Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend a media briefing by the Office of National Statistics explaining all about their recent National Debate on Well Being and their current research into their National Well Being Report, which is due to be released in July 2012.

The whole morning was fascinating (also made better as I was supping orange juice out of a champagne glass) and has revealed some interesting points about the nations well being and happiness as a whole. The national debate between 34,000 people seems to be laying the ground work for a bigger report of 200,000 which will be indicative, interesting and revealing about how happy we are as a nation.

So what gives us a sense of well being? According to the debate, the main concerns were health, relationships, work, environment and education and training.

On the surface, all of these seem pretty obvious, but scratch a little bit deeper and you reveal a wealth of discussion points. 'Relationships' include a sense of local community and a sense of belonging where you live. 'Environment' encompasses the access you have to green spaces as well as the view out of your window and 'Work' not only includes those who have a job, but those who are unemployed and exactly how they feel about this as well as the work/life balance.

So, critics will ask if we really need such an indicative report on, simply put, what makes us happy? Well, yes, actually. This report will throw up questions that we haven’t considered, new debate issues, reveal the sense of community as well as, I'm hoping, spark some interesting radio discussion.