The Well-Being of Future Generations Act places a duty on each public body to carry out development that is sustainable, contributing to seven overarching goals for Wales as a nation. Linked to this it requires individual public bodies to set and publish well-being objectives, to take reasonable steps to meet these and to publish an annual report on the progress they are making. It is expected that the statement of objectives will be incorporated into a local authority’s Corporate Plan and that, similarly, the annual progress report will be part of a wider Annual Report (and not a separate document).
During the period of 12 months beginning with the date of a general election, Welsh Ministers must publish a ‘future trends report’, containing predictions of likely future trends in the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales, including any related analytical data and information that the Welsh Ministers consider relevant.
The report must also take account of any action taken by United Nations in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and assess the potential impact of that action on the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales; and take account of the report containing assessment of the risk for the United Kingdom of the current and predicted impact of climate change most recently sent to the Welsh Ministers under section 56(6) of the Climate Change Act 2008. The report will help to inform their well-being objectives.
During the course of WLGA’s work with local authorities a wide range of work has been undertaken looking at the building blocks that need to be in place, a self- assessment diagnostic, how to plan for the future, investing for the future, training sessions for elected Members, consideration of the implications for scrutiny committees, and reporting requirements.