Response to interpellations 2025/26:384, 385 and 386 on elderly care

Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)

Mr. Speaker! Karin Sundin, Mikael Dahlqvist and Fredrik Lundh Sammeli have in summary asked me if I intend to take measures to ensure the needs and rights of the elderly within elderly care. Karin Sundin and Fredrik Lundh Sammeli have also asked me what measures I intend to take to ensure adequate staffing. Mikael Dahlqvist has also asked me if I intend to take any measures to ensure that the municipalities can expand the number of places in assisted living as well as if I intend to work to ensure that the state grants for elderly care are indexed annually.

Sweden has a system of local self-government. Elderly care is within the scope of the municipal area of responsibility. From the provisions of the Social Services Act (2025:400) it follows that the activities within the social services shall be of good quality and that there shall be staff with suitable education and experience for the execution of the tasks. The municipalities thus have both the opportunity and the responsibility to take measures to ensure the supply of staff and competence as well as to meet the needs in the municipality, such as ensuring places in special housing. The social welfare committee in a municipality is obliged to report to the Health and Social Care Inspectorate, IVO, if a granted intervention for care or nursing for an individual has not been executed within three months.

The municipalities, through the municipal right of taxation, have both a far-reaching responsibility for and a great opportunity to influence the financing of their activities. Tax revenues constitute the very largest part of the municipalities' total revenues. The municipalities' economic conditions are therefore, as for the rest of the public sector, strongly linked to the development of the tax base and economic growth. Increased growth and a restored work line therefore have great significance for strengthening the municipalities' finances and the conditions to finance elderly care in the long term.

To strengthen the municipalities' conditions to carry out their welfare mandate, the government increased the general state 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, Mr. Speaker, were permanent. The municipalities also continue to receive targeted state 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 just over 4 billion kronor for 2026.

Sweden is now facing a demographic change where the group of elderly – especially the very elderly – is increasing in number. It is, of course, a positive social development that reflects, not least, an increased life expectancy, better health, and a society where more people can live a long life. At the same time, this development means that elderly care needs to continue to develop in order to meet today's and also future needs.

Competence supply within elderly care is a very high priority for the government, which continues to work on reforms in several areas for a stronger and safer elderly care throughout the country. Since 2023, the profession of nursing assistant has been a protected professional title, which contributes to ensuring competence within care and increasing the profession's attractiveness and status. It is also fundamental if one is to work with differentiation of work tasks.

The Government has also, in the budget bill for 2026 (prop. 2025/26:1), 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 also decided on 15 January 2026 the bill A language requirement in elderly care (prop. 2025/26:93), where it is proposed that a language requirement for staff in elderly care be introduced in the Social Services Act.

Creating conditions for senior employees to remain in their profession for as long as possible and utilizing their competence and experience is also an important part of staffing and the supply of skills in elderly care. The National Board of Health and Welfare has therefore received a government mandate to develop a basis for how providers of elderly care can utilize senior employees' competence in the operation by having them take on the task of being a mentor to support colleagues in the workplace (S2026/00074).

Questions regarding staffing and competence supply are primarily questions for the employer. It involves, among other things, being an attractive employer, finding solutions for a sustainable working life, and strengthening leadership. Leadership is of great importance and can influence the organization of elderly care and, to the highest degree, the quality. The Government therefore considers it important that at least first-line managers take part in the opportunities that exist to increase competence within the framework of Äldreomsorgslyftet.

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

Karin Sundin (S)

Madam Speaker! This debate is intended to be about the situation in Swedish elderly care. The situation is very strained in many places. Municipalities and private providers are struggling to keep up with the development as all elderly people are in need of elderly care. It is difficult to provide more places in time, difficult to recruit staff, difficult to make the finances work, and difficult for the private actors to make a profit without it affecting the quality. The reports we receive are that crisis is the only adequate word we can use to describe the situation in Swedish elderly care today.

With this said, I would, of course, like to thank Minister Tenje for the answer. I believe, however, that she and all of us in here know that Sweden has a system of local self-government and that elderly care falls within the scope of the local responsibility. We are, of course, in complete agreement on the importance of what is stated in the Social Services Act and what the Minister describes, namely that elderly care shall be of good quality and that there must be staff with appropriate education and experience. But the problem today is that the municipalities do not have the right conditions to fulfill that mission, and the result of that is that elderly care does not have enough staff with appropriate education or the experience needed to be able to provide elderly care of good quality.

