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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what use his Department has made of the National Wellbeing Index introduced by the Office for National Statistics in formulating policy since the introduction of that Index in 2011; and what policies his Department has introduced to improve national wellbeing as defined in that Index since 2010.

Gregory Barker

The National Wellbeing Index contains two measures directly related to DECC’s priorities: “Energy consumed within the UK from renewable sources” and “Total greenhouse gas emissions”, where latest data shows the positive impact being made by DECC. For example in 2013, provisional data shows 15% of electricity being produced from renewable sources – a new high. To provide further support for renewable and other forms of low carbon generation DECC is implementing Electricity Market Reform, in particular provisions for Feed-in-Tariffs with Contracts for Difference. Since 2010 DECC has also launched the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme to provide support for renewable heat in both the domestic and non-domestic sectors.

More broadly, a number of DECC’s policies, such as the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) which funds efficient boilers and insulation measures to low income and vulnerable households and is now guaranteed until at least 2017, contribute toward other aspects of the National Wellbeing Index, for example “Getting by financially”.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what use his Department has made of the National Wellbeing Index introduced by the Office for National Statistics in formulating policy since the introduction of that Index in 2011; and what policies his Department has introduced to improve national wellbeing as defined in that Index since 2010.

Elizabeth Truss

The Secretary of State for Education, my Right hon. Friend, the Member for Surrey Heath, Michael Gove, is responsible for a wide-range of issues which relate to a number of the key determinants of children’s well-being as captured in the ONS’ Children’s well-being measures in the Measuring National Well-being Programme. These include policies designed to raise educational attainment, promote take-up of early years education, tackle bullying in schools and reduce child poverty.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what use his Department has made of the National Wellbeing Index introduced by the Office for National Statistics in formulating policy since the introduction of that Index in 2011; and what policies his Department has introduced to improve national wellbeing as defined in that Index since 2010.

Dan Rogerson

There is no National Wellbeing Index, but the Office for National Statistics has developed a dashboard of measures to monitor wellbeing, both subjective and objective, and in a number of domains.

The most Defra relevant measures are:

Where we live domain

5.3 Accessed natural environment at least once a week in the last 12 months.

Environment Domain

10.2 Protected areas in the UK.

10.4 Household waste that is recycled.

It is too early to be able to show a large number of policies which have been influenced by the data, particularly when the statistics are experimental, but there is still a lot of ongoing work. In terms of my department’s policy work on wellbeing and the general approach, Defra officials provided written evidence for the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) Inquiry on Wellbeing initiated last year. This evidence was co-ordinated by the Cabinet Office and submitted on behalf of Government. The evidence document can be found here:

http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/environmental-audit-committee/wellbeing/written/1069.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what use his Department has made of the National Wellbeing Index introduced by the Office for National Statistics in formulating policy since the introduction of that Index in 2011; and what policies his Department has introduced to improve national wellbeing as defined in that Index since 2010.

Norman Lamb

The Department has worked closely with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on the development of the Measuring National Wellbeing Framework. Given the experimental nature of the data it is too early to use it specifically to formulate policy. However, some examples of relevant work taken forward by the Department include:

– working in partnership with ONS to include a measure of mental wellbeing into the Measuring National Wellbeing Framework;

– including wellbeing questions on a range of health surveys, for example the Health Survey for England, Health Behaviours of School-aged Children, the trial of a local level survey of 15 year olds, and the current wave of the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey;

– including wellbeing as a key indicator in the Public Health Outcomes Framework;

– publishing a narrative and a series of factsheets on why wellbeing matters to health policy;

– publishing a report on the predictors of wellbeing across the lifecourse;

– conducting two wellbeing workshops with policy makers to allow them to consider their policies from a wellbeing perspective; and

– co-founding a collaborative studentship with the University of Warwick on positive genetics using twin data to explore how genetics are related to wellbeing.

