Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill: consultation

4. Learning from others to develop our proposals

In developing the proposed Bill, we have considered the extensive work of others to explore how wellbeing and sustainable development can be better reflected in policy and delivery decisions.

We have:

• listened to the views of various Third Sector organisations with an interest in sustainable development
• carefully considered the findings of the Scottish Parliament Finance and Public Administration Committee’s (the “Committee”) inquiries into the NPF^[7] and effective decision-making^[8]
• started to engage across the public sector on how the interests of future generations can be better considered in policy
• learned from similar work in Wales,^[9] Gibraltar and others internationally who are working to uphold the interests of future generations

We have valued the insights, advice, and recommendations gained through these engagements.

The Finance and Public Administration Committee gathered and considered extensive evidence from various bodies. This included COSLA, Carnegie UK, the Equality & Human Rights Commission, Public Health Scotland, the Auditor General, Oxfam, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, the Scottish Leaders Forum, and several more.^[10]

The Committee have recommended that, in line with the Welsh Government’s approach, the Scottish Government should consider the combination of ‘hard’ statutory powers alongside ‘softer’ measures (such as relationship-building and promoting best practice) in the proposed Bill to improve the implementation of the National Outcomes. The Committee also recommended that the Scottish Government should consider how a Bill could give legal effect where necessary to the findings of the Review of National Outcomes, including stronger accountability for public authorities’ contributions to the National Outcomes and use of the NPF.^[11]

The Committee stated that there needs to be a refocussing of scrutiny onto the NPF to reposition it at the heart of Government – with primary legislation as one potential means of achieving this. In their recent inquiry on ‘Effective Scottish Government Decision-Making’, the Committee also noted that the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act provides a mechanism to independently assess how well their ‘framework’ for decision making has been used in practice, and that the Scottish Government is considering similar legislation.^[12]

We also acknowledge the extensive work of Sarah Boyack MSP (Labour) in engaging widely on this issue and developing a final proposal for a Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill.

Ms Boyack’s proposal has set out a case for a Bill which ensures policy development and implementation by public bodies is in line with principles of sustainable development and wellbeing by introducing a duty for public bodies to promote these principles and establishing a Commissioner for sustainable development and wellbeing.

From Wales, we have learned about their Well-being of Future Generations Act and Future Generations Commissioner. We have also learned about various international examples of similar legislation and bodies and recommendations at a United Nations level.

You can read more about this in Annex B, C, D and E.