Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales. Picture taken from the Future Generations Commissioner website.
In April 2016 the first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales was appointed as part of the legal obligations built into The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act. The Commissioner’s role is to promote sustainable development, to act as the guardian of future generations and to encourage public bodies to take account of their long-term impacts. The Commissioner is also required to monitor and assess the extent to which objectives for wellbeing are met. The independent nature of the Commissioner’s is well-positioned for challenging Government and other bodies, demanding them to demonstrate long-term thinking.
As part of the Commissioner’s duty, a Future Generations Report must be published every five years, in the year before the general election. The report must assess how public bodies evolve to meet wellbeing objectives according to the sustainable development principle. The Commissioner may also provide advice and recommendations to public bodies. The Section 20 Review, expected to be published in November 2022, will consider how the Welsh Government is implementing the Well-being of Future Generations Act. The Section 20 Review is guided by a Steering Group comprised of experts including Cat Tully, a former FDSD trustee.
Appointed in 2016 as the first Commissioner – not only in Wales, but worldwide, Sophie Howe has led interventions around transport, education and climate change. A fundamental intervention she led was the opposition to the extension of the M4 relief road. The success of her initiative led to the suspension of new road schemes and to investment in public and active transport. In January 2022, in an attempt to promote global action, Commissioner Howe set an open call for an agency which might create and deliver a media campaign promoting the Act and introducing the sustainable development principle to new audiences in Wales and beyond.
The video below provides a short introduction from Sophie Howe, the first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.
Links
- For further information visit the official Future Generations Commissioner for Wales website and their resource section.
- For further information visit the official website of the Well-being of Future Generations Act.
- Future Generations Commissioners: Learning Lessons from Wales | A provocation by Peter Davis
