Please forgive this standard introduction to people who are coming new to my blog for the first time. I intend to use my website as a repository for information linked to my #futuregen book, so hopefully it will become a resource to campaigners and activists as well as policy professionals and parliamentarians. The book itself contains the links to documentary resources covering the journey from the start of the National Assembly in 1999 to the passing of the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act in 2015 and its subsequent implementation.
Each of my blogs will put full quotations from contributors into the public domain. So far, on my site, we have had inspirational essays in advance of the book from Satish Kumar – ‘Forewarned’ - and Lord John Bird – ‘The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act - and Future Generations Commissioner - and why we need it worldwide’.
In my second blog ‘Let the Contributions Begin’, we heard from the key Welsh Ministers who had a direct responsibility role between 1999 and 2015 in developing the sustainability journey and/or components of the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act.
In my third blog, ‘Voices of Hope from Wales: the Pioneers,’ we heard from the government officials and advisers who took the unique ‘duty to promote sustainable development’ in the Government of Wales Act 1998 and translated that into the central organising principle and ecological footprint reduction that characterised ‘One Wales, One Planet’ in 2009
In today’s blog, we hear voices from key government agencies, who all took on their current roles after the Welsh Government acquired its powers to make primary legislation in the areas for which it is responsible in 2011.
I will notify the specific contributors when your contribution is published, and feed back to you directly if I receive any comments linked to your contributions.
Shan Morgan, Permanent Secretary, Welsh Government, 2017 – present
There are unprecedented challenges facing governments across the world and public servants play an integral role in finding innovative solutions and supporting change. Wales’ 20-year devolution journey has put at its heart sustainable development and is intertwined with the development of the Welsh Civil Service.
As Permanent Secretary, I take our organisational commitment to the sustainable ways of working under the Well-being of Future Generations Act extremely seriously. I have used the Act to underpin my future poofing initiative, which is ensuring a confident, skilled and sustainable civil service in Wales now and for the future. Collaboration is at the heart of this and the Act provides a common purpose and framework for one Welsh public service working together to achieve the well-being goals and a sustainable Wales.
The Act provides constructive challenge to the ways we do things and I have seen how it enables better debate, discussion and decisions within Welsh Government, with partners and between government and citizens on the ‘wicked’ issues communities face. For me, this is about how countries can govern better for the future, whilst delivering now for their citizens. It is about the power of new ideas with the permission to think differently and the Act provides the firm foundations to this.
Adrian Crompton, Auditor General for Wales (AGW)
Huw Vaughan Thomas, then AGW, and his office, recognised that the new duty placed on him by the Act was unique. It requires the AGW to examine ‘how’ organisations are working, taking auditors into the unfamiliar territory of culture and behaviours. This is different, but also complementary to the traditional audit focus on value for money. It means that auditors must consider whether bodies are using their resources efficiently and effectively to deliver better outcomes over the long term, including by preventing problems from occurring in the first place. It means they must look at whether bodies are considering the wider impact they can have on social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being. Importantly, it also means that they must look at how public bodies work with each other and the communities they serve to achieve this.
Under Huw’s leadership, the Wales Audit Office worked collaboratively with public bodies and other stakeholders to develop an audit approach that met not only the requirements, but also the spirit of the legislation. This included a formal consultation and wide-ranging engagement with organisations and networks across the country.
Public bodies were clear that these new audit examinations needed to add value by helping them learn and improve. They were emphatic that the examinations needed to avoid a focus on compliance and instead focus on culture and behaviours. They also felt the auditors needed to get out into their organisations and look at how they are delivering, not fixate on corporate arrangements and strategic planning. In doing this, the audit office should speak to lots of different staff, their partners and perhaps… even the public! Importantly, there was a call for the AGW to work with public bodies to develop a new audit approach.
So that’s what the auditors did, through a year-long programme of pilot projects. They worked with eight public bodies and one public services board to co-produce and test a new audit methodology. This was a genuinely open process, working together to identify how the five ways of working could be assessed. Importantly, they were also interested in finding out how audit practice itself might reflect the five ways of working.
