Our Wellbeing, Our Voice Campaign

Watch this expert panel discussion here.

Lord Gus O’Donnell (PBE), Mark Russell (TCS) and James Robertson (#BeeWell) had a productive meeting with Minister Stephen Morgan. They directly addressed the concerns expressed by the Minister during committee stage about ensuring choice for schools and avoiding added burdens on schools. The Minister was strongly encouraged to ensure the Schools and Wellbeing Bill reflected its title by including wellbeing measurement.

​The Our Wellbeing Our Voice coalition now has the support of more than 50 organisations, spanning a breadth of expertise in children and young people’s wellbeing, wellbeing measurement, education and wellbeing economics.

During the Report Stage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, Munira Wilson MP for Twickenham, relaid an amendment calling for national children and young people’s wellbeing measurement. The MP advocated for wellbeing measurement in the House of Commons, describing how the current system of fragmented data across services is preventing us from understanding young people’s challenges and developing effective solutions. 

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During the debate, Sarah Smith MP also championed the potential for measuring wellbeing nationally. The MP for Hyndburn outlined how wellbeing measurement would help to reverse low levels of life satisfaction among children and young people by embedding vital data into national and local policymaking and commissioning. 

Although the amendment was not selected for a vote, momentum continues to grow and we are making plans for tabling an amendment to the Bill once it reaches the House of Lords.

Munira Wilson, MP for Twickenham explained during the debate that a national wellbeing measurement programme “would allow regular tracking of national progress, support detailed service planning within local communities, enable targeted support for groups of young people struggling the most, help school leaders to understand how they are performing and support the development of new evidence on what works for improving children’s wellbeing."

Although the amendment wasn’t passed by the committee, we were pleased to hear Minister for Early Education Stephen Morgan MP acknowledge the value of understanding wellbeing. We will continue working with Ministers, MPs and Peers to make the case for measurement and anticipate re-laying the amendment in the House of Lords. 

Munira Wilson MP for Twickenham tabled an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill calling for national children and young people’s wellbeing measurement, supported by the Our Wellbeing Our Voice coalition. The amendment was sponsored by MPs Ian Sollom, Freddie Van Mierlo, Danny Chambers, Liz Jarvis, Gideon Amos OBE, Jess Brown-Fuller and Ellie Chowns.

Mark Russell, CEO of The Children’s Society presented evidence to the Bill committee, calling for national wellbeing measurement. Anne Longfield CBE, Executive Chair of Centre for Young Lives and Dr Carol Homden CBE, CEO of Coram also made the case for a measurement programme. To further support discussion, we submitted written evidence to the committee.

We submitted a bid to HM Treasury’s spending review, demonstrating how wellbeing measurement would support the Government’s missions.

Young people in the UK have the lowest wellbeing in Europe. New economic analysis shows that closing the wellbeing gap between young people in the UK and the Netherlands would provide around £82 billion in wellbeing benefits every year.

Victoria Collins MP for Harpenden and Berkhamsted asked "So, would the Secretary of State consider a national wellbeing measurement to help look at those and really look at how we can improve the wellbeing of our children?” - Read more in Children & Young People Now

We published a joint response to the Bill, welcoming the Bill but calling for a wellbeing measurement programme to be introduced as an amendment as it progresses.