NordenBladet — The final report on the implementation of the action plan for incident prevention for rescue services has now been published. According to the report, closer cooperation between different actors is needed and tools must be developed for qualitative evaluation.A joint action plan for incident prevention for rescue services drawn up in 2019 specifies the national impact targets for the operations. The process was led by the Ministry of the Interior. Through these targets, rescue services will be able to deal with the key incidents with respect to the security and safety of the society and people.Cooperation, leadership culture and impact assessment in key positionIn the workshops, the rescue service personnel considered cooperation as the most important impact target to be developed further. One of the conclusions of the report was that, besides the work done with other actors, cooperation within the organisations also plays a key role in terms of reaching the impact targets. Closer cooperation between actors involved in incident prevention and those who work on rescue operations is needed and all potential synergies must be harnessed.Personnel’s attitudes provide a good platform for developmentRescue services provide a good setting for developing all the above-mentioned aspects of the operations. The personnel of rescue service organisations have an open attitude and a lot of forward-looking ideas that should be used in developing incident prevention services and putting the impact targets into practice.
NordenBladet — The Government proposes a new practice of continuous dialogue to develop the long-term relationship between the employer and employees at work. Another objective of the revised Act on Co-operation within Undertakings is to improve the employees’ ability to exert influence and to access information.“The Co-operation Act is often considered just an act on terminating employment even though, as its name suggests, it relates to cooperation at work. That is why, it is time to carry out a reform that improves dialogue and trust between the employer and employees,” says Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen.The Government submitted its proposal on a new Act on Co-operation within Undertakings to Parliament on 30 September 2021. The Act is due to enter into force on 1 January 2022.The new Act on Co-operation within Undertakings would consist of three entities:Continuous dialogue between employer and employeesNegotiations in changing circumstances (change negotiations)Employee representative in company administration (administrative representative)The Act would apply to companies and organisations employing at least 20 persons. The provisions on administrative representatives would apply to companies that employ at least 150 people in Finland. The Act would not apply to central or local government agencies or public bodies.Continuous dialogue helps develop the company and work communityAs a result of the reform, the employer and employees (or their representatives) should engage in a regular dialogue. The dialogue could address, for example: financial situation of the company or organisationworkplace rules and practicespersonnel structure and competence needswellbeing at work. The ways to carry out the dialogue in practice would be agreed at workplaces. As a rule, the dialogue should take place on a quarterly basis. In small companies with 20–29 employees, the dialogue should be held twice a year. If the company has not elected an employee representative, one dialogue per year would be sufficient.A plan for developing the work community would be formulated as part of the dialogue.Stronger role for employee representatives in change negotiationsBefore the employer makes a decision on matters that have a significant effect on the employees, such as reductions in workforce, the employer must consult the employees or employee representatives. In the revised Act, this process would be called change negotiations. The procedures of change negotiations would remain largely the same as in the current Act. However, the employee representative would have more rights than before to make proposals and propose alternative solutions. In addition, the Act would specify the time when negotiations must start.Employee representation in administration to be specifiedThe representation of employees in the company administration promotes the flow of information and allows the personnel’s expertise to contribute to the decision-making. In the new Act, the employee representative in the administration of a company will be called an administrative representative. The provisions on administrative representation would largely correspond with the current Act, but they would be transferred from the Act on Personnel Representation to the Act on Co-operation within Undertakings. Employees should be represented in the body of the company or organisation, which deals with important business matters, finances and personnel issues.
