Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill: consultation

Annex E: Scottish Parliament engagement

The Finance and Public Administration Committee, in their inquiry on the National Performance Framework (NPF), took evidence from a range of organisations, including COSLA, Carnegie UK, the Equality & Human Rights Commission, Public Health Scotland, the Auditor General, Oxfam, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, and the Scottish Leaders Forum.

The Committee’s report^[22] set out the following recommendations relating to the working of the National Performance Framework across policy areas:

• 41. We recommend that all government (national and local) policies, strategies and legislation explicitly set out how each will deliver on specific NPF outcomes, their expected/intended impact on NPF outcomes and approaches to monitoring and evaluation.
• 51. We seek clarification from the Scottish Government as to how its review of the NPF will take account of and impact on its proposals for a Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill and for a Future Generations' Commissioner. We also seek confirmation of the extent to which the consultation which will form part of the NPF review, will include consideration of potential 'hard' statutory approaches alongside 'softer' powers as described to us.
• 82. The Welsh approach of using both 'hard' statutory powers alongside 'softer' encouragement, relationship building and sharing good practice has much to commend it. We therefore seek confirmation of the extent to which this approach will be considered as part of the review of National Outcomes and the proposed Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill.
• 98. We recommend that the next NPF review should consider the extent to which the Scottish Government, local government and others should be more systematically and consistently held to account for their contribution towards the National Outcomes. As we have recommended earlier in this report consideration should be given about whether organisations should have to be more explicit as to how their activities contribute to the NPF so as to support scrutiny.
• 114. Our view is that there needs to be a refocussing of scrutiny onto the NPF and as we have stated in previous reports "a repositioning of the NPF at the heart of Government."
  • We also recommend that the Scottish Government, along with local government and scrutiny bodies, consider the extent to which scrutiny, audit and regulatory regimes are aligned with the NPF.
• 156. We recommend the Scottish Government and COSLA review the organisations subject to the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 “have regard to" duty to ensure it captures the range of bodies that receive public funding, and which are now operating in Scotland.

In a letter to the Finance and Public Administration Committee (FPAC) inquiry on the National Performance Framework (NPF) in December 2022, the previous Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, stated that policy development for the proposed Bill would consider:

• how to further embed the NPF, and the principles of wellbeing and sustainable development, across government and public bodies’ decision-making
• placing strengthened duties on Scottish Ministers (not explicitly mentioned in current duties), public bodies, and local authorities, for accountability to the National Outcomes
• the means of support, scrutiny, and accountability for any new duties, including the case for a Future Generations Commissioner in Scotland

The Scottish Government’s response to the Finance and Public Administration Committee (December 2022) stated that as part of developing the Bill, it was considering how to provide a clear definition of wellbeing, sustainable development, and future generations.

This was reaffirmed in the Scottish Government’s response^[23] to the Committee’s inquiry Report on ‘Effective Scottish Government Decision-Making.’^[24]