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Welsh Government's (WG) Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 (Welsh Government 2015) is a unique legislation which demonstrates its commitment to sustainable development. It is the only global legislation that enshrines the UNs Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within it. It emphasises WGs commitment to a 'Health in All Policies' approach to policymaking by emphasising the sustainable development principle is integrated to address seven Wellbeing Goals. Two of these goals are focussed on health and (in)equality which ties them distinctly to the practice of Health Impact Assessment (HIA). The World Health Organisation recommends the use of HIA to achieve the SDGs but not how to practically do this. This paper describes a HIA undertaken on a proposed major electricity cable connection development in Wales. It discusses how this HIA was the catalyst for considered thinking about the HIA process and how it can be used to consider and implement the Well-being Goals in practice, and initiates further thinking about how this can be extended to implement and address the SDGs at a local, regional and national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of health impact assessments (HIAs) has rapidly increased over the last two decades and has been undertaken to evaluate the health implications of many new projects across the globe. In July 2017, Wales became the first country to legislate for broad approach HIAs, i.e. it considers not only environmental health effects but the social determinants of health, well-being and inequalities. Although the introduction of statutory HIA will ensure the use of HIAs, experts have expressed concerns that legislative measures could lead to poor-quality HIAs and associated reports. This paper outlines the development process and analytical reflections of a quality assurance (QA) review framework for HIAs. The framework has been developed over a 2-year period which allowed the collective intellectual capital behind it to evolve in response to practice-based learning. A standardised form of QA for all types and levels of HIA will provide greater clarity regarding the required criteria for conducting and completing an HIA and ensuring this takes place in a robust, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral manner. Therefore, this QA review framework should fit into existing HIA practice and complement other tools such as best practice guidance to sustain the global reputation of HIA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]