NordenBladet — The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment appointed a new cooperation group to support the Ministry in coordinating the development and preparedness measures on security of supply at the Government level. The term of group is from Oktober 1 2021 to 30 September 2024.Director-General Antti Neimala and Head of Division Eeva Vahtera from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment were appointed chair and deputy chair of the cooperation group, respectively. Several evaluations on the security of supply operations have been carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic. The appointment of the cooperation group partly responds to the recommendations and proposals presented in these assessments.A group evaluating the operation of the National Emergency Supply Agency in spring 2021 recommended that cooperation between the different Government-level operators be developed. At that time, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment stated that implementing the recommendation would further enhance the Government’s joint preparedness, development of security of supply and coordination of preparedness measures. According to the Act on the Protection of National Emergency Supply, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is responsible for the overall development of security of supply and the coordination of preparedness measures. The ministries develop security of supply in their administrative branches. The new cross-administrative cooperation group on security of supply will support this coordination task.The tasks of the cooperation group include promoting the flow of information at the government level and coordinating issues in matters related to security of supply, participating in the mid-term review and update of the Government’s decision on the objectives of security of supply, and evaluating the need to develop legislation on security of supply in the short and long term. In addition to Neimala and Vahtera, the other members of the group are Antti Ellonen, Head of Preparedness (Ministry of Transport and Communications); Riitta Ukkonen, Ministerial Adviser (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry); Niina Puolusmäki, Chief Specialist (Ministry of Justice); Juho-Antti Jantunen, Senior Ministerial Adviser (Ministry of Education and Culture); Tarja Jaakkola, Head of Unit (Ministry of Defence); Merja Rapeli, Ministerial Adviser (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health); Timo Saastamoinen, Senior Ministerial Adviser (Ministry of Finance); Jyrki Pohjolainen, Senior Advisor (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment); Sampo Kemppainen, Chief Specialist (Prime Minister’s Office); Leena Gardemeister, Deputy Director General (Ministry for Foreign Affairs) and Kirsi Martinkauppi, Senior Ministerial Adviser (Ministry of the Environment). Each member has a deputy from their own organisation.The expert members of the group are Rain Mutka, Administrative Director at National Emergency Supply Agency; Miikka Salonen, Head of Situation Awareness at National Cyber Security Centre; Pietari Pentinsaari, Director at Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom; and Petri Toivonen, Secretary General of the Security Committee.
NordenBladet — In Finland, 83.8 per cent of the target population for COVID-19 vaccination, i.e. people who are 12 years of age or over, have received at least their first vaccine dose, and 69.7 per cent also their second vaccine dose. Between 22 and 29 September, the uptake of the first vaccine dose grew by 0.4 percentage points and the uptake of the second dose by 2.5 percentage points.More than 86 per cent of people aged over 60 have already received two vaccine doses. Among people aged between 50 and 59, the uptake is over 82 per cent and, among people aged between 40 and 49, over 74 per cent. Over the past week, the uptake of the first vaccine dose has grown the most among people aged 12–15 (1.2 percentage points, up from 66.5 per cent to 67.7 per cent) and the uptake of the second dose the most among people aged 16–19 (7.8 percentage points, up from 30.3 per cent to 38.1 per cent). On 26 September, there were 81 inpatients in specialised healthcare, and 25 of them were inpatients in intensive care. On 29 September, the total number of COVID-19-related deaths reported to the communicable diseases register was 1,072.Majority of patients in specialised healthcare are unvaccinated Over the past few weeks, unvaccinated people have received specialised healthcare due to COVID-19 more often than in spring 2020. This is primarily due to the fact that the incidence of cases has now been higher among unvaccinated people. Over the last two-week period, unvaccinated people between the ages of 20 to 79 who have COVID-19 have received hospital care at least 17 times more often than those in the same age group who have been vaccinated twice. One vaccine dose alone has provided good protection against the more serious forms of the disease that require hospital care. The fall in the number of cases seen over several consecutive weeks has now stopped. The burden on hospital care has varied slightly from week to week but, as a whole, it has remained at the same level. However, the COVID-19 epidemic continues to place a considerable burden particularly on intensive care units. Majority of those requiring hospital care are unvaccinated. The number of new patients requiring hospital care is expected to increase slightly, and in order for the need for hospital care to reduce, the vaccine uptake would have to increase and the number of new cases fall substantially.Large regional clusters of COVID-19 are reported particularly among young people, which are linked, for example, to student gatherings The incidence of new cases over the last two-week period (13–26 September) was 102 per 100,000 inhabitants. This is 20 per cent less than in the preceding two-week period when the incidence of cases was 127 per 100,000 inhabitants. The total number of new cases reported between 20 and 26 August was 2,855, whereas a week before the number of new cases was 2,789. The epidemiological situation is monitored weekly. The monitoring report of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare is published on the Institute’s website: Monitoring reports on the hybrid strategy. As of Thursday 30 September, the focus of the situation update on coronavirus will shift from the number of COVID-19 cases to vaccine coverage and the monitoring of the number of serious COVID-19 cases.From this week onwards, the update will be published on the website of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare on Thursday afternoons. Monitoring reports on the hybrid strategy (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare), in Finnish and Swedish Progress with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare), in Finnish and SwedishSituation update on coronavirus (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare)The COVID-19 epidemic: regional situation, recommendations and restrictions (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare)Coronavirus in numbers (Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa) Action plan for implementing the hybrid strategy to control the COVID-19 epidemic 2021–22 (Publications of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2021:30)Effects of the COVID-19 epidemic on wellbeing, services and the economy (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare), in Finnish
NordenBladet — On Monday 4 October, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Sanna Marin will meet in Helsinki to discuss topical EU matters. In connection with the visit, the Commission will publish its assessment of Finland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan and will present a proposal for the Council of the European Union’s decision on the plan.The Council will adopt Finland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan approximately one month after the Commission publishes its assessment and proposal in Helsinki. Finland published its Recovery and Resilience Plan in May. The plan forms part of the Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland. Finland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan consists of four elements: the green transition, the digital transformation, employment and skills, and health and social services.During the visit, Prime Minister Marin and President von der Leyen, together with Minister of Finance Annika Saarikko, will participate in a tour where they will learn about a project related to the priorities of Finland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan.
