Future Generations Act ‘not driving change’ a decade on

Ten years after it was introduced with the aim of transforming Wales’s public services, the Well-being of Future Generations Act is still not driving the systemic change that was intended, according to a new report from the Auditor General.

The report, released today, finds that although there are positive examples of public bodies applying the Act’s principles, there remain “instances where public bodies have given little or no explicit consideration to the Act.”

Auditor General Adrian Crompton said: “Ten years on from its inception, I see energy and enthusiasm for the Act in various quarters; and I see public bodies having different conversations, making decisions informed by the Act, and changes in practice. But for all the good examples, there are those that are not so good. The Act is not driving the system-wide change that was intended.”

The Act, passed in 2015, requires certain public bodies to set and pursue well-being objectives, designed to ensure today’s decisions meet the needs of future generations. However, the latest audit found wide variation both between and within organisations. The health sector was identified as needing particular improvement in applying long-term thinking to its planning and service delivery.

The report warns that without a more systematic shift towards prevention, public services face exhausted budgets and worsening outcomes. It also highlights ongoing weaknesses in the quality of information used for planning, and a failure to embed the Act into key functions such as financial planning, asset management, and workforce strategy.

Delivering the level of change the Act envisaged will require action by individual public bodies, but also by government to create the right conditions for success. The Auditor General criticises the lack of progress on a review of the Act, first called for in 2020, noting that this has “not been acted on in the way we had hoped.”

The report makes four new strategic recommendations to the Welsh Government, including minimising funding uncertainty, encouraging investment in prevention, reassessing performance evaluation under the Act, and setting a clear timetable for a full review.

Mr Crompton said: “Of course, driving change across often large, complex organisations is hard. But I urge public bodies to see the sustainable development principle as a value for money issue. We cannot afford to design solutions that do not meet people’s needs, burden future generations with avoidable higher costs, or miss opportunities to deliver more with the same or less.”

The report is published alongside the Future Generations Commissioner’s own findings, with both sets of results being presented at the Future Generations Action Summit today.