In a reader’s article printed in several local newspapers in Nordland, Rune Kvarme, Head of Department at Samfunnsbedriftene, makes a number of claims, including that NAV Nordland does not follow up on the priorities in the state budget. It is alleged that we, NAV Nordland, will not prioritize the creation of more Permanently arranged workplaces in the sheltered sector (VTA-S) and that instead we will use increased limits only for Permanently arranged work in ordinary business (VTA-O)
I see a need to clarify how NAV Nordland envisages prioritizing the mentioned initiative places in 2024. The initiative VTA is for users with permanent adapted efforts (who have or will soon receive disability benefits) and need work in an ordinary business or in a sheltered business with adapted work tasks. The measure is not time-limited. NAV must nevertheless regularly assess whether other labor market initiatives, education or ordinary work may be relevant.
NAV in Nordland currently has 591 VTA places in 31 of the county’s 41 municipalities. This is a very high number compared to other counties. At the same time, we are among the counties in the country with the highest number of residents with disability benefits. There are big differences in how many VTA places each municipality has, and over time we have tried to ensure that this type of initiative places are available to the residents of all our municipalities. However, this depends both on cooperation with the municipalities and that there are pre-approved businesses that can carry out these measures in the municipalities.
NAV Nordland has had our budget for permanently arranged workplaces increased, and it is true that we want to increase the number of VTA-O. However, it is not true that the entire increase in 2024 should go to VTA-O rather than increasing the number of VTA-S places. NAV Nordland is currently assessing a number of applications for more VTA places and we will decide towards the summer how the places will be distributed in the county. It must be added that the distribution VTA-S and VTO-S is currently 72/28 in Nordland. 72% of the permanently arranged intervention places are therefore in the sheltered sector.
It was also shown that the Government has decided that a scheme with enhanced follow-up of the participants in Permanently Arranged Work (VTA) in ordinary working life will be tested, either under the auspices of NAV or in collaboration with Helt Med. NAV Nordland would like to express our interest in the experiment to find which methods are best suited to ensure good follow-up of the participants in VTA-O.
Tags: Debate Nav NAV Nordland Permanently adapted intervention sites VTA
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