That is what my interpellation is about. It is about safety alarms that do not work and that no one has time to act on when they do work. It is about hygiene routines that are not followed, and it is about a lack of care. It is about elderly people who do not receive the nutrition they need to be able to feel well.

What we can follow in the media today regarding Swedish elderly care are deficiencies on such a scale that we cannot say it is due to coincidences or that individual municipalities do not care or have not read the law sufficiently. It is a matter of systemic failure – the municipalities are obviously unable to live up to the requirements of the law. It is also not something that only I and my Social Democratic colleagues in today's debate here in the Riksdag are raising. Many are pointing out that this is a systemic failure. The testimonies from the elderly, from staff, and from relatives are infinitely numerous.

The other day I read a column in Affärsvärlden by Joachim Berner, where he describes how his mother, who has dementia, contracted scabies at her nursing home, how the staff ignored it, and how the doctor brushed it off. He testifies to how he received a stream of stories from other relatives who have fought to ensure that their elderly relatives receive good care and a bearable existence. His conclusion is that there are serious systemic flaws in Swedish elderly care. There are so many examples.

Anna Tenje's answer, however, contains nothing about the situation in today's elderly care. She rattles off how the legislation works, about the right of taxation, about the state grants and what the government has already done. But it contains nothing about the actual situation or the crisis in Swedish elderly care.

My question to the Minister is therefore: Does the Minister see the crisis in Swedish elderly care? What does she think the government should do about it?

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

Mikael Dahlqvist (S)

Madam Speaker! Many thanks to the Minister for the opening response to our interpellations!

I must begin by saying that I am concerned. The Minister describes the situation but unfortunately does not answer the questions. We face a strong demographic development where the proportion of elderly people is increasing, especially the very oldest who we know have a great need for care and support. At the same time, we see today that the elderly have to wait for the interventions they are entitled to. Decisions are made but not implemented. The municipalities are sounding the alarm about an economy that does not add up.

Madam Speaker! The Minister returns to local self-government, which I am fundamentally positive about and which must be protected and given opportunities. The problem is not that the municipalities do not take responsibility – the problem is that the municipalities lack the prerequisites. When municipality after municipality says that we cannot manage to expand elderly care at the required pace, it is not enough to refer to the distribution of responsibility. In that case, the state and the government must step forward.

Madam Speaker! I hear no new information. I asked specifically what measures the Minister intends to take to ensure more places in assisted living. We know that the shortage of places is great already today, which leads to many elderly people remaining at home despite great needs, or in the worst case, remaining in hospitals until they receive a suitable residence. This is not dignified. The Minister also highlights the previous increase in state grants, but these do not follow the cost development. This means in practice that elderly care is today slowly but surely being eroded.

There is a political difference here, Madam Speaker. We have prioritized welfare higher. For example, in 2023 and 2024, we doubled our resources for welfare compared to the government. In this year's budget, we have made a special investment of approximately 2 billion to increase staffing. The municipalities face increased costs while the needs are growing. It does not add up.

Madam Speaker! I would therefore like to pose three clear questions to the Minister: What concrete measures does the government intend to take to increase the number of places in assisted living? Why does the government not want to ensure that the state grants follow the cost developments? What measures does one intend to take to ensure that decisions are actually implemented on time?

It is fundamentally about something simple: that elderly people get the right to care and nursing in time.

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

Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S)

Madam Speaker! It should be safe to grow old in Sweden. It cannot just be a vision for politicians and politics, it needs to be a promise that we in politics do everything we can so that every human being feels security throughout their life. But the reality is different when it comes to elderly care. The elderly testify to insecurity. Staff testify to stress. Relatives testify to worry. And in the midst of this, the government chooses to refer to municipal self-government. That is not enough.

Local self-government is an important part. But when staff run between users or when the elderly meet new faces from the home care service every day – perhaps several times a day – it is not just a question for local self-government. Then it is a quality crisis in Swedish elderly care.

Madam Speaker! The Minister highlights the state grants, but the truth is that the municipalities are being pressured hard. The demographics are changing, but the resources are not keeping up. We see the result clearly. There are fewer employees in elderly care and less time for each elderly person. It is a work environment where the staff are on their knees.

Clear messages are missing from the government on how staffing within Swedish elderly care shall be strengthened. To say that it is the employer's responsibility, I believe, is to abdicate from the national responsibility, because elderly care is not just any activity. It is about people in life's most vulnerable stage. It requires a political leadership.

