A group of organisations campaigning for a Wellbeing and Sustainable Development law in Scotland have produced guidance for responses to the Social Justice Committee’s Call for Views on a new Members’ Bill in the Scottish Parliament.
Scotland’s International Development Alliance has been calling for a Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill for Scotland since 2020. We believe that new legislation would help to ensure that actions in Scotland contribute to the betterment of wellbeing, both here in Scotland and elsewhere, as we navigate out of converging global crises.
In March 2025, Sarah Boyack MSP formally introduced the Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill in the Scottish Parliament. The Bill sets out that public bodies must take account of the need to promote wellbeing and sustainable development in their work. It sets out the definitions of “sustainable development” and “wellbeing” for this purpose. The Bill would also establish a Future Generations Commissioner to promote the wellbeing of future generations and sustainable development in decision making by all public bodies, including by publishing guidance to help public bodies understand what the Bill means for them.
The Bill is at Stage 1, and being examined by the Social Justice and Social Security Committee. The Committee has issued a call for views to help to inform its scrutiny of the Bill, including the selection of witnesses to be invited to give oral evidence on the Bill. The deadline for responses is 24th August 2025.
Organisations who have taken part in a working group convened by SIDA, including Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland, Carnegie UK and Oxfam Scotland have produced a guidance document to help network members and other campaign groups in preparing their responses to the Committee. The guidance document can be found here.
A detailed timeline of SIDA’s work on the campaign for a Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill, and an archive of previous reference and briefing documents, can be found here.