By Peter Walker, The Guardian, June 29, 2019.
Labour is to push for a national law to ensure that new policy decisions are gauged against people’s future health and wellbeing, with an ambitious idea modelled on similar schemes already in place in Wales and New Zealand.
The proposed Future Generations Wellbeing Act for England, to be unveiled on Saturday by the shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, would mandate measures such as a “health equality audit” of all government decisions, and put a new duty on local health services to reduce health inequalities.
Other elements of the proposed act, which the party plans to consult upon, would ensure health measures were linked to environmental and climate emergency goals, and to recognise the NHS as what is called an “economic anchor” in communities.
In 2015, the Labour government in Wales introduced its own Wellbeing of Future Generations Act, which requires decisions to be measured against a range of long-term outcomes, including public health, the environment and social cohesion.
While that law has faced criticism for a perceived lack of efficacy in challenging decisions, it was seen as playing a part in the Welsh government’s decision to scrap plans for a new section of the M4 motorway near Newport.
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