We Social Democrats are clear that we are ready to take responsibility and prioritize a national policy that supports the municipalities in this activity and enables more employees and better continuity. In elderly care, the needs of the elderly and not a minute-by-minute schedule should rule. My question in the interpellation is simple: Where are the government's concrete reforms to increase staffing in elderly care?

When the minister and I travel around the country, we can see that there are many who are doing a completely fantastic job. There is an incredible amount to be proud of and elderly care that is truly completely perfect. But I am convinced that we also encounter operations from north to south that are having a really tough time, where the staff are on their knees and where the resources are not sufficient. Then, from a national level, we cannot just say that it is about municipal self-government and that it is a municipal matter. We are an actor in this area. We need to take greater responsibility and prioritize the issue more clearly moving forward, because the challenge and the crisis within elderly care have only just begun if we do not change the policy and change direction for Sweden.

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

Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)

Madam Speaker! Many thanks to the members for this debate!

The employees in elderly care are clearly our most important resource. Today we are talking about the skills shortage and the supply of skills within elderly care. It is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges we face, given the demographic development we are in and have ahead of us.

Madam Speaker! Without nursing assistants and healthcare assistants, our common welfare comes to a standstill. Therefore, we need to raise the status so that more people want to work in these vital and rewarding professions. The work environment must also improve. The employees and first-line managers must, of course, be given good conditions so that they have the strength, can, and want to work a full working life.

We have been very clear from the government's side. Now we are raising the requirements for working within Swedish elderly care step by step. It is first and foremost, Madam Speaker, about raising the competence through Äldreomsorgslyftet, which we have extended and developed year after year. We have removed all the hurdles that are in the way so that the resources reach those who really need them. It is about staff and municipalities, but above all about raising the quality and competence so that it benefits the elderly.

We have also worked with the protection of professional titles, which is a very important and successful reform. It provides a recognition of what one is trained for. One gains status and becomes proud of the work tasks and the education one has. Professional titles can also be used to differentiate the work tasks within elderly care, so that the right personnel do the right things. The competence and experience that exists should be utilized in the best possible way and in such a way as to provide an opportunity for more people to enter through service occupations and the role of care assistant. Via Äldreomsorgslyftet, one can study to become a nursing assistant, specialist nursing assistant, and so on to increase competence.

The second part is the language requirement. It has been known for a long time that there are major deficiencies within Swedish elderly care regarding language. The Corona Commission showed this. Ivos's reports also showed this early on. We have known this for a long time. During their eight years in power, the Social Democrats could have started, initiated, and investigated the matter. You refused to tackle it, but I did.

One of the first investigations I commissioned as minister concerned establishing a language requirement. It begins to apply this summer. The elderly must simply be able to understand and make themselves understood. It is fundamental for the elderly to be able to decide for themselves in their daily lives but also to have their needs met, regardless of whether it concerns elderly care in a residential facility or whether it concerns home care. It is also about patient safety – that one does the right thing, documents what one does, and ensures safe handovers between staff.

The language requirement is also about the work environment. If you cannot talk to each other at the coffee table, hear how it's going for the son regarding the driver's license, or for that matter what to do on vacation this summer – then you don't bond. Furthermore, a lot of unnecessary frustration and problems arise due to language barriers.

Madam Speaker! The third part is perhaps the most important. Now we provide clear legal support for the municipalities to extract data from the burden and suspicion registers to ensure that it is suitable personnel working within elderly care.

Overall, these three steps are extremely important for raising the status and attractiveness of these important professions. The employees get colleagues to trust them so that they want and can continue to work for a long time and stay in these important professions.

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

Karin Sundin (S)

Madam Speaker! It is quite true as the Minister says that the staff is the elderly care's most important resource. So what does the staff say? According to Kommunals' member survey, almost half, 43 percent, say that the staffing is rarely or never sufficient within elderly care. Just as many believe that the staffing is so low that it poses a risk for the elderly at least once a week. A large proportion believe that there is a risk for the elderly every day.

Just over one in three, 36 percent, of Kommunal's members experience that they have the conditions to provide good care and meet the elderly's individual needs every day. Compared to the survey Kommunal conducted among its members five years ago, the staff in elderly care say today that the understaffing has become worse. The level of competence has dropped, and they manage less than they did five years ago.

In the report, this is summarized by stating that correct staffing today is an exception rather than a rule. It is a perspective on Swedish elderly care – or, if you will, 12,000 perspectives on Swedish elderly care, as it was 12,000 of Kommunals' members who responded to the survey.

