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Regional Governance and Public Investment in Wales, United Kingdom

Moving Forward Together

image of Regional Governance and Public Investment in Wales, United Kingdom

The Welsh Government is refining its approach to regional development, adopting a regional lens directed to four regions to better allocate resources and address local needs. This OECD Multi-level Governance Study – a follow up to the 2020 OECD report The Future of Regional Development and Public Investment in Wales, United Kingdom – summarises the progress Wales has made to advance this regional lens, and identifies key areas of attention going forward. It synthesises the results of a vision-setting exercise, capacity-building workshops with the national government and regional bodies, and a multi-stakeholder workshop on collaborative working among Welsh regional development actors. This report identifies enablers for the effective use of a regional lens in Wales, including robust regional data, long-term and future-oriented objectives, effective co-ordination across Welsh Government policy areas related to regional development, capacitated regional structures, and trust and collaborative working among levels of government. The report's insights on establishing strategic direction and fostering collaboration among national, regional, and local levels could be valuable for countries exploring ways to optimise regional development policy, including in the face of resource constraints.

Anglais

Foreword

Wales, a devolved nation of the United Kingdom (UK), has placed great emphasis on delivering inclusive growth to enhance the well-being of its citizens across all four of its regions. However, it faces a number of challenges in doing so. A key challenge is boosting productivity growth, which is below the UK average, with wide and persistent disparities across its regions. Compounding this are major governance and funding changes that continue to unfold. The end of the UK's Shared Prosperity Fund in March 2025 – designed to replace European Union funding post-Brexit – coupled with relatively high inflation, create uncertainties around future public investment for regional and local development. The addition of the Corporate Joint Committees (CJCs) to the regional governance landscape creates further uncertainty as stakeholders adapt to the changes these structures bring.

Anglais

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