On what evidence did the First Minister base his statement at a Resolution Foundation event on Monday 4 December 2023 that the Well-being of Future Generations Act was one of the single most radical pieces of legislation passed in the whole devolution era?
The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 includes regular independent mechanisms to help understand how it is changing the way government and the public sector works. This includes the annual reporting by public bodies, the examinations by the Auditor General and his reports to the Senedd, and the reviews and Future Generations Report by the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, also laid before the Senedd.
The Public Accounts Committee in 2022-22 carried out an inquiry into the barriers to the successful implementation of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. Its report looked at culture change and the awareness and understanding of the Act across public bodies with conclusions for public bodies about changing the culture of their own organisations, and awareness among service users.
The Future Generations Commissioner has the power to provide advice, encourage best practice, and convene bodies to promote collaboration. The commissioner recently published a range of evidence about the impact of the WFG Act, and through the Future Generations Report, which the commissioner is required to prepare under the Act, included a dedicated chapter on culture change.
We continue to embed and build performance information about sustainable development principles into our Welsh Government Performance Framework. This includes data on the Sustainable Development Index, which draws information from our people survey. The people survey results for 2022 show an increase in collaboration, which builds on the 2021 Sustainable Development index results which saw improved engagement due to more collaborative working and relatively high levels across all ways of working behaviours, particularly ‘prevention’ and ‘long-term. This is reported in the Welsh Government consolidated annual accounts.