Another perspective on the situation in Swedish elderly care is the Lex Sarah reports, i.e., cases where staff have, according to law, been obliged to report irregularities. Sveriges Television has conducted a review of Ivo's audits of Lex Sarah reports within home care during 2024. It shows that deficiencies in care in 12 out of 190 cases led to the elderly person passing away. Several of these elderly people passed away alone after having used their safety alarm – no one had time to come. Someone received help only several hours after having triggered an alarm after a stroke. Several people passed away after not having received food or care for a longer period. It was thus 12 people who died because the staff did not have time to do their job. According to the responsible unit manager at Ivo, these 190 Lex Sarah reports and the 12 deaths are just the tip of an iceberg.

We take it again: 12 dead. It is 12 too many, and it is the tip of an iceberg. I think that the Minister should probably have an answer on what can be done to prevent this.

It is good that the minister highlights the reform that the government inherited from the previous Social Democratic government, which means that assistant nurse is today a protected professional title. It is good that the government continues with Äldreomsorgslyftet so that staff within elderly care can further their education during paid working hours. It is also a reform that was launched by the previous Social Democratic government.

It is not true that the Social Democrats, as the Minister claims, did not bother to address the issue of language in elderly care. It was one of the things we said during the 2022 election campaign: We must demand language skills.

So, these are good reforms that the Minister is highlighting, but they are obviously not enough to avert the crisis in Swedish elderly care. And the question is: Does the Minister see the crisis? And what does the Minister intend to do about it in that case?

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

Mikael Dahlqvist (S)

Madam Speaker! Once again, thanks to the Minister for the answer to my interpellation! But I must unfortunately state that I lack clear answers. The Minister describes the system, but not how we solve the core issues.

Madam Speaker! We already have a situation today where elderly people have to wait for special housing even though the decisions have been made. It is not a planning problem. It is a capacity problem caused by the fact that many municipalities today cannot make the operating economy work.

Referring to the fact that the municipalities have responsibility does not solve the lack of places, as I said in my opening remarks, but my question remains: How is the government going to participate and stimulate so that more housing is built within elderly care?

Madam Speaker! I agree with the Minister that the status within the profession must be raised, absolutely. It is one of the basic prerequisites regarding the problem we see within Swedish elderly care today. My Social Democratic colleagues have already, in a meritorious manner, accounted for various perspectives regarding the challenges of Swedish elderly care.

Mr. Speaker, the government and I seem to have fundamentally different views regarding funding. The Social Democrats claim that significantly more resources are needed within Swedish elderly care to, among other things, solve the problem of status within the profession. To be able to solve that problem, it is required, Madam Speaker, better working conditions and a better work environment. Many times this costs money – money that the municipalities do not have today. Therefore, my question remains: Does the government intend to strengthen the municipalities' financial situation when it comes to elderly care in the future?

Madam Speaker! When it comes to legal certainty, the Minister refers to Ivo, and that is formally correct and proper. But the problem is that Ivo does not have enough muscle or mandate to be able to influence the municipalities so that they, for example, execute decisions faster. After a longer period, one can impose a fine, as the Minister knows, but it is a slow process. This means that many of the elderly's rights are not fulfilled. Therefore, my question remains here as well: Does the Minister believe that today's system protects the elderly's rights sufficiently?

What is being requested by municipalities, staff, and the elderly themselves is not more descriptions of how the system works. What is being requested now is political leadership and concrete decisions. In that regard, I believe the government's response is still insufficient.

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

Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S)

Madam Speaker! I note that the Minister returns to three parts that can be described as municipal responsibility, growth, and skills supply, and the Minister enumerates a number of individual reforms. But none of this is the answer to the problems here and now. I think we can take them in turn.

Firstly: municipal self-government. Yes, the municipalities have responsibility. But the state also has responsibility for the conditions. Otherwise, we would not have a sector grant, an elderly care boost, and other important parts. This is an area where the municipalities and the state share the responsibility. And the truth is that when the government chooses to prioritize lower taxes for the richest over securing resources for welfare, it is the elderly who take the hit with a deteriorated elderly care.

When it then comes to the other matter, growth and the supply of skills, one can truly question the policy that the government has pursued during this mandate period, with over 100,000 more unemployed as a result. This also pressures the municipalities through a poorer inflow of tax money.

Elderly care cannot wait for a better economic cycle; the elderly are here and now. It is elderly care here and now that needs to function. I believe that the government here and now needs to ensure reforms that contribute to us being able to have a larger investment in elderly care. The basis for my question in this interpellation is: What concrete reforms is the government implementing to ensure increased staffing?

