The Scottish Government has announced a new toolkit that will allow local authorities to tackle child poverty, improve health and achieve climate ambitions as part of a mission to make communities ‘fairer, greener, healthier and more resilient.’
Named The Wellbeing Economy Toolkit: Supporting place-based economic strategy and policy development, the toolkit will allow local authorities to identify local wellbeing metrics, as well as measure them. These include health, child poverty, greenhouse gas emission levels and fair work, with the main goal being to help the authorities to prioritise investment and policies to make them better.
These solutions are likely to include measures such as:
- The creation of more high quality, sustainable local jobs by using more local and regional procurement contracts
- Improved transport links to help people access services and work
- Better access to the natural environment, which leads to better mental and physical health.
Angus Robertson, Consultation Secretary, said:
“The need for a new economic model has never been clearer, and that’s why I think the wellbeing economy approach is gaining so much interest, both here, and around the world.
“We see that in the growth off WEGo – the network of wellbeing economy governments – which began as a coalition of Scotland, Iceland and New Zealand. Since this event was last held in 2020, two more governments – Finland and Wales – have joined and other countries including Canada are showing a growing interest.
“Creating a wellbeing economy remains a defining mission for the Scottish Government, and it is my firm belief that Scotland could use the powers of independence to achieve that aim more fully.
“Building a wellbeing economy is a huge challenge for any country, at any time. The current crises we are facing make it harder, but they also underline why we need to make this transformation as a matter of urgency.”
He toolkit was announced by the Constitution Secretary at the Wealth of Nations 2.0 conference, being hosted at the University of Glasgow. Representatives from Finland and Wales, fellow Wellbeing Economic Governments, also joined the Secretary, as they took questions from young people.
