2. Aims for this talk Measuring national well-being: what ONS is doing, why and how Connect with what others are doing, internationally and in the UK What matters to you? Ask you to ask other people to answer this on http://www,ons,gov.uk/well-being http://www,ons,gov.uk/well-being Stephen Hicks, Office for National Statistics Assistant Deputy Director: Measuring National Well-being

3. Big questions What is national well-being? Why measure national well-being? How to measure national well-being? Who will use measures, for what?

4. What is national well-being? Well-beingQuality of life Happiness Life satisfaction Welfare Sustainability Multi-dimensional measure of progress of society Economic, environment and social dimensions (and stocks and flows) Difficult to theorise, define and measure Big picture stuff (potentially linked to lots of detail)!

5. Why measure national well-being? Well known problem National Accounts at best measure economic welfare More to life than GDP Descriptive statistics e.g. Social Trends, Sustainable Development Indicators

6. Why national well-being now? New impetus Academic, International - Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi report Political Budget June 2010 “The Government is committed to developing broader indicators of well- being and sustainability” PM speech 25 Nov 2010 “Today the government is asking the Office for National Statistics to devise a new way of measuring well-being in Britain.”

7. “Government has the power to help improve well-being” “From April next year we will start measuring our progress as a country not just by how our economy is growing, but by how our lives are improving, not just by our standard of living, but by our quality of life. …” PM 25.11.10

8. Vision for National Well-being work programme An accepted and trusted set of National Statistics which people turn to first to understand and monitor national well-being.

9. Conditions for success Robust statistical qualities In line with international best practice Academic convergence and respect Connections to policy users Recognition and engagement from many in society Public understanding and interest

10. How to measure national well-being? Economic measures Objective and subjective measures of quality of life Environmental measures Sustainability based on stocks Dashboard of indicators

11. What should be reflected in measures of national well-being? Income and wealth Job satisfaction and economic security Ability to have a say on local and national issues Having good connections with friends and relatives Present and future conditions of the environment Crime Health Education and training Personal and cultural activities, including caring and volunteering Others?

12. Who will use measures and for what? General Public Policy formulation and appraisal International organisations Others?

13. Work programme – first phase National debate on what matters to people: November 2010 to April 2011 Measuring Well-being Advisory Forum: from January 2011 Subjective well-being questions in ONS surveys: from April 2011 Increasing range of material on ONS website from 2011 onwards, well presented for users

14. The National debate National and local media On-line and social media Website area and consultation Online survey – almost 3,500 responses to date Twitter National debate events, seminars etc

15. What matters to you? Uses for national well-being measures? Join the debate: http://www.ons.gov.uk/well-being Follow us on http://twitter.com/statisticsONS http://twitter.com/statisticsONS #ukwellbeing Welcome your comments/questions