My colleagues here have previously, just like the Minister, touched upon this regarding protected professional titles, and it is very good. The language requirement is very good. The elderly care initiative is very important. All of this is partly something that we started and implemented, and partly something that the government has taken further. But we also need to honestly state that it does not solve the problem here and now. What we have done is not enough, and the most acute problems remain: Resources and staff are lacking here and now to be able to ensure good elderly care.

Madam Speaker! It is here that the government's policy so clearly fails. A policy has been implemented with frozen state grants to municipalities and regions in a situation with high inflation. That combination has truly forced Sweden into a serious elderly care crisis.

The Minister for Elderly Care likes to talk about quality, but as a government, one does not deliver resources. One likes to talk about competence but does not ensure the staffing. The staff do not have enough time. The elderly do not get the time they need.

We Social Democrats have pointed out a different direction. It is possible to prioritize differently. It is possible to invest more state funds to, as a first step, enable 4,000 more employees in elderly care. That would make a difference.

My question is: Does the Minister realize that without more employees, all other reforms risk becoming insufficient?

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

Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)

Madam Speaker! I must say that it is still a bit amusing to listen to the Social Democratic members. They claim that they are adding more resources. They talk about the frozen state grants and that they should be indexed up. But when one looks at their budget, one sees that it is underfunded by 50 billion kronor.

If you add up your various initiatives and not least the indexed state grants – or for that matter the additional state grants to elderly care – one still wonders: How are you going to finance this? There is de facto a lack of 50 billion in your budget.

Let me address some of Mikael Dahlqvist's questions, which concern the fact that there is a shortage of space in some municipalities. If one generalizes, it can be said that a number of municipalities lack space in special housing, but it is far from all of them. The conditions are different. Other municipalities have planned in a different way and definitely have no shortage of space in special housing. It also happens to coincide with the municipalities that welcome independent alternatives and have introduced LOV, that is, the Act on Choice Systems, which gives the elderly the opportunity to actually choose. In those municipalities, the shortage of space is significantly smaller than in the municipalities where one chooses to run everything in-house.

My question to the Social Democrats is: How are you going to have the means and the possibility to build to keep up with the housing shortage when you simultaneously want to limit it by wanting to abolish LOV?

The Social Democrats want to abolish the Act on Choice Systems and skip the choice for the elderly, even though this has fundamentally been what has made it possible to build more. It means that one shares the capital service costs and, not least, the risk and the investments that need to be made in the municipality. One does not avoid all costs, but one can at least join forces and manage to build more housing.

So, the Social Democrats want to abolish this, and in that way, the shortage of places will definitely not become less, especially not in those municipalities where it is already tough.

The second question, which Member Sundin was touching upon, I think is very important. It concerns the Lex Sarah reports. I want to be clear that it is good and important that the municipalities report. It is part of the improvement work. It is part of the systematic work to ensure that things never happen again.

When I went through the reports that Member of Parliament Sundin referred to and which were taken up in SVT's review, it became quite clear that no further analysis had been made at an aggregated level of what it is that causes these appalling incidents to occur. No particularly good follow-up is being carried out either.

What I, as the responsible minister, did was simply to task Ivo with analyzing this at a better level and returning with recommendations and guidelines on how to proceed so that this never happens again. Above all, however, I was careful to say that we must not let it stop at this. Municipalities neatly accounting on paper for what they intend to do so that this never happens again is not enough; now we are also following up on it.

Ivo has therefore received a reinforced and clarified mandate and expanded resources specifically to follow up on these parts, so that the rights of the elderly, which Mikael Dahlqvist raised in his question, can truly be met in a significantly better way.

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

Karin Sundin (S)

Madam Speaker! Let me summarize some of what I have already said in this debate: We have fewer employees in elderly care. There are fewer nursing assistants in elderly care today than there were in 2022 – 4.5 percent fewer nursing assistants. There are, however, more care assistants. The staff in elderly care believe that the understaffing is greater, that the level of competence is lower, and that they manage less than they did five years ago.

People are dying as a result of deficiencies in elderly care. The twelve people we have talked about are the tip of an iceberg. It is good that one analyzes what the deaths are due to. But it will not be enough to prevent new mistakes from occurring in Swedish elderly care, because the resources are insufficient.

We Social Democrats have, in the debate here today, put forward some proposals on what should be done, which we send along to the government. First and foremost, the financing should be reviewed. We hear the Minister speak about the state grants. But the fact is that the cost increases of recent years have been greater than the increase in the state grants. We think that this should be indexed, so that the state grants follow inflation. Then one can plan. Then one knows what one has to work with in municipal elderly care.

