BEVAN FOUNDATION – WRITTEN EVIDENCE (PSR0100)

Introduction

The Bevan Foundation is an independent, charitable thinktank that develops solutions to poverty and inequality in Wales. We are grateful for the opportunity to submit evidence to the committee’s inquiry.
The committee’s inquiry is very wide ranging, so in our response we focus on the specific issues of relationships between the Welsh Government and other bodies. We should add that our evidence is based on our general observations but others, e.g. the Welsh Local Government Association or Wales Council for Voluntary Action, are better placed to respond on the specific issues facing the organisations they represent.

Overview of the experience in Wales

The Welsh Government’s approach to lockdown restrictions have increasingly diverged from those in England, with differences in the nature of restrictions (e.g. the limit on travel to five miles from home and the introduction of a 2-metre distancing requirement within workplaces) as well as in the timing of changes.
Several surveys show high levels of public support for the current restrictions: an Office for National Statistics survey found that 82% of people in Wales strongly support or tend to support current guidance on social distancing compared with 73% in England.[1] The latest Public Health Wales survey similarly finds that 78% of respondents think that current restrictions are ‘about right’.[2] On a slightly different question, IPSOS Mori [3] and Public Health Wales [4] surveys also found that there are high levels of agreement that the Welsh Government is ‘doing a good job’ (76% and 79% respectively support its actions).

Co-operation between the Welsh Government and local government

The Welsh Government and local authorities have long-standing arrangements for co-operation in place through a number of formal structures as well as informal arrangements. We cannot comment on how well these have operated during the coronavirus outbreak, however we would like to draw the Committee’s attention to one example, on free school meals.[5]

As schools closed, local authorities hastily made arrangements to provide children eligible for free school meals with an alternative. Most involved either daily or weekly provision of lunches, which were either for collection or home delivery. We understand anecdotally that take up was low, not least because of families’ concerns about collecting food and the risk of stigma. While the Welsh Government considered the option of food vouchers, a growing number of local authorities opted for cash payments to families in lieu of meals. We understand that 17 out of 22 authorities now make cash payments. The Welsh Government subsequently announced that the local authorities would continue to receive funding towards the cost of free school meals during the school summer holidays.
Welsh Government and local authorities have also co-operated on a wide range of other issues including the reopening of waste recycling centres, reopening of schools and arrangements for social care. The result has been a consistent approach across Wales, reducing the risk of confusion and helping to maintain public health.
The Welsh Government’s supplementary 2020/21 budget allocated an additional £2.4bn to a range of public services. It included an extra £188.5m to a local authority hardship fund, which included additional funding for adult social care, free school meals, temporary support for homeless people and compensation for loss of revenue.

Co-operation between the Welsh Government and the voluntary sector

As with local government there are a range of formal mechanisms for managing relationships as well as information relationships. We would stress that a larger than average proportion of voluntary organisations in Wales are small, local groups and many of these have no direct relationship with Welsh Government.
The Welsh Government has supported the voluntary sector through the crisis by providing additional support to carry out voluntary activities. Specific help has included the Third Sector Resilience Fund and the Voluntary Services Emergency Fund as well as enabling eligible charities to apply to business-related funds such as the Economic Resilience Fund and the non-domestic rates grant scheme.
Both WCVA [6] and the Bevan Foundation’s own research in one community [7] have found that many voluntary organisations providing essential services rapidly responded to increased needs in their areas. They adapted their staffing, service provision and procedures in order to provide vital support including delivering food, providing activity packs and supporting vulnerable people.
In doing so many increased collaboration with other voluntary groups as well as with local authorities and other bodies. They are reporting changing relationships with public bodies as commissioners of services as well as with other funders as a result.
It remains to be seen how sustainable these changes are. Voluntary organisations that remained open as well as those that could not operate in lockdown e.g. sports clubs, arts venues face very uncertain futures. Many are facing an acute drop in income with redundancies, merger or even closure anticipated in the near future. Some cannot continue to meet continued high level of demand for their services. Most will need to review the adjustments they made at the beginning of lockdown, accommodate increased costs from operating in a safe way in future, and develop new financial models.

Conclusion

The coronavirus outbreak has probably been the greatest test of devolution in Wales to date. While strains in the relationship between the Welsh and UK Governments have been evident, tensions between the Welsh Government, local authorities and the voluntary sector have yet to emerge (which is not to say they are not present). The test of within-Wales relationships may well come as organisations step back from emergency mode and new working arrangements between sectors need to be formed.

15 July 2020