Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 June 2022
116. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the way that his Department intends to integrate the Wellbeing Framework into the budgetary process and the budgetary cycle; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31305/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn 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 June 2022, the Government published Understanding Life in Ireland: The Well-being Framework. This report builds on the initial report, First Report on a Well-being Framework for Ireland , that was published in July 2021 by taking account of the contributions to a public consultation and further research.
The overarching vision of the Well-being Framework for Ireland is “enabling all our people to live fulfilled lives now and into the future”. In addition to publishing details of the Well-being Framework and an associated dashboard hosted by the Central Statistics Office, 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, and subsequently in Understanding Life in Ireland: The Well-being Framework , 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.
