“We will catch children before they fall”

Iceland’s government says children, older people and those living in the weakest economic circumstances will be its priorities during the coming parliamentary session. Education and Children’s Affairs Minister Inga Sæland presented the plans at a news conference with the governing parties.

Among the proposals is Iceland’s first comprehensive action plan against child poverty. Sæland said children do not choose their parents, their family finances or their home circumstances, and should not have to go to bed hungry or be excluded because of poverty.

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The system must catch children earlier.

“The system must catch children earlier,” she said, stressing that responsibility must be clear and that no child should disappear between institutions or levels of government. The government also plans to introduce a comprehensive youth policy and legislation raising the age threshold for access to social media.

A substantial education action plan is also being prepared. It will include systematic screening for violence among primary-school children. “The system must see them, listen to them and intervene immediately,” Sæland said.

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Children choose neither their parents nor their finances nor their home circumstances.

The government says almost 1,400 new nursing-home places are under construction, with contracts signed and projects moving forward. Including all planned places, 1,507 are on the drawing board. Sæland said the goal is for no one to remain waiting when the construction effort ends, adding that the few older people placed on waiting lists would never be left alone at home.

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The system must see them, listen to them and intervene immediately.

A new assessment unit at Landspítali’s emergency department is expected to improve patient flow through faster and more accurate assessments. The government also wants more Icelanders to have a regular family doctor.

Sæland said a 74,000-krona Christmas payment for older people and disabled people on the lowest incomes would continue until a minimum living standard of 450,000 krona is reached. The government also plans to link disability and old-age pensions to the wage index from Jan. 1, while limiting index-linked rent increases to once every 12 months.

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No one will remain waiting.