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The Future of Regional Development and Public Investment in Wales, United Kingdom

image of The Future of Regional Development and Public Investment in Wales, United Kingdom

The Welsh Government has set an ambitious and innovative path for regional development and public investment – one focused on generating growth and increasing productivity, while also reducing territorial disparities and ensuring the well-being of citizens, now and in the future. Yet, it faces significant challenges, accentuated by limited fiscal decentralisation and changes to public investment financing post-Brexit. This OECD Multi-level Governance Studies report provides the Welsh Government and Welsh local authorities with analysis and recommendations on how to achieve regional development and public investment aims. The report offers insight into how the Welsh Government and Welsh local authorities can increase their fiscal and public investment capacity, and strengthen their governance practices. It stresses that the Welsh Government’s ability to coordinate regional development policy and associated public investment is a determining factor in meeting growth and well-being objectives. This report also proposes a variety of mechanisms to strengthen policy and service delivery at the local level. A case study featuring the challenges and benefits of establishing economic regions in Mid and South West Wales sheds a practical light on the various aspects explored throughout the report.

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Providing context: The importance of governance in Welsh public investment

This introduction features the framework of analysis used in this OECD report. It discusses the importance of effective multi-level governance for regional development and public investment, defines the investment cycle and presents a list of capacities necessary for productive public investment, based on the OECDRecommendation on Effective Public Investment across Levels of Government. Wales receives the highest amount of European Union (EU) Structural and Investment Funds, per capita, in the United Kingdom (UK), underscoring the need to ensure public investment is optimised in a post-Brexit era, and also post-COVID-19. The complexity of the Welsh multi-level governance system supporting regional development and public investment is described, as is the on-going devolution process, and the high-level governance issues that could limit the Welsh Government’s ability to effectively realise its growth and well-being objectives.

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