Building on these sound foundations, since becoming Auditor General in the summer of 2018, I have been able to implement an audit methodology that is centred around the five ways of working and which looks at their practical application. It seeks to understand relationships and behaviours, as well as more typical audit considerations and seeks the views of partners and service users to inform audit judgements. There is a strong focus on gathering narrative and promoting self-reflection. The methodology provides early insights and facilitates the development of public bodies’ own improvement actions in response to findings, which differs from the more usual approach of a report with prescriptive audit recommendations. It is an approach based on listening, understanding and helping bodies learn, whilst also providing independent challenge and supporting accountability. It reflects the ‘ask’ from public bodies, as well as the tenor of the legislation.
We have recently completed my statutory examinations for the first reporting period. Continuing the spirit of collaboration, we are asking public bodies about their experiences of these examinations to help develop our approach for the next reporting period. My hope is that public bodies across Wales become both bolder and also increasingly ambitious in using the Act to shape both what they do and how, together, they do it. I see my office playing an important role in supporting these improvements.
Clare Pillman, CEO Natural Resources Wales
The work of Natural Resources Wales is framed by two bits of innovative Welsh legislation – the Well-being of Future Generations Act and the Environment Act. At a time of unprecedented focus on the climate and nature emergencies facing us, this framework gives Wales a unique advantage in trying to tackle both the causes and impacts. We have a single Environment body, with a wide remit and powers, operating alongside other parts of the public sector and the environmental NGOs to improve the quality of our environment for this and – critically – future generations. For many decades, short-term political considerations have won out against the need for challenging, long-term solutions to climate and environmental change. The Well-being Act forces Welsh Ministers and Welsh Public Bodies to work for the long-term benefit of the people of Wales, and in no area is this more important than in the way we manage and nurture our natural resources. Increasingly, we are seeing all parts of the Welsh Public Sector working to become carbon positive, to improve air and water quality and to increase biodiversity. The Future Generations Commissioner provides challenge and encouragement. The Well-being Act, with its clear emphasis on long-term solutions and resilience, and its high standards in terms of Ways of Working, creates the framework within which this can – and will – happen.
Ros Jervis, Director of Public Health, Hywel Dda University Health Board
If I had one ask…
From a personal and professional perspective, one key consideration I had in terms of my desire to move and to come and live and work in West Wales was the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 (WFGA).
I’ve been a professional public health practitioner for many years now and find, especially in my leadership roles, that I’m having to deal with the constant challenge of seeking a fairer balance between a focus on the short-term pressures and potential gains versus the long-term benefits and better outcomes for the future. Short-termism is hard, it’s frustrating and a very real challenge for me professionally.
The WFGA gave me hope for a brighter future and fresh energy to face this challenge.
Our aspirations as a Welsh Health Board to move to a social model of health, where we seek to take action on a broader range of factors that influence health and well-being with our communities at the heart of positive change feels right but also very ambitious – why is this?
And why then, even with key legislative drivers such as the WFGA, is change still taking an age to happen?
My ask would be for support, either through effective legislation or good policy, for the practical drive we need to enable asset-based, community-inspired change.
How could policy provide us with meaningful and practical tools that would help us bring about a transformational shift in our dialogue and empower our communities to mobilise their assets to create social movements for change?
West Wales is naturally rich in its green and blue environmental resources, which are free to everyone. Harnessing this opportunity through passionate communities and using their connections and relationships really does provide us with the chance to mobilise, at pace, the skills and capacity needed to create great change.
This is my ask – how do we make it happen?
If you have any comments on this blog, or would like to get in touch, please use the contact form. The form also works for the growing number of followers of my husband Guy for his weekly reflections on growing and wildlife in his blog, PatchWork which will also be updated weekly – unless the slugs get the better of him!
#futuregen: Lessons from a Small Country https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/futuregenerations-lessons-from-a-small-country/
Jane Davidson
21st June 2020