Statutory guidance on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015

What does it do?

It contains key definitions and sets out how to:

• carry out sustainable development;
• understand the well-being goals; and
• apply the sustainable development principle.

It sets out an explanation of the individual and collective duties, how the listed public bodies fit into the architecture of the Act, and where the key changes in organisations are expected to be seen. The full guidance on the Act can be broken down as follows:

The SPSF 1 Core Guidance is itself split into nine sections. Here is an overview of the key points:

The Fundamentals

• The Sustainable Development Principle and the Five Ways of Working

The Act requires public bodies to carry out sustainable development, which is defined at section 2 as:

the process of improving the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales by taking action, in accordance with the sustainable development principle, aimed at achieving the well-being goals.

Sustainable development is a fundamental part of how public bodies and public service boards must operate; they must use sustainable development to shape what they already do, how they do it and how they communicate the progress of the well-being goals (via reporting). The Core Guidance states that as the Act provides a clear definition of sustainable development and what well-being means for Wales, a lack of clarity about these terms can no longer be used as an excuse for inaction.

The sustainable development principle consists of five ways of working that public bodies are required to take into account when applying sustainable development. Detailed guidance on these five ways of working can be found in section 4 of the Core Guidance.

• Well-being Duty – Well-being Objectives

Public bodies are required under part 2 of the Act to set well-being objectives that are designed to maximise their contribution to the seven well-being goals. Public bodies must take all reasonable steps to meet these well-being objectives, in accordance with the sustainable development principle. It is fundamentally important that the requirements of the Act are not seen as an ‘additional layer’ to existing activity; sustainable development must be embedded into the organisation. For example:

• When setting well-being objectives, this should take place through a corporate planning process and be reflected in a corporate plan (or equivalent).
• Reporting on progress toward meeting well-being objectives should take place through a corporate reporting process and be reflected in an annual report (or equivalent).

• Individual and Collective Duties

Some public bodies will be under both the individual well-being duty to set well-being objectives and a duty to set local well-being objectives in their role as part of a public services board. These are distinct but complementary duties, so public bodies must consider both what they can achieve themselves and what the collective well-being objectives are for their area. The individual and shared well-being objectives and the steps proposed to meet them do not need to be different.

Working in a sustainable way

Section 5 of the Act requires public bodies to take account of the importance of balancing short-term needs with the need to safeguard the ability to meet long term needs. The time period meant by ‘long term’ is not prescribed by the Act as this will depend on the context within which a decision is being made, although the Core Guidance sets out that it is expected that public bodies and public services boards will look ahead by at least 10 years, whilst best practice would be to look 25 years ahead (i.e. a generation ahead).

This section of the Core Guidance contains helpful tables on the approaches public bodies and public services boards should take as part of responding to the Act, which include:

• taking account of the long term;
• taking an integrated approach;
• involving people;
• collaborating with others; and
• preventing problems.

Understanding the well-being goals

Section 4 of the Act sets out the seven well-being goals. This section of the Core Guidance contains a table setting out how public bodies and public services boards can best maximise their contribution to the well-being goals.

The Core Guidance suggests that bodies may wish to focus their attention on two key areas:

• Decarbonisation – I.e. reducing energy demand, increasing energy efficiency and the use of clean energy. Support is available through Resource Efficient Wales on using resources more efficiently.
• Sustainable consumption and production – Through the procurement of products and services. This means looking at the way goods and services are procured in order to reduce global impact, whilst also increasing the local benefits.

Transparency

• Well-being Statement

Section 7 of the Act requires that, when publishing well-being objectives, a public body must also publish a well-being statement. Whilst the format of the well-being statement is not prescribed by the Act, the guidance notes that it should not be a stand-alone document and could instead be incorporated into a core planning document, such as a corporate plan. Organisations are encouraged to look for opportunities to integrate this with other statutory or non-statutory arrangements. Further guidance is available in SPSF 2.

• Local Well-being Plan

Each public services board must prepare and publish a local well-being plan, setting out its local objectives and the steps it proposes to take to meet them. The local well-being plan will set out how the board intends to improve the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of its area by setting local objectives which will maximise the contribution made by the board to achieving the well-being goals in its area. Further guidance is available in SPSF 3 for public services boards.

• Annual Reporting

Section 13 requires individual public bodies to publish an annual report of the progress made in meeting the well-being objectives. This reporting requirement should not be undertaken in isolation from other reporting activities, and instead should be part of an existing annual report and/or include financial and non-financial information.

Section 45 requires public services boards to prepare and publish an annual report of the steps they have taken since the publication of the board’s most recent local well-being plan to meet the objectives set out in the plan. Annual reports include both the progress being made and also a vehicle for organisations to communicate how decisions have been made that deliver on the well-being objectives. Further advice on this is contained in SPSF 2 and SPSF 3.

Accountability

Section 20 gives the Future Generations Commissioner the power to conduct a review into how public bodies are safeguarding the ability of future generations to meet their needs through the well-being duty. Public bodies must take all reasonable steps to follow the course of action set out in any recommendation made to it by the Commissioner. Further detail on responding to the Commissioner is included in SPSF 2.

Section 15 gives the Auditor General for Wales (the “Auditor General”) the power to examine public bodies, to assess the extent to which a body has acted in accordance with the Sustainable Development Principle. The Auditor General also has a duty to examine each public body at least once in a five-year period.

Further Information

You can read the full Core Guidance here, and all other statutory guidance on the Act here. For more detailed discussions on the implementation, you can explore resources provided by the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.

For more information about the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, the Core Guidance or other statutory guidance, please contact Partner Eve Piffaretti.