Baroness Scott of Bybrook
Main Page: Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Conservative - Life peer)
Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)
I thank everybody in the Chamber who has taken part in this debate. I note how insightful, wide ranging and extremely interesting it has been. I particularly thank the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, for proposing the debate, but also for the work she has done in this area over many years—thank you. In the interests of the well-being of noble Lords, I will try to keep my closing remarks as succinct as I can.
The first duty of government is to keep people safe, and to protect and promote the health, well-being and prosperity of the citizens it serves. This was particularly reflected in the contributions by the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, and the noble Lord, Lord Layard, and in those of many other noble Lords.
Clearly, at times like this, duty comes into sharp focus. Yesterday, we saw how the well-being of the population and the nation was first and foremost in the Chancellor’s mind in guiding his decision-making. We will ensure that the NHS has all the support it needs for the challenges that may lie ahead, and we will make sure we do everything we can to keep supermarkets stocked and the economy working.
The debate today has reflected on a range of approaches to defining well-being, as well as on its role as an indicator for measuring performance in guiding policy priorities and in the appraisal of policy outcomes.
As part of the Budget yesterday, we announced a reform to the public value framework, a practical tool for understanding how well public money is turned into policy outcomes. We are currently developing real-world priority outcomes for public services, and we will publish these outcomes as part of the comprehensive spending review later this year. This will include areas where closer working between departments could help achieve better results. It is crucial that increased government funding leads to real-world improvements that make a meaningful difference to everybody’s everyday lives.
We also announced that our assessment of the impact of our spending on these priority outcomes will be central to decisions made in the spending review. For the first time, departments are required to demonstrate how the outcomes of their proposals will drive improvements to public services. I am pleased to say that these reforms will make the delivery of public services a greater consideration for spending decisions than ever before, and put the UK at the forefront of international approaches to driving public value. This will help the Government provide world-class public services, with the best value for taxpayers’ money.
The noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, brought up a number of points about the way we look at well-being. One of the ONS’s largest surveys, the Annual Population Survey, which it did recently, talked about this issue to 150,000 adults in the UK over 16 years old. That measures national well-being, and it was about looking at GDP, but going beyond GDP, to measure what really matters to people. The aim is to produce accepted and trusted measures of well-being.
Noble Lords mentioned the complexities involved. The noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, rightly raised long-term health issues, as well as the Marmot review, which I will look at. The noble Baroness, Lady Jolly, raised the well-being of people with learning disabilities and of course their carers.
The noble Lord, Lord Addington, rightly talked about the importance of arts and sports and about how we can better use community space. I have to say that I would be challenging local authorities to shape the places they work in—now that they are being better funded, they can do a little more joining up in this space. These are all things which are important in some people’s lives but not in others’. The noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, talked about how important housing is, but for some people it is not important.
The noble Lord, Lord Desai, reflected on the difficult question of how we define well-being across our nation. But, difficult though it is to define, we have to do it—we have to find the right questions and try and find answers to those questions.
The noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, talked about mental health and worthlessness. It is important to look at the differences between what well-being means to different members of our community.
While GDP has been, and will continue to be, an important measure of national economic performance, noble Lords may be aware that in 2010 the Office for National Statistics started the measuring national well-being programme across the UK, as several noble Lords mentioned. The programme measures personal well-being through a number of factors, including relationships, health, where we live, what we do, our personal finances, the economy, education and skills. This gives an insight into well-being that goes well beyond GDP to measure wider factors that have a bearing on people. Monitoring personal well-being across the nation year on year helps to show how people feel their quality of life changes in relation to changes in circumstances, policies and wider events in society.
A number of noble Lords talked about young people. I will take this on board, because they are absolutely right that much of the work that has been done so far has focused on adults and, as we know, young people have a different view on life. That is a very interesting thing that has come out of this conversation, and I will take it forward with those who will listen.
In 2018, the Government published the Civil Society Strategy, intended to help us strengthen the organisations, large and small, which together do so much to support society and our country. The Government are committed to making policies that make not only financial but social sense. The strategy sets out how the Government will work with and support civil society in the years to come, so that together we can level up opportunities across the country.
We are determined to ensure that public spending generates social value in addition to purchasing goods and services. By “social value”, we mean enriched lives for individuals and a fairer society for all. Social value flows from thriving communities with strong financial, physical and natural resources, and strong connections between people. This includes public funding, private investment, buildings and other spaces for communities to use. The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, talked about the importance of the sustainable development goals and I hope she can see that that is also what we are looking at in this piece of work.
The strategy also includes trust and good will, and the organisations and partnerships that bring people together. To help communities thrive, the strategy focuses on improving five foundations of social value: people, places, the social sector, the private sector and the public sector. As a result of the strategy, the Government have funded a wide range of organisations, including the police cadets, faith-based organisations and many British charities, to reach vulnerable young people, particularly in deprived areas. Although we have achieved much, we remain committed to implementing the strategy, to deliver on the people’s priorities.
In addition to the Civil Society Strategy, in 2015 the Government committed to supporting the delivery of the UN sustainable development goals, which a number of noble Lords mentioned. The goals are an urgent call to action to improve global health and education, reduce inequalities and spur economic growth. Goal 3 relates to health and well-being and is a pledge to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all, at all ages.