NordenBladet — The World Bank’s new Coach programme aims to improve learning outcomes by supporting teacher professional development (TPD) in developing countries. Finland supports the global part of the initiative and its piloting in Mozambique. Teaching the basic skills is particularly important for learning outcomes. Photo: Liang Qiang / World BankToday, most children in the world go to school. However, we are facing a global learning crisis because schools are not providing children with the necessary skills they need for their future.The World Bank estimates that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, 53 per cent of children in developing countries could not read and understand a simple story by age 10. The pandemic and the school closures and financial difficulties caused by it have further aggravated the learning crisis.Trained and skilled teachers are the single most important factor influencing learning. In order to achieve prompt results, it is important to develop in-service teacher professional development. Quality education that is accessible to all has been one of the most important factors contributing to sustainable development.
NordenBladet — The Ministerial Working Group on Promoting Employment decided on 28 September 2021 that the majority of personal customer, employer and business services currently under the responsibility of Employment and Economic Development Offices (TE Offices) would be transferred to municipalities in 2024. At the same time, the procurement of these services would be transferred from the ELY Centres to municipalities. The central government would be responsible for managing employment services and its nationwide operation.At present, central government authorities, i.e. TE Offices, TE administration’s Customer Service Centre and ELY Centres, organise employment and business services either themselves or purchase them partly or completely from service providers.“The TE services reform will assign municipalities extensive responsibility for providing services to all customers in their area. For this reason, municipalities would also be in charge of procuring the services for this new duty. The municipal responsibility for organising services, the service choices and the funding model must form a coherent whole. Municipalities must be in a position to provide effective services,” says Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen, who chairs the ministerial working group.Ultimately, the central government bears the responsibility for the workforce. The central government would be responsible for managing the nationwide employment services, such as the information system, and assessing the efficiency of municipal employment services. In addition to overall responsibility, the central government would have a national coordinating role in service packages that promote significant employment measures together with municipalities across the country. These include sudden structural changes and international recruitment.Later this autumn, the ministerial working group will decide on the services that will be transferred to municipalities as well as on the incentive funding model.
NordenBladet — On 21 May 2021, central government and municipal negotiators reached an agreement on establishing a project company for planning the Itärata eastern rail link. The company would be tasked with planning and financing the Lentorata–Porvoo–Kouvola railway line project until the line is ready for construction. The Ministerial Committee on Economic Policy discussed the establishment of the project company from the state’s point of view on 28 September 2021.The Ministerial Committee was in favour of the central government, represented by the Minister of Transport and Communications, adopting the shareholder agreement of the eastern rail link project company, and agreed that the project company could be established together with minority shareholders.The project company would include those municipalities whose competent decision-making bodies make an official, enforceable decision to participate in financing the project as described in the shareholder agreement.The financial commitment of the state of Finland would represent, at the initial stage, a maximum of 51 per cent of the total amount of the financial commitments. A condition for the establishment of the company is that the financing commitments of the central and local governments together cover the estimated costs of the planning needed to reach the construction phase. They would also cover other expenses necessary for the company’s operations. According to a preliminary estimate, the planning costs for the Lentorata–Porvoo–Kouvola railway option would be around EUR 79 million, excluding value-added tax.The decision to establish a project company for the eastern rail link does not rule out the future development of other transport connections in the eastern direction. The Ministerial Committee is aware of the need to improve the accessibility of Eastern Uusimaa and Southeast Finland and to develop the conditions for industrial transport. The Ministry of Transport and Communications has tasked the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency with carrying out a study on the development of transport for business and industry in Eastern Uusimaa and Southeast Finland and on strengthening the competitiveness of the economy. The report is currently being finalised.
