Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill

The Scottish Fair Trade Forum believes that defining 'wellbeing' in the legislation is
important. There are already references in legislation as well as government and public sector policies to 'wellbeing'. We believe that the proposed legislation offers an opportunity to provide clarity and therefore facilitate reporting and accountability.

We believe that wellbeing is the extent to which people are able to realise the social, economic, environmental and democratic outcomes that they seek. The definition of 'wellbeing' needs to take into account the inequalities in wellbeing between different groups, both domestically and globally, and the conditions for the collective wellbeing of future generations. We support the definition proposed by Scotland's International Development Alliance: “Collective wellbeing is the progressive realisation of social, economic, environmental and democratic outcomes which enable people to meet their needs, as identified through consultation with the people of Scotland, pursued in a way that reduces inequalities in wellbeing between different groups. It also recognises the importance of protecting the interests and needs of future generations and fostering intergenerational equity.”

We also believe that the proposed legislation should include a definition of 'wellbeing economy' for similar reasons as for 'wellbeing' - that is that it is a term often used by government and public bodies and having a definition in law offers an opportunity to provide clarity and therefore facilitate reporting and accountability. A commitment to Fair Trade helps contribute to responsible consumption and production. Such responsibility in business and trade needs to be central to the definition of the 'wellbeing economy'.

The Scottish Fair Trade Forum believes that defining 'sustainable development' in the legislation is important. There are already references in legislation as well as government and public sector policies to 'sustainable development'. We believe that the proposed Bill offers an opportunity to provide clarity and therefore facilitate reporting and accountability. We support the definition of 'sustainable development' used by Scotland’s International Development Alliance: "Sustainable Development can be defined as the development of human societies
in ways which do not threaten planetary boundaries, and which equitably support the capability of present and future generations across the world to meet their needs."

The Forum has long supported a policy coherence for sustainable development approach. We would want to see this referenced and defined in the proposed legislation. Policy coherence for sustainable development must support ecological integrity and social equity within Scotland and support the self-defined sustainable development of other countries. Fundamentally, policy coherence for sustainable development should ensure that no policy undermines any other policy and where policy conflicts occur, the root cause of the conflict should be identified and efforts made to resolve it in a manner which minimises trade-offs and maximises synergies. The commitment to being a Fair Trade Nation needs to be seen to shape coherently relevant policies across government and public bodies.

The legislation could provide an opportunity to strengthen commitments across government and public bodies in a more comprehensive and coherent manner. It could provide focus and processes for ensuring wellbeing and sustainable development underpin and inform policy decisions and implementation. This legislation could provide a framework to significantly reduce negative impacts on the lives and livelihoods of people across the globe including low-income countries.

Much of Scotland's historic and current trading relations have contributed and continue to contribute to inequalities globally. The recognised and ongoing commitment to being a Fair Trade Nation could be strengthened by this proposed legislation by shaping Scotland's approach to future trading and business relations.

The proposed legislation could assist in setting objectives towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the linked National Outcomes ensuring that doing so impacts positively on communities and people’s wellbeing and the environment here in Scotland and globally.

Defining 'sustainable development' in this legislation would provide clarity in the use of the term in other legislation. This has the potential to remove inconsistencies in the way the term is used and in legislation implemented across government and public bodies. This clarity could assist those with responsibilities to implement the requirements of legislation.

We support the proposal by Scotland's International Development Alliance to rephrase the duty so that public authorities are required to “promote and deliver sustainable development while protecting the wellbeing of current and future generations ensuring that they take all reasonable steps to support the realisation of the National Outcomes, minimise trade-offs, and resolve policy conflicts in a way that does not undermine sustainable development or the wellbeing of current and future generations.”

All areas of decision-making need to be included as excluding different areas of decision making from the legislation would undermine the coherence and clarity of the legislation and impede effective implementation.

None

The legislation through clearer definitions of terms should assist in implementation. Clarity around what is needed in having regard to the National Outcomes should be helpful to public bodies in delivering on their duties. However, legislation does need to be accompanied by support and advice and is also a reason why a commissioner is integral to delivering on the intentions of the legislation by being able to support as well as monitor public bodies.

The legislation should cover the Scottish Government as well as public bodies.

The duty should apply across all public bodies in Scotland including Scottish ministers in order to provide coherence.

Ministers should be required to report more regularly on progress towards the National Outcomes to parliament, and parliament should be given ample time to scrutinise these reports, to maximise accountability.

We would also wish to see an independent commissioner with the powers to provide independent assessments of Scotland’s progress towards wellbeing and sustainable development.

As mentioned in answer to question 5, we would like to see a policy coherence approach embedded in how government and public bodies work.

Not applcable

Not applicable

We support the proposal of a new commissioner to monitor implementation of the legislation, including the statutory duties, with a legal requirement for the commissioner to be both independent of government, and adequately resourced to support public bodies to deliver their duties within the legislation. We believe that independence from government and adequate resourcing are essential to provide the necessary status and capacity to ensure that a commissioner can effectively carry out their role. It has become clear in our own research of public bodies and procurement that there is a wide range of understandings of Fair Trade
being used by public bodies and a wider range of ways of recording Fair Trade public procurement. This makes monitoring difficult and clear comparisons impossible to make. A commissioner could provide the clarity necessary in this area and others to allow for far more effective monitoring and accountability.

We support the appointment of a commissioner. There are additional ways of increasing accountability, scrutiny and support but these are not alternative to a strong, independent, well-resourced commissioner.