Blog Post Community Wellbeing ‘Levelling Up’: a critical conversation for Wales What does ‘levelling up’ mean in practice for Wales? While debate around the definition continues, the long awaited White Paper has now been published. However, questions remain around how results will be achieved. At the IWA Economy Summit in November Vaughan Gething MS, the Welsh Minister for Economy, commented that levelling up might be framed […] Read more Topics: Economy Local government March 1, 2022
Report Community Wellbeing Challenges and Priorities for Health and Social Care in Wales The challenges facing health and social care in Wales are complex and multifaceted. Systemic and workforce issues affect the smooth delivery of the health and care service, and specific health challenges faced by the Welsh population place increasing pressure on the system. The Wales Centre for Public Policy, in partnership with Kaleidoscope Health and Care, […] Read more Topics: Health inequalities Local government January 11, 2022
Report Community Wellbeing Stakeholders’ ideas for tackling loneliness in Wales through the pandemic and beyond In July 2021, the Wales Centre for Public Policy worked in partnership with Kaleidoscope Health and Care to run a multifaceted engagement programme involving stakeholders working to tackle loneliness and enhance wellbeing in Wales and beyond. The programme included a two-day digital event (14th and 15th July) and a stakeholder survey. Participants reflected on their […] Read more Topics: Local government Loneliness October 13, 2021
Report Community Wellbeing Well-being briefings for Public Services Boards Public Services Boards (PSBs) are required by the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to produce well-being assessments every five years, in line with local authority elections. These assessments should capture the state of well-being in local authority areas, in terms of economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being; and lead to objectives to improve […] Read more Topics: Local government September 30, 2021
Blog Post Community Wellbeing Volunteering and wellbeing in the pandemic: Learning from practice We’ve heard a lot about the valuable role of volunteering in supporting communities through the pandemic. But when we looked at the evidence base on how volunteering has supported wellbeing during the crisis, we found it mostly focuses on volunteers’ wellbeing, with much less on those being helped or on community wellbeing. And yet we […] Read more Topics: Community collaboration Local government August 18, 2021
Report Community Wellbeing Research and Impact Collaboration and policy implementation at the local level in Wales The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union will have a considerable impact on the agricultural industry in Wales. Agricultural policy is a devolved matter, for which the Welsh Government is allocated an annual budget by the UK Government; prior to Brexit, this funding was delivered through the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy. In 2021-2022, Wales’ […] Read more Topics: Community collaboration Local government Research and Impact: PhD Interns June 30, 2021
Project Reform of Electoral Law and Practice Elections were devolved to Wales through the Government of Wales Act 2017. Since then, Welsh Ministers have embarked on a programme of electoral reform most noted by the extension of the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds and qualifying foreign citizens for Senedd and local government elections. The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act also provided […] Read more Topics: Local government June 21, 2021
Report Community Wellbeing Improving evidence use in local government Fostering links between academia and local government has long been a concern for those interested in promoting evidence-informed practice. While the barriers and enablers of evidence use are well known (Langer et al. 2016) and there is a growing body of literature on local government practitioners and academics as research partners, less is known about […] Read more Topics: Local government June 17, 2021
Project Community Wellbeing Well-being briefings for Public Services Boards Public Services Boards (PSBs) are required by the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to produce well-being assessments every five years, in line with local authority elections. These assessments should capture the state of well-being in local authority areas, in terms of economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being; and lead to objectives to improve […] Read more Topics: Local government Loneliness June 14, 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