NordenBladet — The Non-Discrimination Ombudsman investigated the residence permit practice relating to victims of human trafficking. One of the key questions of the study commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment was how the vulnerability of victims of human trafficking has been assessed. According to the study, the assessment was diverse, but varying. Human trafficking was not necessarily the main reason for granting international protection or a residence permit in positive decisions.The study concerned residence permit and asylum decisions made by the Finnish Immigration Service in 2018–2020 with indications of possible victims of human trafficking. The number of decisions was 461. Usually, the victim of human trafficking had been subjected to forced labour, sexual abuse or forced marriage. The same person could have also been subjected to several different forms of abuse.In assessing the vulnerability of the victim, the abuse experienced by the victim, their age and gender, education, professional experience and health were considered. Furthermore, the Finnish Immigration Service assessed in its decisions how the victim could see to their livelihood, health and children in their home country and prevent the re-occurrence of human trafficking. The protection and support given by society and family were also assessed.The assessment of vulnerability was based on a case-by-case approach, seeking solutions balancing between different factors. The study indicated that the assessment was diverse, but not consistent in all cases. The special provision of the Aliens Act was rarely appliedApproximately 67% of the decisions in the study data were positive and 33% negative. In most cases, the positive decisions concerned international protection, but human trafficking was not necessarily the primary grounds for protection. The study proved that many victims of human trafficking primarily sought international protection and also presented other grounds for it. The second-most common reason for granting residence permits was on the basis of individual humanitarian reasons.The residence permit for a victim of human trafficking, added to the Aliens Act in 2006, was rarely applied. The number of positive decisions was 29. Thus, victims of human trafficking were more frequently granted residence permit on the basis of an individual humanitarian reason due to their vulnerable position than on the basis of the special provision concerning victims of human trafficking. According to the study, the threshold of considering a victim of human trafficking to be in a particularly vulnerable position was high.The study data will be utilised in the Government’s work against human traffickingThe Non-Discrimination Ombudsman recommends that the legislation and application practice be amended so that increasing numbers of victims of human trafficking would fulfil the prerequisites for granting an extended residence permit. The prerequisites for a temporary residence permit should be amended so that the right of residence of a victim of human trafficking and other rights as the complainant in the offence would be secured for the entire duration of the criminal proceedings. Moreover, diverse authorities, judges and reporting members of courts, legal counsels and representatives of NGOs should be trained in the special position of victims of human trafficking.After the period under review, the application practice has already been developed: In 2020, the Finnish Immigration Service issued a guideline aiming to promote the consistent application of the Aliens Act in cases involving victims of human trafficking. The human trafficking action plan also includes measures in this regard.The Government is committed to the prevention of human trafficking and the possible follow-up measures will be assessed on the basis of the results of the review. The Government Programme contains many items whose purpose is to enhance the prevention of human trafficking. The objectives include improved help for trafficking victims, faster identification and detection of human trafficking, and fulfilment of criminal liability.Underlying is a request for information by the ParliamentThe Parliament has demanded that the Government find out whether there are legislative amendment needs related to the grounds for the residence permits of trafficking victims. For example, the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman has previously paid attention to the residence permit practices concerning victims of human trafficking. The preparations of the Government’s anti-trafficking action plan have also brought forward questions related to residence permits.The Non-Discrimination Ombudsman is an independent authority that also acts as the national rapporteur of human trafficking. The duties of the national human trafficking rapporteur include the counselling and training of authorities, the management of the authorities’ operations and the making of surveys.