Wellbeing will also be considered in the forthcoming Chief Medical Officer’s annual report.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 21 November 2012, Official Report, columns 511-2W, on death, what the prevalence of adults living in private households in England having at least one psychiatric condition was in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Norman Lamb

The Answer of 21 November 2012, Official Report, columns 511-2W contains the latest data. The following table shows the estimated prevalence of adults living in private households in England having at least one psychiatric condition¹.

Age range	Adults meeting the criteria for, or screening positive for, one or more psychiatric condition 1, 2
16-24	32.3
25-34	30.0
35-44	22.9
45-54	25.0
55-64	18.7
65-74	12.7
75+	10.5
Percentage all	23.0

1 ‘Psychiatric conditions’ include the most common mental disorders (namely anxiety and depressive disorders) as well as: psychotic disorder; antisocial and borderline personality disorders; eating disorder; posttraumatic stress disorder; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; alcohol and drug dependency; and problem behaviours such as problem gambling and suicide attempts. These are defined according to different classification criteria and refer to a variety of different, reference periods, as detailed in the background information provided. Mixed anxiety and depressive disorder was defined following the exclusion of other common mental disorders. 2 Figures above were calculated by subtracting the prevalence of adults with no psychiatric condition from 100. Note: This table is an excerpt from Table 12.1 in Chapter 12 (Co-morbidity) of the APMS 2007 report: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/psychiatricmorbidity07 Source: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity (APMS) Survey 2007.

The Department has commissioned the National Centre for Social Research and the University of Leicester to undertake the 2014 Adult Psychological Morbidity Survey.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what use in formulating policy her Department has made of the National Wellbeing Index introduced by the Office for National Statistics since the introduction of that Index in 2011; and what policies her Department has introduced to improve national wellbeing as defined in that Index since 2010.

Karen Bradley

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is measuring National Wellbeing, not
as an index but through a framework of 41 indicators which capture social
progress around important aspects of life for individuals, communities and the
nation. The statistics are experimental and as such we should not expect to
have examples of major policies that have been heavily influenced by the
wellbeing data at this stage. However there is much work going on across
government which is detailed in the evidence provided to the Environmental
Audit Committee for its Inquiry into Wellbeing. This can be found at:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/envir
onmental-audit-committee/inquiries/parliament-2010/well-being/

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the Answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 19W, on electoral register, with which civic society organisations the Electoral Commission is proactively seeking partnership for the purpose of increasing electoral registration.

Mr Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that it is seeking to establish new partnerships and ways of working with a wide range of organisations to help ensure voters are aware of what they need to do under the new system of individual electoral registration.

In addition to the partnerships it is currently finalising, the Commission will continue seeking to establish new partnerships up to, and beyond, the next UK Parliamentary General Election in 2015 to achieve this. As partnerships are finalised, they will be highlighted on the Commission’s website and we will make members aware of where they can find this information when the first batch of information is published online.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what (a) number and (b) proportion of voters voted (i) at a polling station and (ii) by postal ballot in each police authority area in the 2012 Police and Crime Commissioner elections.

Mr Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission has placed the answer to the hon. member’s question in the library.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what (a) number and (b) proportion of voters voted (i) at a polling station and (ii) by postal ballot in each European parliamentary constituency in each such election since 1984.

Mr Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission was formed in 2000 and as a result it only holds information from the 2004 European parliamentary elections onwards. It has placed the data it holds in the library.

The full datasets for the 2014 European parliamentary elections will be available at the end of August.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what use his Department has made of the National Wellbeing Index introduced by the Office for National Statistics in formulating policy since the introduction of that Index in 2011; and what policies his Department has introduced to improve national wellbeing as defined in that Index since 2010.

Stephen Hammond

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is measuring National Wellbeing, not as an index but through a framework of 41 indicators which capture social progress around important aspects of life for individuals, communities and the nation. The statistics are experimental and we would not expect to have examples of major policies that have been heavily influenced by the wellbeing data at this stage.

Evidence provided to the Environmental Audit Committee for its Inquiry into Wellbeing can be found at:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environmental-audit-committee/inquiries/parliament-2010/well-being/

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