Blog Post Community Wellbeing Why go back to the office? The Coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly catalysed one of the most rapid transformations in many people’s working lives for decades. UK data suggests that while 5% of workers worked from home prior to March 2020, this increased to approximately 43% at the beginning of the first lockdown in 2020. The same study suggests that around half […] Read more Topics: Employment Lived experience work and skills August 4, 2021
Blog Post Community Wellbeing What I’d tell the Beatles about loneliness To be honest, I’m not really a big Beatles fan. But oddly, when it comes to singing songs in the shower, “Eleanor Rigby” with “all the lonely people”, is high up on my top 10 list. I’ve no idea why; perhaps it’s because I can remember all the words. The song is the same age […] Read more Topics: Loneliness July 13, 2021
Blog Post Environment and Net Zero The future of Wales’ farming policy The Welsh Government is currently developing agricultural policy proposals which aim to support farmers in adopting sustainable farming practices. Their intentions for primary legislation can be found in the Agriculture (Wales) White Paper, for which consultations closed in March 2021. Their intention is for the Bill to ‘be informed by the best available evidence’ from […] Read more Topics: Economy Net Zero June 30, 2021
Blog Post Research and Impact Five years on from the Brexit referendum Five years ago today the UK voted to leave the European Union (EU), a process which culminated in the beginning of a new trade relationship with the EU from January 1st of this year. WCPP and our predecessor organisation PPIW have been engaged with understanding the implications of Brexit for Wales throughout this period. We […] Read more Topics: Economy Research and Impact: Impact June 23, 2021
Blog Post Tackling Inequalities Implementing the Socio-economic Duty: learning from experience On 31st March 2021, the Welsh Government commenced section 1 of the Equality Act 2010, known as the socio-economic duty. It requires that public bodies, when making strategic decisions, have “due regard to the need to reduce the inequalities of outcome resulting from socio-economic disadvantage”. This signals the most recent attempt from the Welsh Government […] Read more Topics: Poverty and social exclusion June 9, 2021
Blog Post Community Wellbeing Volunteering lessons from the pandemic Amanda Carr, Director of Swansea Council for Voluntary Service (SCVS), reflects on how new research into volunteering and wellbeing during the pandemic matches up with her own experiences. I wanted to start by taking the opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy Volunteers’ Week and to say a huge thank you to all those volunteers […] Read more Topics: Community collaboration Local government June 7, 2021
Blog Post Tackling Inequalities Creating an anti-racist Wales The Coronavirus pandemic has increased the urgency of actions to eliminate racial disparities in Wales. Analysis shows that the risk of deaths involving COVID-19 among Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups is significantly higher than that of those of White ethnicity in Wales. Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic employees are also more likely to work […] Read more Topics: Diversity and inclusion May 25, 2021
Blog Post Tackling Inequalities Zoomshock: Is remote working the future of the Welsh economy? The Welsh Government has recently announced a ‘long-term ambition to see around 30% of Welsh workers working from home or near from home, including after the threat of Covid-19 lessens’. The shift to remote working during the Coronavirus pandemic has led to what some experts are describing as a ‘Zoomshock’, whereby economic activity moves from […] Read more Topics: Economy Employment work and skills May 14, 2021
Blog Post Research and Impact PhD Internships – Learning by doing In January 2021, the Wales Centre for Public Policy welcomed two doctoral students on three-month ESRC funded internships. Aimee Morse from the University of Gloucestershire studied a local evidence ecosystem - a case-study of a farmer group in North Wales, and Findlay Smith from Aberystwyth University worked with us to study the Welsh Government’s use […] Read more Research and Impact: PhD Interns April 29, 2021
Blog Post Research and Impact It ain’t what you (can) do it’s the way that you do it How can devolved governments deliver distinctive policies? Just because a government has the power to do something, it doesn’t always mean that it can actually do it. So what makes the difference? We explored this question in a recently published article which we wrote with Steve Martin. The question matters because making policy and law […] Read more Research and Impact: Impact Methods April 14, 2021
