You may have heard of the ‘Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act, but what is it all about? In a nutshell, it is about improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of the people of Wales.
As a result of the Act, a total of 44 public bodies across Wales, must in future think more about the long-term, work better with local people and communities and each other, look to prevent problems and take a more joined up approach.
This, it is hoped, will help create a Wales that we all want to live in, now and in the future.
The Welsh Government has produced a short animation, explaining the impact the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act will have:
A summary of the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act can be found here in a useful booklet called ‘The Essentials’ (PDF)
More information on the Act can be found on the Welsh Government website.
Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act
The Act places a duty that public bodies will be expected to carry out and is a legal requirement. The wellbeing duty states:
Each public body must carry out sustainable development. In this Act “sustainable development” means the process of improving the economic, social cultural and environmental wellbeing of Wales by taking action in accordance with the sustainable development principle, aimed at achieving the wellbeing goals.
We must set wellbeing objectives that are designed to maximise our contribution to achieving each of the wellbeing goals, and must take all reasonable steps to meet those objectives.
