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CONFUSION: Several are now asking for an explanation of how Nybø can claim that there is no basis for super-profit among private welfare actors, when the report he refers to claims that it cannot be ruled out. Photo: Trond Solberg
A statement by the Minister for Trade and Industry on a recent report has led many to wonder whether the Minister has actually read the report: – Nybø simply says he is wrong
On Monday, Trade and Industry Minister Iselin Nybø told VG that a committee, which at the request of the Storting has examined private welfare actors, has found no reason to say there is a “super benefit” in services. of wellness.
On Tuesday, however, it was revealed that the report claims the committee “cannot rule out” the so-called superprofit among actors in the wellness sector.
The minister’s statements, who seem to claim something different from what the commission has concluded, have caused many to react.
– What Nybø says is simply wrong. She uses the committee as income for a political point of view, which is not covered in the committee’s findings, says lawyer, economist and committee member Gøril Bjerkan over the phone with VG.
She took a hard line against misinterpretation of the report in an article in Dagens Næringsliv on Tuesday. Also for VG, the lawyer is clear about the conclusion of the committee:
– We cannot rule out superprofits, and the reason for this is that the number base is too poor, explains Bjerkan.
Now he looks with concern at the Minister’s proposals.
– The minister heads the ministry that carries out the Storting order, and is then required to convey a truthful picture of what the committee says to both the Storting and the public. This is not good, notes Bjerkan.
Moxnes: – A bluff
It was after VG’s many revelations about the profit opportunities in the child welfare service that in 2017 the so-called “Welfare Service Committee” was appointed. The committee was to map the cash flows and propose solutions that could ensure that public welfare money was used for welfare.
When Nybø first commented on the report on Monday, Bjørnar Moxnes (R) called the report a “commissioned political job.”
After it emerged today that the committee does not rule out super benefits, it calls it “a bluff.”
– Either there is something wrong with Minister Nybø’s reading skills, or the ideological blinders are so well welded that she reads what she wants to read. The committee writes in black and white that they don’t rule out super benefits. It’s the opposite of what he told VG, says the party leader in Rødt by phone to VG.
He says Nybø’s move is unacceptable.
– You have to give us a true picture of what is in the report, even if it does not fit with the ideology of the left, says Moxnes.
HARD AGAINST NYBØ: The Storting representative and Rødt party leader Bjørnar Moxnes believes that Nybø has no basis to tell VG that we see there are no super-profits among private welfare actors: – Quote, and does not take what the committee uses the word super profit. Photo: Ola Vatn / VG
Knowledge-based politics threatens
Bjerkan looks at how Nybø has handled the case very seriously. It points to a general trend in which politics is less and less knowledge-based.
– We are a clean and professional committee that has presented a professional report. The minister does not seem interested in that knowledge. It is worrying. Norway has a long tradition of knowledge-based policies, but it is disappearing. And now we see what is even worse, that is, that politics is presented as a subject, says the lawyer.
He points out that the main real conclusion of the committee is that the public sector must guarantee greater transparency in the finances, organization and ownership of private actors.
Iselin Nybø says the report constitutes an important knowledge base and that she based her first comments on the analysis the committee has made in its report.
– Yesterday I told VG that, from what I understand, the committee has no basis to say that there are big gains in welfare services. I draw here, among other things, on the following formulations during the committee’s assessment of the profitability of private actors, Nybø writes in an email to VG, and refers to these formulations:
“Average operating margin for private welfare producers of 5.3% (in 2018) is slightly below the average operating margin of 5.7% for all Norwegian non-financial corporations except resource-based industries.”
DEBATE: Iselin Nybø says she is interested in having a good political debate on the subject in the future. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB
“The committee observes that there is great variation between companies. The majority of the committee considers that it cannot be concluded that the regulatory regime of any individual service contributes in itself to disproportionately large profit opportunities, perhaps with the exception of kindergartens, where sales profits may indicate a different assessment; see section 21.6.3 on the sale of goods below “.
– Of course I am interested in the real knowledge that the committee provides. I also said today in the Storting that the commission could not rule out returns beyond normal returns, and I am concerned that we will have a good political debate on the issue in the future.
– The report is complete and we will analyze it thoroughly. At the same time, I note that the committee is divided on its recommendation on the report’s measures, for example on the use of commercial actors to provide child welfare services, Nybø writes.
