Committee member butchers report on fewer private providers in the welfare services

– I ask the Støre government to put the report in a drawer, says Høyre’s deputy leader Tina Bru.

– Minister of Health Vestre has said he wants to open up the use of private providers to reduce the waiting time, and then this study becomes completely meaningless, says health policy spokesperson Bård Hoksrud in the Progress Party.

– We have long had a goal of phasing out the commercial aspects of welfare so that the money does not disappear into profit. But it is a political question. Today we also received a professional assessment of how this can happen, says SV leader Kirsti Bergstø.

Handed over to the government

For two years, the controversial De-Commercialisation Committee has looked at whether commercial actors can be phased out of public and tax-funded welfare services. On Thursday, the main report was handed over to Digitization and Administration Minister Karianne Tung (Ap).

– We do not propose phasing out, we do not propose de-commercialisation. It is important, said committee leader Jan-Erik Støstad during the presentation.

The committee nevertheless believes that private providers in the welfare system should be better and more strictly regulated.

NHO: Politically charged premise

The members of the committee, from the National Association of Private Nurseries and NHO, have dissented on parts of the report’s conclusions, while a majority of nine stand together.

Business policy director at Abelia, Nils-Ola Widme, represented NHO in the committee. He gives the more than 400-page long report the smooth layer.

– The report is unbalanced and not very objective, with strong attacks on private individuals without any basis in fact. The majority in the committee allow themselves to be guided by a politically charged premise that commercial operations are negative and overlook how the welfare services in Norway are structured as public services, says Widme.

He says that it is the patients who will suffer because certain others will use political money to remove private providers of services.

SV: It is entirely possible to cut out private individuals

The committee was set up as a result of the government’s budget settlement with SV in the autumn of 2021. On Thursday, SV leader Kirsti Bergstø was satisfied with the possibilities outlined by the committee.

– I am aware that it is entirely possible to take the commercial aspect out of our welfare, but that it requires political will, says the SV leader.

She points out that there is a strong contrast between the coverage of welfare services such as hospitals, nurseries and childcare facilities, and other types of needs and procurement in the public sector.

– The purpose is to cover basic needs for care, training, health and security, and this is in stark contrast to commercial needs, she says.

– Far from reality

The Conservative Party has criticized the downsizing of the committee, and deputy chairperson Tina Bru came out with a clear message on Thursday. She calls it unrealistic for the Støre government to throw private actors out of cooperation with the public sector.

– One of the things I find most alarming is that the committee makes claims that have not been investigated. It appears as if the analyzes are taken straight from the Støre government’s talking points, says Bru.

The Progressive Party shares Høyre’s opinion, but expresses itself even more clearly.

– This is a piece of cake, because their mandate is like an ideological garbage bag that has been stepped over the committee’s head, says Hoksrud.

In Rødt, one is not unexpectedly of the completely opposite opinion. Seher Aydar believes the government can immediately start phasing out commercial players.

– The right-wing has long pushed the EEA agreement in front of them, that it stands in the way of the commercial phase out of welfare. The committee determines that this is not true. We can start taking back control from the commercial forces tomorrow, says Aydar.

The trade union wants private out

The trade union movement is not unexpectedly of a different opinion than the employers and the business world. LO believes that the report makes visible how the use of commercial actors in publicly funded welfare services increases the differences in Norway.

– The use of commercial players in welfare undermines the Norwegian model, weakens services and creates increased inequality. The committee has now pointed out the direction for how the commercial can be phased out, without affecting non-profit actors, says LO deputy chairman Sissel M. Skoghaug.

In the Norwegian Civil Service Union, which is the largest trade union in Nav, Ellen Dalen says that the committee has submitted a thorough investigation and they now expect the government to cut the use of commercial players among those who provide various forms of follow-up for those who need help to enter in working life.

Leader Mette Nord of the Trade Union Confederation takes the reaction from LO a little further. She claims de-commercialization will be cheaper for society and free up more money for welfare.

– Patients and users benefit from the fact that the welfare services are not commercial. It ensures everyone has equal access to good services in elderly care, daycare, school and hospital throughout the country, says Nord.