NordenBladet — The Ministry of Education and Culture is requesting comments on a proposed bill to implement the provisions of the EU DSM Directive and Online Broadcasting Directive as part of Finnish law. Implementing the directives requires significant changes to the Copyright Act. The request for comments is published in the Lausuntopalvelu.fi service. The deadline for submitting comments is 31 October 2021.In the draft Government proposal, Finnish copyright law is amended to better take into account situations found in the digital operating environment. The amendments will improve, among other things, opportunities for using copyrighted works in data mining, teaching, and the provision of access to cultural heritage. Another aim is to improve the exploitation of works by facilitating licensing and ensuring a well-functioning market for copyright. The interests and rights of users and rightholders and the enforcement of freedom of expression are taken into account in achieving these aims. The regulation of transmission and retransmission of TV and radio programmes is also being developed.The Government’s proposal on amending the Copyright Act is scheduled to be submitted to Parliament in December 2021. The Directive on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market (DSM) and the Directive on online transmissions and retransmissions of television and radio programmes entered into force in June 2019.Key changes Access to works is ensured by limitations to copyright – new purposes of use include data miningThe copyright limitations are renewed. Under the DSM Directive, Member States must provide for limitations on copyright for the purposes of data mining, the use of works in teaching and providing access to cultural heritage, and to guarantee freedom of expression. A limitation to copyright means that the author cannot prohibit the use of a work made in accordance with the law. The proposed bill would add a new limitation to copyright to allow the creation of reproductions of a work for the purpose of data mining. Authors can, however, prohibit the reproduction of a work for the purpose of data mining or restrict such reproduction by means of contracts or technical measures, unless the data mining is carried out for the purposes of scientific research, in which case data mining may not be restricted. The law’s provisions on limitations to copyright allowing the use of works for the purpose ofwithin teaching would be expanded to meet the needs of distance learning and the use of digital means within teaching activities. The draft proposes compensation to authors for the internal, i.e. limited use of works in teaching environments or classrooms. Audiovisual and scenographic works could also be performed within teaching activities and church services.The DSM Directive seeks to make cultural heritage in archives, libraries and museums more accessible to the public. The Directive provides for the establishment of an EU-wide system that would allow cultural heritage institutions to make works in their collections available to the public once they are out of commerce.In order to guarantee freedom of expression, the proposed bill includes a copyright limitation permitting caricatures, parodies and pastiches of works as well as social media memes, for example.Changes to contractual relations and related rights – improvements to the author’s standingThe proposed bill would strengthen the status of authors and performing artists in contractual relationships. Authors and performing artists would have the right to information on how their works are exploited commercially. If a work is not exploited commercially, the author would have the right to withdraw the transfer of copyright. In addition, the rights of performing artists to visually recorded performances would be broadened.The provisions on publishing contracts would give particular consideration to the transition to digital publishing. In order to protect authors, the proposal includes a provision that the right to publish a work as an audiobook or translation is not transferred to the publisher unless expressly agreed upon. In order to promote open science, the role of authors would be strengthened by allowing authors to store copies of scientific articles in open access publication archives.In accordance with the Directive, a proposed new related right of press publishers would be created. The new exclusive right that would address the use of press articles in news aggregators or media monitoring services and would improve the possibilities of publishers to enforce their rights.Retransmission of ancillary services would be permitted under an extended collective license. The proposal would allow for instance that the ancillary service of the Swedish public broadcasting company, SVT Play (similar to YLE Areena in Finland) to be provided in Finland with the permission of SVT and the relevant collective licensing organisation. Content-sharing service providers to be held liable for copyright infringementsThe liability of online content-sharing service providers, i.e. social media platforms, for content stored in their service would be expanded and the standing of authors and content creators strengthened. Freedom of expression would be guaranteed. Providers of online content-sharing services would be required to ensure that the service contains no material to which the service does not have rights. The service provider must obtain authorisation from the author or, at the author’s request, prevent access to copyright infringing material also in advance. The proposed bill would set up a copyright disputes board, a new dispute settlement body tasked with ensuring the legal protection of content creators and resolving disputes between content creators and rightholders or online content-sharing service providers. The decisions of the board would be recommendations.Draft Government proposal for acts amending the Copyright Act and Section 184 of the Act on Electronic Communications Services and Request for comments and documents (fi I sv)available in the Lausuntopalvelu.fi serviceInformation about the drafting processLibrary of Parliament information package on the amendment of the Copyright Act (fi)
Teaching the basic skills is particularly important for learning outcomes. Photo: Liang Qiang / World Bank