Jane Hutt, Minister for Social Justice
Our made in Wales approach to the well-being of future generations continues to shine a beacon for Wales across the world, demonstrating how a small country can commit to a better quality of life for future generations while meeting the global challenges we face in the here and now.
Our journey, which started in 1998 with our first sustainable development duty and which led to the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 (WFG Act), continues to shape, challenge, and inspire decision makers across Wales. Over the last few weeks, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has shared the many successes of the WFG Act and how it has brought a more holistic and intergenerational perspective to decision making in Wales.
In December 2022, the Commissioner also reported on the section 20 review into the machinery of Welsh Government. Collaboration was at the heart of the approach to conducting the statutory review, helping ensure that the review’s emerging findings could be translated into improvements in a timely way and shape our response.
The section 20 review report identified that a key improvement opportunity would be to bring together the range of actions the Welsh Government has taken and is intending to take to deepen their application of the sustainable development principle into an action plan with associated arrangements for monitoring and reporting. We have considered and accepted this recommendation and have written to the Commissioner to confirm this position, outlining the steps we will be taking to follow the course of action set out in the recommendation.
Today, alongside the Permanent Secretary, Dr Andrew Goodall, I have published the Welsh Government’s Well-being of Future Generations Continuous Learning and Improvement Plan 2023-25 (WFG CLIP). The WFG CLIP sets out the actions we will take to deepen the understanding and application of the sustainable development principle at the heart of the Welsh Government.
The publication of the WFG CLIP is a reminder that continuous learning and improvement are part of a journey that requires commitment, deliberate effort, and sustained leadership to succeed. Through our WFG CLIP and the annual updates we have committed to provide, we are strengthening our sustainable working culture to deliver better outcomes for the people of Wales now and in the future.