It’s important we are aware of when people feel future generations aren’t being considered.

Our remit is very wide as anything that can impact future generations falls within it and is why many people write to us about various topics that interest or concern them including issues with specific planning applications, to concerns about water quality and the impacts of budget cuts on public services.

While our team do not have the power or the capacity to get involved in specific issues, we consider correspondence when we monitor and assess public bodies’ progress embedding the Well-being of Future Generations Act (WFGA) and helps us to detect overarching, systemic issues.

How correspondence is considered

Emails and letters we receive are logged and shared with the relevant colleagues to consider in their work.

The issues raised in correspondence are shared with the team through regular reviews and are considered across our office’s work including:

• Our monitoring and assessing work to determine how successfully public bodies are meeting their well-being objectives
• Our involvement work and the creation of our seven-year strategy, Cymru Can
• Our advice and assistance work to support public bodies in acting on issues while considering the WFGA

Systemic issues

While we do not have a case-work function, if an issue is considered systemic in line with our criteria, our team determines what actions and steps to take to help resolve the issue.

Some of the ways our team have gotten involved with systemic issues raised in correspondence in the past include:

• Working on national policies including working with Welsh Government to ensure the elements and vision of the WFGA was fully reflected in Planning Policy Wales and Llwybr Newydd: the Wales transport strategy.
• Giving advice and support around specific issues to public bodies, for example, working with Natural Resources Wales to consider the WFGA in their environmental permitting work.
• Writing to government officials to raise questions and concerns around popular topics people raised with me including concerns around the health of our rivers and waterways, the mental health impacts of school closures on children, and issues with the implementation of the Welsh Transport Appraisal Guidance.