Whitehall told to make Britain happy

By Tim Ross, Social Affairs Editor

Plans could include improving the mental health of the workforce so people with depression and other illnesses find jobs, protecting parks and green spaces, and reducing pressure on children and families.

Sir Gus, the head of the Civil Service, is expected to unveil details of the government’s work so far at the launch of a major report on the wellbeing project next week, Whitehall sources said.

The disclosure came as a key architect of the Prime Minister’s national “happiness index" warned that “crazy” university funding cuts and an increasingly selfish society were damaging efforts to improve quality of life.

Last November, Mr Cameron announced that a new wellbeing measure would be developed as an alternative to the traditional economic assessments of national progress, such as GDP. He argued that ministers had a legitimate role in helping people to “feel better” and build “a better life”.

He criticised the Coalition’s decision to reduce funding for university courses in the arts and humanities in favour of science and engineering degrees, which are seen as more economically valuable.

Speaking ahead of a report on the wellbeing project, Lord Layard told The Daily Telegraph the cuts were “the last fling of the materialist age”.

“I think it is absolutely extraordinary, particularly the idea that the social sciences have nothing to contribute compared with natural sciences, that it is more important for us to understand the natural world than to understand ourselves,” he said. “Can you imagine anything more completely crazy?”

The Labour peer praised Mr Cameron’s long-term commitment to improving the nation’s wellbeing, but suggested that leaving the work to charities and voluntary groups through the “Big Society” could fail.

He said there was “good evidence” that people were becoming increasingly “selfish” over time. “It comes from the retreat of religious belief and the lack of a really convincing philosophy to replace it,” he said.

“The kind of competition which has been generated – from schools turning into exam factories to workplaces turning into rat races – has been excessive. There is a feeling that ‘surely there must be more to life than this.’”

Lord Layard, a professor at the London School of Economics, who is credited with helping to shape Mr Cameron’s views on wellbeing, is leading a new movement called Action for Happiness, which has so far attracted 15,000 members in 100 countries.

“We have a rather high aspiration for the movement to reassert the 18th century ideal of putting the happiness of people as the right objective of society,” he said. “Everybody who joins this movement is deciding to make a pledge to create more happiness in the world and less misery. That is the new philosophy that can stem the tide of increasing self-absorption.”

The Office for National Statistics began questioning 200,000 members of the public about their wellbeing in April, asking individuals to rate their how satisfied they are with their lives on a scale of 0 to 10, and how anxious or happy they feel.

About 30,000 people and organisations contributed to the consultation on how to measure national wellbeing and the results will be published alongside further detail on how the index will work in a report on Monday. Telegraph