Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department uses ONS estimates of personal wellbeing in formulating policy; and what policies his Department has introduced to improve personal well-being in the last 12 months.

We use ONS wellbeing statistics to inform Health and Wellbeing policy within the Civil Service. The Ministry of justice also measures personal wellbeing through the annual Civil Service People Survey using the same national statistics that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) use for the UK population as a whole.

The four personal well-being questions are: Life Satisfaction, Worthwhile, Happiness, and Anxiety. Further details can be found here.

The People Survey is one source of data used to inform the department’s wellbeing agenda and the development of our wellbeing strategy. More information can be found within the department’s published voluntary report on disability mental health and wellbeing. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/827763/moj-voluntary-reporting.pdf

Since the launch of the department’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy in November 2015, we have produced a wide range of toolkits and guidance to support personal wellbeing. Most are based on cross government products developed by Civil Service Employee Policy (CSEP). The main polices/guidance we have introduced in the last 12 months are:

• Domestic Abuse – guidance and support for employees and their managers
• cross-government toolkits – supporting staff through menopause
• Support guidance for EU Nationals working in MoJ.
• A wellbeing and resilience toolkit for staff working on EU exit work.