Scotland’s Wellbeing: Delivering the National Outcomes
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Contents
Our Purpose, Values, National Outcomes and National Indicators
- Introduction
- Evidence of progress towards the National Outcomes
- Data and future developments
- References
Scotland’s Wellbeing: Delivering the National Outcomes
Our Purpose, Values, National Outcomes and National Indicators
Our purpose sets out the direction and ambition for Scotland
Our Values help guide our actions
11 National Outcomes describe what we want to achieve
81 National Indicators give us a broad picture of progress
Scotland’s Wellbeing: Delivering the National Outcomes
1. Introduction
1.1 National Performance Framework
Scotland's National Performance Framework[1] (NPF) was launched in 2007, put into law in 2015, and last refreshed in 2018. The NPF sets an overall purpose and vision for Scotland. It highlights the broad National Outcomes that support the purpose and provides measures on how well Scotland is progressing towards the National Outcomes. The NPF is intended to inform discussion, collaboration and planning of policy and services across Scotland, encompassing the public sector, businesses, civil society and communities. The NPF is also Scotland's framework to localise the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The work taking place to meet the SDGs, including the policy and data context, will be published in summer 2019.
1.2 Purpose of this report
This report shows how Scotland has changed and how Scotland is placed, one year on from the refreshed NPF receiving support from the Scottish Parliament. The aim of this report is to bring together existing evidence and analysis on a number of key issues, trends and features of Scotland's performance which the evidence suggests are important to consider when making decisions on policy, services and spending. To maximise impact across the National Outcomes, decisions on policy, services and spending should not look to only one Outcome in isolation.
The NPF website provides data for each National Outcome and links to the Equality Evidence Finder which provides evidence disaggregated by equality characteristics, where it is available. This report – for the first time – draws from this data, bringing it together with additional evidence to provide a holistic picture of Scotland's current and longer-term performance, across social, economic and environmental indicators, presenting an overall picture of wellbeing. This resultant overall picture of wellbeing is intended to support discussions across Scotland, about the country we want to be and the actions needed to get there.
This report brings evidence together to help understand progress towards Scotland's National Outcomes.[2] It does not tell decision makers everything they need to know about Scotland's performance; no single report could. It serves as a starting point to highlight some of the key trends and issues to consider, and it should encourage those with an interest in how Scotland is performing as a country to dig deeper into the evidence in particular areas.
1.3 Scotland's National Performance Framework as a wellbeing framework
The NPF is Scotland's wellbeing framework. It explicitly includes 'increased wellbeing' as part of its purpose, and combines measurement of how well Scotland is doing in economic terms with a broader range of wellbeing measures. These indicators incorporate a wide range of different types of data – from social attitudes and perceptions to economic and environmental statistics – in order to paint a picture of Scotland's performance.
1.4 Embedding NPF values
The values statement within the NPF describes a society in which people and organisations treat each other with kindness, dignity, compassion, respect for the rule of law, and openness and transparency. At their core, the values inform the behaviours people in Scotland should see in everyday life and are part of a commitment to improving individual and collective wellbeing.
The values also inform decisions about what is prioritised to make progress on the National Outcomes and purpose, and how to behave to get there. This means placing greater emphasis on openness and transparency, taking action based on listening and understanding peoples' stories of real life experiences as well as the statistical data.
1.5 Trends and future challenges and opportunities
This report is intended to act as a baseline report on Scotland's performance. It provides an opportunity to reflect on strengths, such as the proportion of energy that comes from renewable sources, the value of our natural capital and the closing educational attainment gap between Scotland's most and least deprived areas, and some areas where considerable challenges remain including life chances affected by poverty, and how different life can be depending on aspects of your identity and where you live.
This report provides a summary of what Scotland is like now, and what it has been like over the past few years. It does not seek to assess what needs to be done to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future, including how global trends such as changing population patterns, climate change, new technologies, and economic and societal practice and expectation may impact on these. This report is intended to act as a tool and stimulus for others to develop the holistic policies and activities that are needed to deliver the Scotland envisioned in the NPF.