Workshop on using wellbeing evidence in policy-makingWhat Works Wellbeing Community Evidence Programme - 10th September 2015Yorkshire – Commissioners, Practitioners, Third Sector and Academics

• Set up in October 2014• Government-funded initiative dedicated to understanding

what national and local governments, along with voluntary and business partners, can do to increase wellbeing.

• Purpose is to get robust, structured and practical evidence of what works to those areas and organisations that can use it to best effect

Aims to be: Evidence based, Open, Collaborative, Realistic, Practical and Iterative

THE HUB

Work and Learning

Cross cutting wellbeing

capabilities Communities

Culture and Sport

Funders:• Economic and Social Research Council• Public Health England• DCMS |Arts Council England |Historic England |Heritage Lottery Fund• Department for Communities and

Local Government• Department for Business Innovation

and Skills• Department for Health• Department for Work and Pensions• Arts and Humanities Research

Council• Food Standards Agency• Cabinet Office• Local Government Association• Big Lottery Fund• Office for National Statistics Chair: Paul Litchfield, BT

Patron: Lord Gus O’Donnell

Living environment

Social networks Governance

Community Wellbeing Evidence Programme

What Works Centre Policy areaNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

Health and social care

Sutton Trust/Educational Endowment Foundation

Educational achievement

College of Policing What Works Centre for Crime Reduction

Crime reduction

Early Intervention Foundation Early intervention

What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth(hosted by LSE, Arup, Centre for Cities)

Local economic growth

Centre for Ageing Better Improved quality of life for older people

What Works Centre for Wellbeing Wellbeing

The What Works Network uses evidence to make better decisions to improve public services.

• £200 billion• 7 independent centres

Structure of programmeStakeholder engagement

Work plan

New survey data analysis

Four key questions for systematic

review

Capacity building and training for using wellbeing

Ongoing dissem

ination and interaction

Stakeholder engagement

Workshops

Interviews

Questionnaire

Community sounding boards

Online discussion?

Mostly, we’re talking about personal wellbeing:• Feeling good and functioning wellIn the survey completed by What Works Wellbeing stakeholders, the most popular definition was:“….functioning well in life, for example having a strong sense of meaning and feeling connected to other people.”

In the evidence base, we will be using data on subjective wellbeing, including questions about satisfaction with life, and positive and negative emotions.

What do we mean by ‘wellbeing’?

Our evidence programme is interested in community factors (e.g. built environment, social networks, or decision-making processes) that influence personal wellbeing. But we are also interested in what determines community wellbeing. We will be proposing definitions of community wellbeing later in our programme. The most popular definition amongst stakeholders so far appears to be:“strong networks of relationships and support between people in a community, both in close relationships and friendships, and between neighbours and acquaintances.”

What do we mean by ‘wellbeing’?

• Identify topic areas you are interested in• Identify types of information you would find useful• Build links between different groups, including

academics, policy makers, and practitioners• Learn from you about relevant evidence• Find out how you would like us to work with/for

you• Find out about the challenges you face in using

wellbeing evidence

Aims

These are just meant to give a flavour, they are by no means exhaustive:• What are the factors that make a particular kind of

community project successful?• What are the most important factors that determine

wellbeing or community outcomes within a particular policy area?

• What policies have improved wellbeing or community outcomes within particular policy area?

• What are the positive side-effects of increasing wellbeing or community outcomes in a particular domain?

The kinds of questionswe might ask in review…

Workshop on using wellbeing evidence in policy-makingWhat Works Wellbeing Community Evidence Programme - 10th September 2015Yorkshire – Commissioners, Practitioners, Third Sector and Academics

Session One: What ingredients in communities are important for wellbeing?

Session Two: Identifying everyday challenges and opportunities for wellbeing in communities

• What is your work fundamentally ‘for’?

• In 10 years, how will you know if you are achieving that?

• What are the key principles/approaches that are key to your work being successful?

• What are the challenges you face?

Session Three: Identifying different ways to use wellbeing evidence

• How might wellbeing, a focus on wellbeing, wellbeing data, or effective wellbeing interventions, address challenge X?

• What kind of evidence related to wellbeing might stakeholders need to overcome/address challenge X?

• Who does this evidence need to convince?

• What barriers prevent you from using wellbeing evidence to meet these challenges?

Thank you for coming