Happiness index planned to influence government policy

People to be asked how content they feel in attempt to measure impact of policies on nation’s wellbeing Datablog: how do you measure happiness? The government will ask people how happy they are in order to measure the nation’s wellbeing for the first time, the chief statistician has revealed. Jill Mathieson, head of the Office for National Statistics, said that since April the Integrated Household Survey (IHS) had asked respondents to rank between one and 10 “how satisfied are you with your life nowadays, how happy did you feel yesterday, how anxious did you feel yesterday and to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?”. The results of the survey of 200,000 people will be published next July. Using these and a set of “objective” measurements, such as life expectancy and wealth, the government will devise a scheme to allow civil servants to assess the impact future policies will have on the wellbeing of the population. Mathieson said it was clear that how well-off people feel depends on things, such as their health or whether they have a job, that GDP does not capture. After 10 months of public consultation, she said, the ONS had “highlighted that the things that matter the most are our health, relationships, work and the environment. These are also themes that the majority of respondents agree should be reflected in a measure of national wellbeing, with the addition of education and training.” She argued that it was time to concentrate on household incomes, consumption and wealth rather than just total production. Launching the findings of the wellbeing debate, Sir Gus O’Donnell, the cabinet secretary, said he would be publishing a discussion paper on how to revise the civil service “green book”, which issues guidance to mandarins on how ministerial proposals should be appraised before public funds are committed. He wanted a “social cost/benefit analysis” to be offered by civil servants in the future. “[It's] to give people an idea on how to submit to ministers … how can they frame it in the right way.” The question is how to measure well-being. One important facet is how to assess people’s “quality of life”. O’Donnell said he had been surprised by the beneficial effect of “altruism” on people giving their time to volunteer and was looking at releasing civil servants to help in charities on a pro bono basis. David Cameron – who first floated the idea of a “happiness index” in 2005 when he was running for the leadership of the Conservative party – last November asked the ONS how best to capture information that would help Britain re-evaluate its priorities. Since then government policies have tried to focus on wellbeing as a desirable outcome, said O’Donnell. He cited how improving the mental health of the long-term unemployed could help them find work; how protecting parks and green spaces raised people’s wellbeing; and how reducing pressure on families would help increase children’s happiness. In 2007 Unicef placed UK at the bottom of a league table looking at subjective indicators of children’s wellbeing, resulting in a big push by the government to improve the happiness of the young. Although the country’s standing improved by 2010 it remained below those of other wealthy nations. The ONS regularly produces measures of income inequality but said it had only just begun “to look at inequality between generations though its developmental work on the generational accounting approach to public finances in the UK”. Andrew Oswald, professor of economics at the University of Warwick, said recent research from Californian academics had confirmed that when people found out they were being paid “below average” for their work, they “instantly registered a lower job satisfaction and look for jobs elsewhere. There’s nothing intrinsically left or rightwing about wellbeing. But it is important for the government to measure it,” said Oswald. Health Civil service Children Poverty Social trends Unemployment Volunteering Randeep Ramesh guardian.co.uk

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