Measuring the Wellbeing of Wales Glyn Jones Prif

Measuring the Well-being of Wales Glyn Jones Prif Ystadegydd, Llywodraeth Cymru Chief Statistician, Welsh Government Beyond GDP, Governance and Budgeting for Wellbeing 5 th June 2020

• Statisticians role in ground-breaking legislation, Wellbeing of Future Generations Act 2015 • Commitment to measure the progress of Wales towards seven Well-being Goals • Development of National Indicators for Wales and milestones • Annual Well-being of Wales report • Relationship with UN Sustainable Development Goals

• History of adopting sustainable development principles in Wales – 1998, one of first countries in World to make sustainable development a legal obligation – 2012 Sustainable Development White paper – 2014, National conversation about “The Wales We Want by 2050” – think differently, act collectively, shared goals – Well-being of Future Generations Act, 2015

Wales' Well-being of Future Generations Framework GLOBAL GOALS SDGs GOALS FOR WALES 7 Well-being goals MEASURING Indicators & Milestones MAKING IT HAPPEN Well-being duty WHO Public Bodies Sustainable development as the central organising principle INDIVIDUAL DUTY 44 Public Bodies Design priorities (objectives) that maximise contribution to goals COLLECTIVE DUTY Public Service Board HOW 5 Ways of working Integration | Prevention | Collaboration | Long-term | Involvement ACCOUNTABILITY Differing roles Business Third Sector

7 Well-being Goals

Deciding on the best national indicators 1. Should measure outcomes for Wales (NOT performance) 2. Limited number of indicators 3. Should be coherent and fit together. Discussion paper 4. The indicators should resonate the public 5. Where significant progress can be achieved over the long term -----------Other challenges: • Subjective vs Objective • Integration • Involvement and collaboration

How do you measure a nation’s progress? Proposals for the national indicators to measure whether Wales is achieving the seven well-being goals in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015

National Indicators for Wales (contd. )

How did we present the outputs: Well-being of Wales Report Sept 2017: first ever annual Well-being of Wales report published Insight into the state of the nation’s well-being and recent trends A report that tells a story Key messages could be found in a Slideshare and the full report. Narrative on our progress against each of the seven well-being goals; rounded view of issues • Reported on National indicators but also other relevant data • interactive tool allowing the user to filter the national indicators according to the Well-being goals that they most relate to – but also the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals • • •

National milestones (3) The Welsh Ministers must set milestones in relation to the national indicators which the Welsh Ministers consider would assist in measuring whether progress is being made towards the achievement of the well-being goals. (4) In setting a milestone the Welsh Ministers must specify— • (a)the criteria for determining whether the milestone has been achieved (by reference to the value or characteristic by which the indicator is measured), and • (b)the time by which the milestone is to be achieved.

Concluding thoughts - impact 1. Genuine engagement and involvement in developing the indicators was critical 2. Statisticians now have a “state of the nation” platform 3. The national indicators have a status

Concluding thoughts - challenges 1. Do the indicators truly help us make those difficult choices? 2. How do we make the story heard? 3. How can we better understand inequalities? 4. Impact of the pandemic

Diolch yn fawr Thank you very much Find out more: https: //gov. wales/well-being-wales A paper outlining our story: http: //www. oecd. org/iaos 2018/programme/IAOSOECD 2018_Jones-Leake-Charles. pdf Contact me at glyn. jones@gov. wales Follow us on Twitter @statisticswales or @ystadegaucymru