CITY OF GOTHENBURG ANNUAL REPORT 2016 www.goteborg.se 2016 was in many ways a positive year for Gothenburg. Amid favourable economic conditions, most arrows pointed in the right direction. The City advanced its positions in several of the central challenge areas such as equal opportunities, safety and security, construction, business climate and equivalency in schools. The City Executive Board Chairman summarises 2016 Good times Schools moving upwards Bearing in mind the general economic trends, 2016 was The new PISA (Programme for International Student a good year for Gothenburg and the Gothenburg region. Assessment) study indicated a break in trend in Swedish Growth was high. Exports grew. Trade and industry schools. The results are no longer falling, but are appar- flourished. Unemployment decreased rapidly, also among ently on their way up, which is positive. Like other stud- young people. At the end of the year, the Gothenburg ies, however, PISA also showed that equal opportunities region had had lower unemployment than the Stockholm have continued to deteriorate, which is problematic. region for more than a year. Another positive trend relat- In Gothenburg, we are now facing a reform in the ed to the economy, but also the result of systematic work school’s organisation. Towards the end of the year, a po- on several fronts in the city, was the continued fall in the litical consensus was reached to move responsibility from volume of income support. It was particularly pleasing to the city districts to a central Schools Committee and a see many people who had long been dependent on income central Pre-Schools Committee. An important focus area support managing to improve their life situation. in this reform will be to increase equivalency. Improved equal opportunities Increased construction Reducing inequalities is a central priority. Improving There is more construction in Gothenburg than for the equal opportunities is not only a question of decency. It’s past 40 years, and the pace is about to increase consider- also one of rationality. Equal opportunity is a win-win ably. for the whole of society. The broad, far-reaching Equal In infrastructure, the Hising Bridge was given a defi- Gothenburg initiative made great progress during the nite go-ahead during the autumn, after a drawn-out legal year, and all five focus areas gained an increasing foothold process. Construction was then able to begin just before in the organisation. Giving all children a good start in life the end of the year. is an important key to success. Specific initiatives to this In housing, 2,680 homes were completed during the end include being the city where we read to our children, year. This is the highest number since the ‘Million Pro- consolidation of the family-centred working method (the gramme’ was finished in the mid-1970s. At the end of the ambition being for all city districts to have at least one year, new construction of 3,665 homes was under way. It family centre), and systematic work to increase school should however be noted that reaching the desired levels attendance. has been quite a slow process, especially as production capacity in the construction sector has been a problem. Intensified work on safety and security Moving forward, the signs are that the situation is set to Safety and security measures were escalated during the improve. One important factor is that Framtiden group is year on both the national and local level. The government escalating its construction considerably, with the long- decided that the police will be given greater resources, term aim of finishing at least 1,400 homes per year across and also took several initiatives to combat organised the city. crime. The Court of Appeal’s verdict in the Vår Krog & Bar case, resulting in long prison sentences for the Broader enterprise agenda perpetrators in the bar shooting, sent out an important In a climate where many companies performed extreme- message. ly well, the City’s work on trade and industry policy Collaboration in the Trygg i Göteborg/Safe in took important steps in a more ambitious direction. Gothenburg model, which is now in place in all city The strategic enterprise dialogue that aims to increase districts, developed very positively. This is a close collabo- collaboration between the political, business and aca- ration between the police, the district administration and demic spheres kicked off with a first meeting in October. other bodies that are key to safety and security in the local The city increasingly developed as a test arena for new environment. innovations. While initiatives like Drive Me and Elec- tricity continued, innovative new initiatives were taken in areas such as sustainable home building (HSB Living 2 City Executive Board Chairman Ann-Sofie Hermansson reflects on the past year. Photo: Lena Dahlström Lab and Brf Viva/Positive Footprint Housing). Activi- broad consensus was reached on a replacement for the ties as part of Green Gothenburg, the aim of which is to Lisebergshallen venue, which is being demolished for the increase interest in the green solutions developed in the building of the West Link Project. Gothenburg region, grew during 2016. Efforts to create a forward-looking strategic trade and industry plan began Valuable establishments just before the end of the year. In May it was announced that RISE Research Insti- tutes of Sweden will be moving its headquarters to Active job initiatives Gothenburg. It will be an important asset to have such a As unemployment fell, employers began finding it pivotal organisation here in the city. With Gothenburg increasingly hard to find the right skills. The average and the Gothenburg region being the epicentre of number of newly advertised vacancies in the Gothenburg Swedish industrial research, there is a clear logic in region rose by around one-third between autumn 2015 the move. In December, it was confirmed that the new and autumn 2016. To continue to reduce unemployment, Gender Equality Authority will be based in Gothenburg. particularly by better matching job-seekers with available This will stimulate local equality-related work, as well jobs, a range of measures were taken in the city during as the local job market. This is a kind of employer that the year. Work on a skills provision strategy began. The Gothenburg lacks at the moment. process of starting up four new Skills Centres continued, and will be finished in spring 2017. Under a new model East Indiaman stays at home (termed ‘the gradual job and education boost’), anyone not Also in December, it was confirmed that the Swed- in work will be able to move all the way into a permanent ish Ship Götheborg, a replica of an 18th century East job by combining education and work experience. Indiaman, will remain in its home city. The private sector will provide most of the financing, and four of the New arenas under way City’s companies are involved. The ship will be located at After many years of exhaustive deliberation, during Masthugget quay. A visitor’s centre will be built around the spring a broad political majority finally agreed that the ship, linking to Gothenburg’s long history as an inter- Scandinavium should be replaced by a new arena. The national trading and maritime city. process of a thorough enquiry based on the needs and in- terests of Gothenburgers was begun, and will be finished Ann-Sofie Hermansson (Social Democrat) in autumn 2017, after which the details of the continued Chairman of the City Executive Board, Gothenburg process will be hammered out. Also in this context, a 3 The City of Gothenburg Annual Report is the City Executive Board’s report to the City Council on overall operations and finances for the year. It is also intended for external stakeholders such as lenders, suppliers and other public authorities, as well as for residents of the city. The Annual Report is produced by the City Management Office for the City Executive Board. By way of introduction in the Annual Report the Chairman of the City Executive Board, Ann-Sofie Hermansson, gives a summary of the past year. This is followed by an outline of the City of Gothenburg’s organisation, assignments and future challenges. The City of Gothenburg Annual Report is then divided into five blocks: How to read the Annual Report 1 Administration Report, pages 9–26 The first block contains the Administration Report, is also a presentation looking at how well the City which must be included in the Annual Report in line Council’s goals appear to have been accomplished, with the Municipal Accounting Act. It comprises a and a follow-up of the City Council’s assignments. This summary of the Annual Report with a focus on es- section also includes an outline of issues and develop- sential parts of the City’s finances and activities. To ments in personnel-related matters, and finally there begin with it outlines important decisions and events is a summary financial analysis of the Municipality and during the year, along with a strategic analysis looking combined accounts. at what these mean for the City of Gothenburg. There 2 Activities of the City of Gothenburg, pages 27–58 This block reports parts of the activities conducted by City Council budget. In each area, important events the City of Gothenburg’s 30 or so committees and its and trends are described from different perspectives. 20 or so groups and companies in 2016. The block is Each area concludes with a look at key future issues. divided into different areas of activity, taken from the 3 Gothenburg Municipality – Financial analysis, pages 59–72 The term Gothenburg Municipality refers to the com- a compilation of key financial figures, and ends with a mittees and central municipal items.