Debate post This is a debate entry, written by an external contributor. The post expresses the writer’s views.
In a response to my column, NAV director Cathrine Stavnes writes in Avisa Nordland that I make a number of claims. But these claims are no more strange than the fact that they come from NAV itself. In a meeting with me, NAV Nordland confirmed that they will prioritize permanently arranged work in ordinary activities (VTA-O) in 2024, at the expense of permanently arranged work in sheltered activities (VTA-S). It is the last measure that is prioritized in the national budget.
In the same meeting, NAV Nordland said that they want to balance the number of places in sheltered and ordinary operations, which sounds plausible as a 50/50 distribution. When the sheltered sector – rightfully so – already has 72% of the places, it should probably mean that NAV Nordland has plans to prioritize VTA-O until the balance is created. In other words: No, or very few, new VTA places in sheltered business for many years to come.
It is important that the NAV offices are not without history in relation to VTA. This is a measure that came with the responsibility reform in the 1990s, and had the purpose of providing adapted jobs in sheltered and good working environments to people who came from closed institutions. Therefore, the mentally retarded and people with a great need for assistance are a priority group for VTA.
Then the question is whether this target group is consistent with those who are now offered adapted work in ordinary business. According to the National Audit Office’s report on VTA-O, people in this initiative have on average one or two “follow-ups” from NAV a year. It confirms that VTA-O is being used for far “stronger” target groups than the VTA measure was actually intended for.
I note that Cathrine Stavnes says that VTA-S places will still be granted this year. This is of course gratifying, and we shall be the first to both acknowledge and thank you for the contribution. At the same time, we hope that NAV Nordland takes the signals in the state budget to heart. It clearly states that 60% of the new places will go to sheltered activities, while 40% will go to ordinary activities.
It is undignified that people have to wait for up to 10 years to be given the opportunity to work, and it is completely wrong when municipalities have to buy their own places to compensate for a lack of state-funded places.
We are now almost halfway through the budget year, and there has not been a single new VTA place in a sheltered business in Nordland. It must be allowed to ask what this delay is due to, if it is the case that NAV Nordland has always had plans to allocate such places.
