While refugees from Ukraine are pouring into the country, a dispute is going on between the Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDI) and the county councils about integration. The conflict has been raised at several levels, including in the Storting, but the matter seems to be deadlocked. The background is the regional reform in 2020, where the county councils were transferred tasks and positions from IMDI’s regional offices in order to take greater responsibility for integration. What was not included was access to the IMDInett case management system, which contains information on language, gender and nationality. In practice, this means that the county councils only get to know the age of the refugees. Nothing else. – Information about nationality, language, gender and level of competence is important in the integration work, says Per Morten Ekerhovd, head of department for culture, sports and inclusion in Vestland county municipality. Another challenge is that the county councils do not have an overview of those who pass the compulsory test in Norwegian and social studies. – This is very unfortunate because language is essential for integration, says Ekerhovd. The county council must take responsibility for this The county councils have, among other things, been given responsibility for recommending housing for the refugees in the municipalities, career guidance and training in Norwegian and social studies in secondary schools. Work to prevent school dropouts and planning for qualification for working life are prioritized. The same applies to work against forced marriage, social control and violence in close relationships. – We should keep an eye on what is in the best interests of the refugees, says Per Morten Ekerhovd in Vestland County Municipality. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news – Works as they are – IMDI ”must get a head start” and stop putting sticks in the wheel in our important integration work, says Trude Brosvik (KrF), who is a member of the county committee. Last week, a unanimous county committee in Vestland asked that IMDI give the county council access to the necessary information through IMDInett. The county municipality “cannot get its social task done when IMDI takes on the consequences of the regional reform to such a small extent”, the statement says. Other county councils have also complained about IMDI’s practice. – It seems that someone is upset that the county has been given more responsibility in the field, says Brosvik. IRRITATED: IMDI must accept that the county councils have an important job to do in the integration work, believes Trude Brosvik (KrF). Photo: Oddmund Haugen / news Refers to privacy policy No one from IMDI wishes to be interviewed. Instead, they show a letter sent to Vestland county council last week, where privacy is used as a reason to say no to sharing information. IMDI further points out that the county’s integration tasks are at system level and that they “do not include case management and follow-up of people at individual level”. Should the county councils still need information about individual refugees, they can request it. But IMDI must decide “whether it is necessary”. County mayor in Vestland, Jon Askeland (Sp), does not understand why IMDI needs to withhold information. – The county municipalities have good expertise, incorporated routines and very good experience in handling personal data, he says. Askeland will coordinate efforts through the national college of county mayors to get IMDI to “come to its senses”. A young boy passes the tent in the large reception hall at the National Reception Center in Råde, where the UDI and several other actors are trying to take away the many incomes. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB – Embarrassment Secretary General of the Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers (NOAS), Pål Nesse, thinks the dispute between IMDI and the county councils “is embarrassing”. – I expect the county councils and IMDI to sit around the table and resolve the disagreement in a pragmatic way, he says. Nesse points out that we have received a record number of refugees this year, and that more and more are coming. – We can’t spend more time on these messes when major tasks await, he says. COOPERATION: In contrast to the county councils, Minister for Employment and Inclusion Marte Mjøs Persen (Ap) believes that the cooperation between the county councils and IMDI is good. Photo: William Jobling The minister thinks the cooperation is good Labor and Inclusion Minister Marte Mjøs Persen does not wish to be interviewed, but in an e-mail to news she writes that IMDI and the county municipalities cooperate well. “It has meant that we have housed a record number of people in a short time”, he writes. The minister points out that those who work with career guidance in the county municipalities already have access to IMDInett. In addition, work is being done to ensure that the county councils “will have access to information” about refugees receiving further education. She adds that it is being “facilitated” for the county to have access to overall information to solve the integration tasks “through various solutions”. Policeman at the National reception center in Råde, Are Magnus Olsen. Many Ukrainian refugees register with the Norwegian police at the National Reception Center in Råde, where the UDI and several other actors try to take away the large amounts of income. Photo: Javad Parsa / Javad Parsa Doesn’t the minister understand Trude Brosvik (KrF) stands incomprehensibly to the claim from the inclusion minister that the cooperation between the county councils and IMDI is good. – Cooperation is not good when you cannot share information that ensures that you provide the best services to those who need it, she says. Brosvik expects the minister to clean things up, so that the county councils can carry out good integration work, as the Storting has decided.
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– They can have a bowl – news Vestland
