in Motala. We look forward to that. Is this something I can refer to, that a package from Minister Slottner will arrive, to be delivered under the tree in Motala, with technical solutions for this?

My request is: Now see to it that there is a proper analysis of this! It is easy to make decisions, but it is much harder to change incorrect decisions. At the same time, this is nothing to fear. Slottner has also been a politician for many years and knows that from time to time it happens that one makes an incorrect decision. In that case, one must change it and do the right things.

We have seen some of that. I am thinking now of the Karlshamn office, which I understand is a consequence of Slottner's position regarding this. But other offices in the country have been closed down. How has the development been for the municipal residents, the users who are in the respective municipalities? What conclusions do the government and the minister draw from this? I believe that he can also convince SD's party leader on this area, if he has a very good basis.

(Applause)

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Civilministern Erik Slottner (KD)

Madam Speaker! I will try to go through the questions that I have time for in four minutes in a structured manner. Eva Lindh and Peder Björk will have to wait – they can go to some planet in some universe and look for some UFO that is sitting in an SD government. I am not doing that, at least. Since SD is not sitting in the government, I also do not intend to bother answering the members' questions.

To begin with, it should be said that the state service offices are not disappearing. They are decreasing in number, which is a consequence of the budget the government has set, but they are not disappearing. The vast majority of service offices remain around the country. Not even when the Social Democrats were in power and we had 148 offices – now there are around 140 – did a majority of the municipalities have service offices. I do not know if the Social Democrats at that time were compensating those municipalities that lacked service offices with money for libraries because they received so much more work.

I think it is being built up over the top in this debate. I do not demand that everyone thinks it is good that we reduce the number of service offices, but I think one can put things into perspective a bit.

I also want to add that there have been no layoffs at Statens servicecenter. That can also be good to know. It wasn't said outright that it was so, but it was hinted at a bit here during the debate, I thought.

Some of the questions asked are of such a nature that I cannot answer them; instead, the authority itself must do so. The members know very well that where the offices are to be located is an authority decision. Peder Björk is now sitting there shrugging his shoulders because he thinks it was a bad decision. That is one thing, but the government has decided that the authority shall independently make decisions on where these offices shall be located, and therefore I cannot comment on the exact location of individual offices. One may think that decision was bad, but if I had answered some of the questions, I would probably, perhaps by some member present here in the chamber, be reported to the Committee on the Constitution.

Isak From asked about customer satisfaction and whether I think the relationship with the municipalities has worked. It is, of course, very difficult for me to answer in every individual case. What I know from the authority dialogues and the annual reports that follow up with the authorities is that customer satisfaction has increased significantly at Statens servicecenter. For various reasons, it has been a bit meager with this for a number of years, but now it is increasing, which is very pleasing. I must say that both the Director General and the Chairman of the Board are fantastically engaged. I had a meeting with them most recently two weeks ago, and there is a very great commitment to the issue. They are working very well on the government's assignment.

Heléne Björklund asks if other offices will be closed instead of the one in Karlshamn. No, I don't think so, but the authority must answer that. With the supplement of 10 million that we are providing next year, one can save, among other things, Karlshamn and continue to build on mobile solutions. On the other hand, it is completely public which decisions the board makes, and there is therefore a list of offices that will be closed in the future. It is no secret. I don't have them in my head here and now, but it is not the case that one saves Karlshamn at the expense of any other office.

What is a mobile solution, Heléne Björklund also asked. It can be a mobile solution in the form of a vehicle that travels to a city in connection with special events or specific occurrences that justify presence. One can also rent space in a municipal office for a number of hours a week. It looks a bit different.

I must return to the many questions I received during the 13 posts.

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Peder Björk (S)

Madam Speaker! The Minister refers in his answer to the UFO. The only one here in the chamber who lacks contact with the ground and is in some kind of orbit in the universe is the Minister himself. We are 13–14 members in the chamber who, in post after post, point out the importance of these service offices. It is name collections, it is people who stop members in the store, it is posts in the media, and there are municipal and regional managements that strongly protest against what the SD government is doing. The only one who does not seem to think it is a problem to withdraw service for citizens all around the country is the Minister himself; he is out on a space trip and completely lacks contact with the ground.

Madam Speaker! State presence is not just about services and authorities, it is also about trust in the state. When people notice that the state is there where they live with services, workplaces, and local presence, then trust in the state is strengthened. But when service centers are closed, when state jobs are moved, and when it becomes a two-hour car journey to the nearest authority one way, then this trust is eroded.

It is exactly what we see during the SD government's time in power. For the elderly in Filipstad, for the entrepreneur in Åmål, or for the newly arrived in Sandviken, a closed service office actually means that one no longer has a door to knock on. The state becomes something remote, a voice on the phone, a website that malfunctions, or a form in bureaucratic Swedish.

When people stop feeling that the state is there for them, the gap between city and country also grows. It is dangerous for democracy, for cohesion, and for the sense of community that Sweden has built up over decades, Madam Speaker.

The Minister likes to speak of flexible solutions and mobile offices. It sounds modern. But such solutions cannot replace the fixed, physical presence. A mobile office that appears every now and then, as the Minister just said, cannot replace the security of knowing that the state is locally represented by a service office or another authority.

Madam Speaker! We Social Democrats want the state's presence to be strengthened and expanded, not withdrawn. Sweden shall have a state presence throughout the entire country. We shall not have an order where the placement of state activities has Stockholm as the norm and everything else is a deviation, and where one also does not see the importance of and the strength in a cohesion across the whole country.

Madam Speaker! I have no hope that the SD government will act to strengthen people's access to state services, but I hope they can acknowledge that for them, this is not a priority issue. In fact, the issue does not even seem to be important.

(Applause)

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Heléne Björklund (S)

Madam Speaker! We stand here and discuss the state's service centers throughout the country. It is an activity that many times exists to replace or consolidate agencies that do not have their own offices in the locality.

My municipality would very much like to have a fully functioning employment service in Blekinge. It is needed in these times. We would very much like to have a full-scale district court or why not a police station. But we have nothing of this. On the other hand, we have received some compensation from the social democratic government through the state service centers.

Just as I have told the minister several times, there is a rage. Where I come from, people talk about the power in Stockholm, and they do not talk about it as something positive. It is not the city of Stockholm that is loathed, not the people or the beautiful capital, but it is the power. One feels like a loser time and again, and the plea is to show that the whole country matters.

It is not for nothing that it is celebrated so extraordinarily in small towns when they do something good, such as winning SM-gold in the Fotbollsallsvenskan. It is so important to be able to show that we do something good. It is also not for nothing that one can mock oneself and put tractors on the jerseys when one comes to Södermalm. Thereby, we show that we know that you mock us, but we are proud.

The state must show that it exists everywhere through local police stations, through present employment offices, through district courts, through service offices. It is about showing that it is important that all people can feel trust in the state. When trust is not felt, we mean, an anger is created that breaks the social contract and which creates a distance from the government, from the politics, and from the power. It is important that we handle the issues. It is important for all of us, and it is important for democracy.

(Applause)

(cont.)

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