A belated Happy New Year to our partners, collaborators and all who follow our work.
Like many of you, I have spent time recently reflecting on what may lie ahead in 2026.
While the upcoming Senedd election looms large, of course, it sits in a broader context of change and uncertainty.
The UK continues to face a weighty set of domestic challenges – a weak economy, a tight fiscal environment, and numerous signs of public services and infrastructure in need of improvement. All of which have a very real impact on people’s quality of life and wellbeing, especially for the more disadvantaged and marginalised in our society.
Governments across the UK need to grapple with these challenges while also seeking to address the wider trends that we’re seeing – changing demographics; technological innovations; the need to adapt to a changing climate while continuing efforts to decarbonise; and the shrinking space for constructive public debate about how we navigate all of this.
If it sounds like I had a gloomy time over the festive season, let me reassure you – I also see many causes for hope.
One of the principal ones being the number of individuals and organisations that are passionate about trying to overcome these challenges. I am lucky in that I spend my working day interacting with such people. Of course, I am thinking of my WCPP colleagues, but also of our many different collaborating partners from academia, the private, public and third sectors, as well as those with direct experience of the issues we’re working on.
At the Centre, our contribution is to support the use of the best available evidence and insight. Over the last decade, we have worked with decision makers across Wales to identify the issues we can support them with, and to bring together the research and expertise they need to make evidence-informed decisions.
As Wales seeks to address the challenges faced, and to navigate the change and uncertainty that lies ahead, the Centre remains convinced of the value of evidence to decision-making; and of the value of working in collaboration with others to support evidence-informed decision-making.
In the short-term, we’re delighted to be collaborating with the IWA in delivering a pre-election webinar series - Ways forward: evidence and insights for the next Welsh Government. Four, thought-provoking webinars each focus on a policy challenge within one of our priority areas – Tackling Inequalities, Environment and Net Zero and Community Wellbeing – along with the future of local government – with input from expert guest speakers, and opportunities for audience engagement.
In the longer-term, we will have a new and expanded Senedd, and we are gearing up to work with incoming Senedd Members and the new Government to enable them to draw on timely, relevant and accessible evidence.
In the meantime, our work with partners in local government, and the wider public sector continues.
In all of this, we are keen to ensure that we continue to learn and to evolve our practice; and, as part of this, we’d really value your feedback on how we’re doing. Please click here to complete our short survey.