The O’Donnell report: Wellbeing and Policy

• Chaired by Lord Gus O’Donnell

• Commissioners:

• Professor Angus Deaton

• Professor Richard Layard

• Martine Durand

• David Halpern

• Announced 2012, report published March 20th

• Commissioned by the independent Legatum Institute, publishers of the Global Prosperity Index

Objective: to advance the debate on wellbeing beyond measurement and into policy.

• Download the report from http://www.li.com/programmes/the-commission-on-wellbeing-and-policy

Treat mental ill-health as professionally as physical ill-health

Greater spending on mental health, especially for children and young people

Support parents Expand parenting advice to cover emotional aspects of child development as well as physical

Build character and resilience in schools

Encourage schools to teach life skills and coping skills

Promote volunteering and giving

Make it easier for people to find opportunities and to use their resources for others

Address loneliness Treat loneliness and other problems around social relationships as serious public health issues

Create a built environment that is sociable and green

Make wellbeing an explicit requirement in planning systems and do not approve applications that do not foster meeting people and include green spaces

Promote economic growth Focus on stable growth rather than maximum growth

Reduce unemployment through active welfare

Focused support for jobseekers’ mental health, resilience, and confidence

More wellbeing at work As the jobs market recovers, promote transparency around staff wellbeing

Treat citizens with respect and empower them more

Devolution, local empowerment, and fiscal decentralisation

Measure wellbeing and make it a policy goal

Establish systematic national measurement of wellbeing and incorporate data in policy making

Give citizens the wellbeing data they need

Make wellbeing data open and accessible so government, civil society and business can use it to help people make decisions that will improve their wellbeing

What do the recommendations mean for governments?