PfG Wellbeing Framework

Doing What Matters Most

Wellbeing is a combination of social, environmental, economic, and democratic factors which are essential for society to flourish. These factors align to our Missions of People, Planet, Prosperity and our cross-cutting commitment to Peace.

Our Missions have been broken down across ten strategic domains of wellbeing supported by a selection of indicators, each of which is a high-quality official statistic. Each project and programme contained within the draft Programme for Government can be linked to a Mission.

We will work across the Executive to understand why the indicators within these domains are improving, staying the same or getting worse and use this analysis to inform future iterations of the Programme for Government.

To support this process, we have broken down as many indicators as possible by different demographic groups such as sex, age, marital status, religion, disability, ethnic group, sexual orientation, those with and without dependants, and political opinion. We have also provided geographic breakdowns to make sure that inequalities that exist between council areas, assembly areas, between urban and rural areas and areas of multiple deprivation are clear for all to see.

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This overview shows how well we are doing across the indicators that fall under the domain. Performance is assessed as 'improving', 'no change' or 'worsening' based on the change between the baseline figure and the latest data point of an indicator. The assessment of performance is made objectively and impartially by a panel of senior analysts. Decisions on performance are made independently of Ministers.

Click on a domain to see the indicators

For more detail on the methods, sources and methodology used in this dashboard, please read our Notes.

The data for this dashboard is hosted on the NISRA Data Portal.

Overall

This overview shows how well we are doing across all of the indicators. Performance is assessed as 'improving', 'no change' or 'worsening' based on the change between the baseline figure and the latest data point of an indicator. The assessment of performance is made objectively and impartially by a panel of senior analysts. Decisions on performance are made independently of Ministers.

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Impact of Covid-19

Mapping the indicators

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Impact of Covid-19

Notes

Wellbeing is a combination of social, environmental, economic, and democratic factors which are essential for society to flourish. These factors align to our Missions of People, Planet, Prosperity and our cross-cutting commitment to Peace. Our Missions have been broken down across strategic domains of wellbeing. These domains describe our state of wellbeing as a society.

Each domain is supported by a number of indicators taken from official statistics, and while indicators are included under a particular domain, it is expected that many indicators will inform aspects of wellbeing relevant to multiple domains, and wellbeing overall. Each indicator will be updated as additional data becomes available, providing a snapshot of our state of wellbeing.

Subpopulations available for each indicator

Quality characteristics of the framework

All of the indicators are composed of official statistics which adhere to the Code of Practice for Statistics. The Code is based on three pillars - Trustworthiness, Quality and Value. It outlines principles and practices to follow when producing statistics to ensure high quality, reliable outputs.

The indicators have been identified in collaboration with departmental statisticians and policy colleagues to ensure they are relevant to wellbeing at a population level.

Each indicator is also subject to assessment by a Technical Assessment Panel comprising senior statisticians and economists. The panel consider the technical quality of a proposed indicator and determine overall suitability. The Technical Assessment Panel also set baselines and criteria for determining whether change has occurred over time for each indicator. These are set as each indicator is approved, in advance of reporting on the indicator to help ensure objective and transparent reporting on progress.

Collecting the data

Indicator data is produced by departmental statisticians who also Quality Assure the data and undertake analysis. We will work in collaboration with statisticians across departments to collate the relevant indicator data and publish it on the NISRA Data Portal and this dashboard.

Northern Ireland-level data and data for Local Government Districts and Assembly Areas (where available and appropriate) will be published on this dashboard. Additional data for Section 75 groups and by deprivation quintile will also be published where available. Data for each indicator will also be published on the NISRA Data Portal (where available and appropriate), where the raw data can be viewed and downloaded in table form. The indicator suite is diverse, with data coming from a wide range of sources, with different collection periods. This means that different information is available for each indicator and for some indicators, data is only available at the Northern Ireland level. For indicators based on survey data, please use caution when interpreting trends among subpopulation groups as these may be based on small numbers of respondents. Where sample sizes are too small to provide reliable estimates, figures will not be included.Please use caution when making comparisons between measures and over time. Please also consider the potential impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on data collection and scores.

For further information on the quality of each indicator, you can consult the source publications (links provided on the dashboard and NISRA Data Portal). These publications include technical information specific to the data reported and are also supported by Background Quality Reports.

Reporting on progress

Performance is assessed by comparing the most recent data point for an indicator with the baseline figure. Criteria for determining change are set when each indicator is approved for inclusion in the Wellbeing Framework.

Where the threshold for a positive change is met or exceeded, an 'improving' trend will be reported. Where the threshold for a negative change is met or exceeded, a 'worsening' trend will be reported. Where the threshold for change is not met, 'no change' will be reported. Further information, including the baseline and criteria for reporting change for each indicator, is provided in our Technical Report.

The assessment of performance is made objectively and impartially by a panel of senior analysts. Decisions on performance are made independently of Ministers. This assessment relates to the Northern Ireland-level data only. More information on criteria for change is available on request.

Future development

We will engage with stakeholders and users to gather feedback on this dashboard and the indicator tables on the NISRA Data Portal.

Indicators will be reviewed regularly to ensure they remain relevant and appropriate. There will be ongoing development and iteration of these indicators to identify and address any potential gaps, and to improve or replace existing measures as necessary. We are already looking at how we report on pre-school readiness, court processing times, quality of jobs, labour productivity, and external sales.

We are keen to hear from users of the dashboard and you can contact us at pfganalytics@executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk or complete our short user survey if you have any feedback.