This Government believe that the most effective way to deliver this goal is to allow departments to deliver, in particular through their single departmental plans. All departments must report their contributions to delivering the global goals, including goal 3, as appropriate in their departmental annual report and accounts. A number of noble Lords talked about how we are not just talking about this work but delivering it. Departments involved in achieving goal 3 include: the Department of Health and Social Care, which is working with our NHS on programmes for physical and mental health; the Department for Education, which is supporting schools and colleges to promote well-being in children and young people; and the Ministry of Justice, which is working with the NHS to ensure offenders can get the addiction treatment they need.
A detailed record of the progress the UK has made with respect to sustainable development goal 3 is recorded in last year’s voluntary national review. The UK was at the forefront of negotiating the global sustainable development goals and will be at the forefront of delivering outcomes.
A number of other things came up which do not seem to fit into the things on which I have been briefed, but I will have a go at addressing them. Before I do, I want to mention the Green Book; there was quite a lot of talk early in the debate on this. The Green Book is issued by the Treasury and is a world-leading resource used by not only this Government but the New Zealand Treasury and NGOs such as the World Bank. It offers guidance on how to ensure a new policy or project achieves the best outcomes and the best use of public resources.
As part of this, the Green Book incorporates well-being as an important factor in policy-making. It defines a policy’s value beyond narrow financial terms to consider the direct impact of policy on public welfare and well-being. It challenges decision-makers to think carefully about the full range of a policy’s impacts. The relevant costs and benefits are those for UK society overall, not just those for the public sector or originating institution. Decision-makers consider the impact on businesses, households, individuals and the not-for-profit sector. Appraisal is based on the principles of welfare economics—how the Government can improve well-being for all.
As the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, said, in addition to thinking about new policies we must also evaluate the effectiveness of old ones. Robust evaluation plays a crucial role in maximising the value of public spending and improving outcomes for the public, as my noble friend Lady Redfern mentioned. The Magenta Book sets out guidance and best practice for evaluating policy. It covers various techniques to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of government policies. Like the Green Book, the Magenta Book identifies public welfare as an important factor in evaluating how effective a policy has been and encourages policy- makers to think about outcomes holistically.
As I said, there are a number of other things I would like to address. My noble friend Lady Wheatcroft talked about good infrastructure. She is absolutely right, and I am really pleased to say that £100 billion for UK infrastructure was announced in the Budget yesterday, with £30 billion of that for upgrading roads. As a Government, we realise how important infrastructure and access to all sorts of services, not just health services, are to this country.
My noble friend Lord Dundee asked whether Her Majesty’s Government should include stronger well-being guidance in the Green Book. I think I have made it very clear that that is what we are doing. The noble Lord, Lord Layard, also talked about reviewing the Green Book. It has been reviewed and will be reviewed continually as we move forward. This is an important part of this Government’s levelling-up agenda, which will be a focus of our work in the future.
The noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, talked about well-being being a measure of direct public spending. I hope that what I have said about the Green Book shows that we recognise that. We have changed the Green Book to recognise that even more and will keep this under continual consideration.
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Bird, for his contribution; I always enjoy listening to him speak. Absolute poverty rates have fallen in every region in this country since 2010, and there are now over 1 million fewer workless families than there were then. We cannot be complacent; we have to continue with that. As we all know, it is about not just reducing worklessness but providing good work. The Government are working on that all the time.
The noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, mentioned New Zealand, which I thought might come up. New Zealand had a well-being budget in 2019 and is in fact using our Green Book. Different countries are very different —we are not New Zealand—but we will always keep a close eye on what other countries are doing. We will look at and learn from them, if their activities are relevant to the UK.
My noble friend Lord Tugendhat talked about the French commission. This would create a very rigid and singular part of legislation, so I think it is up to individual departments to create policies and frameworks, using the Green Book if necessary, to make sure all that they do includes well-being of our nation.
I thank my noble friend Lady Redfern. The only other thing that I probably need to say is that I wish I had gone to a mindfulness session before I stood here this morning, so I thank all those noble Lords—the noble Baroness, Lady Burt, and the noble Lords, Lord Bilimoria and Lord Stone—who have sold it to me. It is not just mindfulness that I have to look at but also yoga and T’ai Chi as well.
This Government put the well-being of their citizens high on the agenda. As well as committing to specific action plans, such as the Civil Society Strategy and sustainable development goal 3, the Government provide guidance, such as in the form of the Green Book, on how to proactively embed well-being into policy-making. As we have heard, there is an interesting debate about on how well-being can guide and inform the development, outcomes and evaluation of this policy, and exactly what well-being is to many people and groups of people in this country.
This debate will help us inform the ongoing thinking as to how well-being can be further reflected in the policy-making process. It will, I am sure, be of keen interest to the Civil Service Policy Profession, which promotes policy-making techniques across all our departments.
I ask any noble Lords or Baronesses to please forgive me if I have not responded to their questions, but I will look at Hansard and make sure your Lordships get an answer. I am very happy to meet any noble Lord; I think the noble Lord, Lord Stone, would like to talk to me about one or two projects.
All the Government’s approaches to well-being will continue to evolve. We must keep abreast of all the developments if we are to keep the UK as one of the best places in the world to live. That is what the British people, quite recently, elected us to do, and we will continue to repay their trust.