I would like to invite you to the next meeting hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Wellbeing Economics. The panel will discuss why there are clear differences in the levels of subjective wellbeing reported across the UK, and what policy-makers might be able to do about it.

Analysis of the new subjective wellbeing data collected by the Office for National Statistics has shown considerable variation in well-being across the country with the highest levels of wellbeing on the small islands of the British Isles, and the lowest levels in London and the Welsh Valleys. These differences persist even when levels of deprivation have been taken into account.

The speakers will offer their insights on what might explain these regional differences in wellbeing, and what policies may be put in place to raise the wellbeing of some of the lowest scoring areas.

Speakers:

Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of the London borough of Newham. As one of only a few elected mayors in the country, Sir Robin is directly accountable to the residents of Newham and is responsible for shaping the vision of the borough and delivering on the things that matter most to its residents , as well as championing Newham's interests to Central Government, the business sector and other public bodies.

Professor Paul Dolan, Professor of Behavioural Science in the Department of Social Policy at the LSE. Paul is an internationally renowned expert on happiness, behaviour and public policy, who has worked extensively on developing measures of happiness and subjective well-being that can be used in policy; he helped develop the subjective well-being questions now used by the ONS Measuring National Well-being programme.

Third speaker tbc.

Chair: David Lammy MP

If you would like to come along, please RSVP here: http://appgwellbeing.eventbrite.com/

The report on full analysis of the ONS data is featured below and you can read more on the new economics foundation here.

Yours sincerely,

Laura Stoll

Co-ordinator, APPG on Wellbeing Economics