Two research outputs from the Public Policy Institute for Wales (PPIW) highlight important themes for the study and understanding of policy making and implementation in Wales and beyond.
How Can Subnational Governments Deliver Their Policy Objectives in the Age of Austerity? Reshaping Homelessness Policy in Wales, published in The Political Quarterly and available online as an Early View article, builds on a paper we presented at conferences in Paris and Cardiff in December 2016. Drawing extensively on interviews with key policy actors, it explores how the Welsh Government extended the statutory homelessness framework at a time of financial constraint. The Development and Implementation of Part 2 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014: Lessons for Policy and Practice in Wales is the report of a ground-breaking policy reunion which we convened on the same subject.
Both publications emphasise the value of less formal policy tools to a government whose financial and legislative resources are limited. They explore the importance of networks and relationships in the policy process, the relationship between evidence and policy change, the interdependence of ‘hard’ policy levers like legislation and ‘soft’ levers like networking, and the way that Ministers’ own perspectives and actions could shape policy change.