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The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the body which decides which drugs the NHS should prescribe, took over new responsibilities for maintaining public health earlier this year. In September it issued guidelines to schools advising them to measure pupil happiness.

Businesses are taking happiness seriously according to academics. The latest modules on several management schools agendas - described variously by different academic institutions as ‘meaning’, ‘human flourishing’ and ‘subjective wellbeing’ - are all about happiness.