Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 January 2022
56. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the measures to be undertaken by his Department in 2022 to progress the Programme for Government commitment to a well-being framework; if Budget 2023 will be in compliance with this commitment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2411/22]
View answerIn Programme for Government – Our Shared Future, the Government set out a commitment to developing a set of well-being indices to create a well-rounded, holistic view of how Irish society is fairing. In July 2021, the Government published the First Report on a Well-being Framework for Ireland. This initial Framework has set out an overarching vision of “enabling all our people to live fulfilled lives now and into the future”.
The Government is also committed to ensuring that the well-being framework is utilised in a systematic way across government policy making in evaluating programmes and reporting progress as well as in setting budgetary priorities (as an important complement to existing economic measurement tools).
In order to progress the use of Well-being Framework as part of the policy process, and develop a knowledge base around well-being as a policy objective, the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform has sought to pilot an approach to utilising the Well-being Framework to locate well-being within existing public policy. The approach under consideration builds on the performance budgeting initiative by placing an explicit focus on stated policy goals and evidence of progress. In order to develop this approach, Departments have been invited to consider how they might utilise the Well-being Framework as part of the Spending Review process. As noted in the Expenditure Report 2022, the Well-being Public Policy Unit in the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform is available to support Departments in carrying out this work.
Furthermore, as noted in the Expenditure Report 2022, the next phase of the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform's work in this area is to develop an approach to associating public expenditure with the various dimensions of the Well-being Framework. The intention is to develop over time a way of setting out budgetary decisions on the basis of well-being dimensions; an approach that would complement the existing Vote Group approach to presenting such decisions.
