Lene Vågslid (born 17 March 1986) is a Norwegian teacher and politician for the Labour Party. She has served as a member of the Parliament of Norway for

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

since 2013 after having served as a deputy representative between 2009 and 2013.Camilla Wernersen (12 September 2013)
De unge på Stortinget
NRK. Retrieved 13 September 2013 She has served as the minister of children and families since 2025.

Political career

Parliament

Vågsild was elected as a deputy member from

in 2009 and held the position until 2013, when she was elected as a regular representative. She has been re-elected since. In parliament, she sat on the

Standing Committee on Justice The Standing Committee on Justice () is a standing committee of the Parliament of Norway. It is responsible for policies relating to judicial system, the probation service, the police, persons performing civilian national service, other judicial i ...

between 2013 and 2017 before leading it from 2017 to 2021. She then joined the

Standing Committee on Local Government and Public Administration The Standing Committee on Local Government and Public Administration () is a standing committee of the Parliament of Norway. It is responsible for policies relating to local government, regional and rural policy, immigration policy, housing policy, ...

in 2021, which she led until her ministerial appointment in February 2025. On 23 March 2022, she and

Åsmund Grøver Aukrust Åsmund Grøver Aukrust (born 28 February 1985) is a Norwegian people, Norwegian politician for the Labour Party (Norway), Labour Party. He is member of Parliament from Akershus (Storting constituency), Akershus county, first elected at the Norweg ...

were appointed new deputy parliamentary leaders in the aftermath of

Terje Aasland Terje Aasland (born 15 February 1965, in Skien) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He has served as Minister of Energy since 2022. He has also been a member of parliament for Telemark since 2005. Education Aasland is an electricia ...

's appointment to the government. When she and

were appointed to government, the party chose

Ingvild Kjerkol Ingvild Kjerkol (born 18 May 1975) is a Norwegian politician. A member of Labour Party (Norway), Labour Party, she was elected to the Parliament of Norway from Nord-Trøndelag (Storting constituency), Nord-Trøndelag first time in 2013, and re-e ...

and

Tuva Moflag Tuva Moflag (born 17 March 1979) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She has been member of the Storting for Akershus since 2017. She has also served as one of the party's deputy parliamentary leaders since 2025 and previously serve ...

as their successors. While serving in government from February 2025, Tone E. Berge Hansen has deputised in her place.

Minister of Children and Families

Following the Centre Party's withdrawal from government, she was appointed minister of children and families on 4 February 2025.

Tenure

A week after assuming office, criticism was levelled against

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

presenter Fredrik Solvang when he questioned how Vågslid in a recent ''Debatten'' episode, could manage her personal life due to having abstained from participating in the programme before becoming minister. Former culture minister

Anette Trettebergstuen Anette Trettebergstuen (born 25 May 1981) is a Norwegian politician representing the Labour Party, who served as Minister of Culture and Equality in Støre's Cabinet from 2021 to 2023. She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Hedmark ...

and

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

deputy leader Ida Lindtveit Røse argued that the editorial team was enforcing stereotypes with the question and Solvang argued that the question wasn't intended to criticise Vågslid's capability to be minister. Vågslid herself stated that she hadn't taken offence by the question. Following revelations of children in child care institutions getting access to drugs, Vågslid announced in April that the government would be looking to allow institutional staff to search children's phones as a measure to establish boundaries for their freedom of movement in institutions. Furthermore, hospitals would receive the responsibility to take care of drug addicted children under the age of eighteen, rather than the child welfare service. In late May, prime minister

Jonas Gahr Støre Jonas Gahr Støre (; born 25 August 1960) is a Norwegian politician who has served as the prime minister of Norway since 2021. He has been Leader of the Labour Party since 2014. He served under Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as Minister of ...

and Vågslid announced that the government would be putting forward a law proposal that would seek to lower the age limit for social media to 15. There would however be an exception for video games, communication services utilised in relation to school and services utilised for purchases. Both also conceded that enforcing the law would be challenging as the proposal would be sent out on hearing for feedback.

Personal life

She hails from

Tokke Tokke is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vest-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dal ...

. She is currently in a domestic partnership with Arild Grande, with whom she has one daughter.

References

1986 births Living people People from Tokke Deputy members of the Storting Labour Party (Norway) politicians Politicians from Telemark Women members of the Storting 21st-century Norwegian women politicians Members of the Storting 2013–2017 Members of the Storting 2017–2021 Members of the Storting 2021–2025 {{Norway-politician-1980s-stub