Wales's world-first Future Generations Act is radical and aspirational, but a decade on is falling short of its ambitions, according to a Senedd Committee report.
The Equality and Social Justice Committee found that implementation has been too slow and progress is mixed.
The report, Fit for the Future? warns that public awareness of the Act remains low, and public bodies are still failing to prioritise long-term thinking over short-term budget pressures and the Act lacks the power to hold those public bodies to account.
The Committee is calling on the next Welsh Government to reform the Act before the 2030 Senedd election.
Jenny Rathbone MS, Chair of the Equality and Social Justice Committee, said:
“Few pieces of legislation have carried expectations as wide-ranging or as aspirational as the Well-being of Future Generations Act. Genuinely innovative, it was the first attempt anywhere in the world to place sustainable development at the heart of public services. Ten years on, that ambition matters more than ever.
“But implementation has been too slow. There are pockets of genuine good practice, but progress remains uneven. Public bodies are still reaching for short-term fixes when the whole point of this legislation was to break that cycle. Most urgently health bodies need to put prevention front and centre of their work.
“We are asking the next Welsh Government and the next Senedd to commit to strengthening this Act, give it real teeth, and ensure it truly delivers for the people of Wales.”
The Committee has made eight recommendations. It calls for the next Welsh Government to conduct a review of the Act in the first year of the new Senedd term, and tidy up the cluttered landscape of inter-connecting public bodies. Legislative changes, policy reforms and updated guidance would need to be in place before the 2030 election.
The full report is available here.