Professor Steve Martin - Health and Care Research Wales conference 2020

Working with policy makers to get research and evidence used Steve Martin Health and Care Research Wales Conference – 7 October 2020

Wales Centre for Public Policy • What we do • Why we do • What we’ve learned so far

Our mission To support public services and Welsh Government Ministers to access, understand and apply evidence that can improve policy making and service delivery

1. Identify and interpret evidence needs working with

Ministers, officials and public service leaders; through formal and informal networks; and monitoring policy developments

2. Convene evidence and expertise by designing a

demand-led programme of research and evidence synthesis and facilitating interaction between policymakers and experts

3. Communicate evidence through a variety of accessible outputs

4. Build capacity to use evidence by training researchers and demonstrating the value of evidence to policy makers

5. Advance understanding of evidence and policy by conducting research on our effectiveness

Funding Core funders • Economic and Social Research Council • Welsh Government • Cardiff University Additional project funding • ESRC (x 4) • NHS Confederation • National Institute for Health Research • Welsh Local Government Association • Wales TUC

Our approach • • • • • •

Demand-led Non-partisan Rapid turnaround Existing research evidence Blended team Outside expertise

Two communities government policy makers are action-oriented, practical persons concerned with obvious and immediate issues ‌.. social scientists are intellectuals who are concerned with pure science and esoteric issues (Caplan 1979)

Evidence intermediaries

there is in fact rich potential for improved use of academic research in policy making ‌.. through the work of specialized bridgers ‌‌ [who] understand the needs of policy makers and can translate the outputs of academia into forms that are recognizable as being useful to policy decision makers (Newman et al. 2015)

Some recent work Coronavirus pandemic • Expert Group • Our Future Wales Economy and Work • Trade negotiations • Post-Brexit migration policies • Management of marine resources Health and social care • Better services for looked after children • Brexit and the NHS workforce • Evidence use by social workers • Alternative models of domiciliary care

Social Justice • Reducing loneliness and social isolation • Male suicide • Impact of Brexit on household incomes • Diversity in public appointments Sustainability • Just transition to a low carbon economy • Driver adherence to 20 mph limits Effective policy making • Using implementation theory to improve delivery • Evaluating impact

Our project process • Initiation - The issue, evidence need, can we help?

• Scoping - Existing evidence, evidence gaps, experts, what can it change?

• Commissioning – The ask, timescale, methods, risks, lead client

• Research – Depends on the evidence need • Submission/publication/wider dissemination Publications protocol, open access, six week, bi-lingual, dialogue, social media

Typical outputs • • • • • • • • •

Evidence reviews Expert workshops/roundtables Policy briefings Submissions to Ministers Commentaries and think pieces Conferences Policy analysis Organisational analysis Forecasting and modelling

The three Rs • Relevance – demand-led evidence • Rigour – political but not partisan • Relationships – trust and credibility in both communities

Our experience shows • Evidence intermediary role is necessary, possible but difficult • Policy makers do need support to identify evidence needs and access independent expertise • Evidence producers value support to understand the relevance of their research and how to convey it • Independent evidence has to be situated in a compelling and politically savvy narrative • Evidence is just one of many influences on policy - it may not be definitive or decisive

www.wcpp.org.uk Cardiff University, 10/12 Museum Place. Cardiff, CF103BG Prifysgol Caerdydd, 10/12 Plas yr Amgueddfa, Caerdydd, CF103BG