Given the unprecedented challenges we’ve faced over the past couple of years, I want to acknowledge the commitment Public Services Boards (PSBs) have demonstrated in working together to prepare their 2022 well-being assessments.

It’s clear from my team’s analysis that there is progress in the knowledge and appetite from PSBs to understand and tackle the big challenges facing us in Wales. For example, PSBs are demonstrating a greater understanding of the climate and nature emergency and recognising the need to increase their ambition. And I’m reassured by some of the collaboration I’m seeing, particularly where regional approaches are being taken in areas such as North Wales, West Wales and Gwent.

 

My office’s input to PSB well-being assessments 

My office provided individual feedback to the 14 PSBs on their draft assessments, in line with my statutory duties as Commissioner. This took place between January and April 2022. You can find the detail of this process here.

Although there is no statutory requirement or ask on my office to provide an overarching analysis or overview, my team have prepared two short summaries outlining some of the key themes they found when reviewing the 2022 draft well-being assessments.  

This work is not exhaustive, nor is it intended to provide detailed analysis on the multiple themes and topics explored by the PSBs. Instead, the two short reports are intended to provide a helpful, high-level overview of some of the key strengths and challenges we observed through our analysis. 

You can read the summary reports and their findings below:

Illustrative summary
Summary report 

 

How well-being assessments are used:  

Well-being assessments are significant because they’re the foundation from which PSBs (and other local and national organisations) work together to agree the action needed to improve well-being in local areas across Wales. This action is then set out in a well-being plan, with the next iteration due to be published by PSBs in May 2023.  

Agreeing this collective action is the next step for PSBs. Along with Welsh Government and other organisations, my office will be working closely with PSBs to help ensure the objectives and steps they develop are both appropriate and ambitious to help improve well-being and drive change across Wales.