5 Economic and administrative consequences

Norway has enjoyed considerable peace, economic discretion and welfare for a long time. However, today’s threat and risk situation means that emergency preparedness must be given a higher priority than in the past. This is in addition to the fact that the scope of public expenditure in the Norwegian economy is expected to become tighter, which will require tough priorities at the societal level. This means that health emergency preparedness work must to the greatest extent and wherever possible be organised in a manner that is not more cost-driving than necessary.

In this Report, the Norwegian Government makes several recommendations on how we can strengthen the emergency preparedness. Several of the recommendations concern work methods to place emergency preparedness higher on the agenda in the health and care sector, and that considerations of emergency preparedness shall permeate all work in all parts of the sector. These are essentially recommendations that can be covered within the current budget framework. The recommendations that cannot be covered within the current budget framework will be assessed in relation to other priorities in the ordinary budget processes.