We should invest in the staffing of elderly care. We mean that we should inject money to hire more employees in Swedish elderly care.

We must make primary care work. There is an urgency with the transition to good and close care, so that there are nurses and doctors available in Swedish elderly care.

Yes, we should abolish LOV. When elderly care is driven by profit interest and not by care for the elderly, the development is not driven in the right direction.

I hope that the Minister takes our proposals to heart.

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

Mikael Dahlqvist (S)

Madam Speaker! What is clear in this debate on Swedish elderly care is that the Minister, Anna Tenje, repeatedly refers to someone else: the municipalities shall solve it, the employers shall solve it, and growth shall solve it. But in the meantime, the needs are growing, and the elderly people are left waiting.

Madam Speaker! This is not a future challenge. It is an ongoing reality. We have elderly people who cannot get a place in special housing. We have decisions that are not being implemented, and we have a shortage of staff. Furthermore, we have municipalities that say the finances do not add up.

It is interesting when the Minister refers to the fact that the shortage of space looks different in the country's 290 municipalities. That is true. However, I do not share the Minister's analysis.

We can see that there are different growth zones in the country. There are municipalities that are doing very well and have advantages with a lot of state services, state jobs and so on. There, one has a dynamic labor market and high growth. Then there are municipalities that are located more peripherally, where one lacks educational places and so on. That makes the growth low. Should these municipalities be punished for being located in a part of Sweden where one has different conditions? I do not think so.

Madam Speaker! There is a political difference. We Social Democrats have been clear in this debate. We want to improve the conditions for Swedish elderly care. We want to ensure that there are economic resources. We welcome the reforms that have nevertheless been made, but it is money that is lacking.

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

Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for being here and having the opportunity to answer our questions, even though I do not feel that the answers have been particularly numerous!

Let us place our two budgets side by side and examine them! Then the picture will also become clearer. Then we see what the government and the Sweden Democrats have chosen to prioritize, which is above all tax cuts for the very richest, and what we choose to prioritize, which is a strong and better welfare. This year alone, it would involve 13 billion more for welfare, and it would make a difference.

At its core, it is about what kind of society we want, a society where elderly care is pushed to the limit or a society where we have more time for each other and where the nursing assistant does not have to choose between holding a hand or keeping the times in a schedule and where the elderly person is met with security and not by stress.

Madam Speaker! It is not the staff who are falling short, and it is not the elderly who are demanding too much, but it is the politics that are insufficient. I therefore think it is problematic that the government leans back when, instead, there is the opportunity to step forward, to show national leadership and to prioritize welfare and elderly care.

We Social Democrats have put our proposal on the table. In the same way as the government has moved forward with Äldreomsorgslyftet and protected professional titles, I hope that the Minister for Elderly Care takes his senses and joins forces with the Social Democrats for more employees with better conditions and for an elderly care where dignity and security are put first. Those proposals are on the Riksdag's table to vote yes to.

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

Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)

Madam Speaker! Once again: Many thanks to the members for this very interesting debate!

I now regret that I merged the interpellations and that we took this on a single board, because I would have wanted to continue the debate much longer. But it is unfortunately, Madam Speaker, obvious that the members have written their speeches earlier and then do not really listen to what I say and the answers I give. Instead, they stick to their speech scripts and give the impression that they are not receiving answers to their questions.

That is not quite right. I have been clear that we are now step by step raising the requirements for working within Swedish elderly care with higher competence requirements, with the language requirement, and with the possibility to extract excerpts from criminal record registers and suspicion registers. We do this so that those who work within Swedish elderly care shall have the right competence. One must be able to speak Swedish, and above all, one must not be a criminal.

We also do this to protect the elderly and to increase safety and security for them. We always put the elderly at the center. But we also do it for the employees when we improve the work environment and, above all, raise the status of these important professions. By step by step raising the requirements and then also increasing the status, I believe that one also increases the attractiveness of these important professions.

The members of the board have spoken warmly about allocating more money and making more reforms. But it is not just about prioritizing, but also about financing. If one has not financed the proposals that one has in its budget, this is nothing other than pure and simple populism and a way to mislead the voters and the elderly.

We are clear. We put the safety and security of the elderly at the center. We are now working step by step to increase the quality. We are going through the Corona Commission's reports and Ivo's reviews in order to be able to implement reforms step by step to increase the quality and raise the attractiveness of these important professions.

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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