A Relationships State of the Nation brings together a number of themes from the Relationships Foundation’s work on wellbeing and relationships over the past year. It makes the case that as we look ahead to the next five or ten years we will want to see more than just economic growth. The state of public finances means that continuing progress cannot simply be bought through government spending. New methods and new measures are needed.
RF Executive Director, Michael Trend, writes: “What do you want Britain to be like in 2015 or even 2020? What are the key changes you would like to see?
Progress on the economy – tackling the deficit and restoring growth – will of course be essential. But surely we want more than that? Change, progress and fairness can be vague concepts without clear substance. In the end people want to be better off – economically, environmentally and socially. Simply put, they want to improve their wellbeing.
How, then, will this progress be achieved and how will it be measured?
New goals require new methods and new measures. 1979 was about market freedom and lower taxes. 1997 was about public service delivery. So what now? How should a new administration seek to make progress, and how will we know whether they are on track?
Our recent Wellbeing Series has argued that politicians must be more intentional when it comes to wellbeing. The key factor affecting our wellbeing is the state of our relationships. The connectedness of family and friends, trust in neighbours and strangers, relationships in business and public service – these are the true substance of progress but are easily undermined by policy.
The most important relationships each of us have are with our families. Like all relationships, they are both public and private. They are complex and varied, bringing both joy and pain, costs and benefits. Some relationships are easy to get right, others more difficult. We believe that it is possible for policy to respect this complexity and offer workable solutions that create a more supportive environment.
True national wealth must include policy that supports families and a range of stable relationships. We propose triple testing of policy, for looking at policy from a penumbra of issues surrounding the family; we make the case for governments to motivate, provide opportunity for A Relationships State of the Nation 2 and support family relationships; we argue for an overarching family proofing of policy as the cornerstone of the process of government.
Dealing with debt and addressing social and environmental concerns will take more than one parliament. Shifting the focus of the debate onto the relationships that lie at the heart of change will help this longterm process.
But social change cannot to be delivered to us by politicians alone. We shouldn’t just be taking a look at what the parties say: we should also be taking a second look at ourselves. In the end wellbeing is about living different lives.
To know if we have achieved progress, some form of measurement is required – not needless targets and testing – but a new way of measuring progress.
The Relationships Foundation wants to develop a robust annual survey of the Relationships State of the Nation which holds up a mirror to our society and asks: do you like what you see, do you like the direction in which we are travelling? Only in such a way can we know that we are making the progress we need to.”