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Bulletin: August 2004 Focus On Devolution

• Introduction
• Editorial
• New Models of Development Funding in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
• Competition and Reform: Devolved Government and Public Pay-Setting
• Devolution and European Policy Making in the UK
• Public Opinion and Devolution

Introduction

In total, around 300 GSR members (27%) work in the Devolved Administrations but this shouldn't mean that they are the only ones who should be interested in this topic. In fact, the issues raised by Charlie Jeffrey in his editorial should encourage those of you who do not work in the Devolved Administrations to make every effort to take devolution into account when planning your forward research and evaluation programmes and when commissioning projects.

As a personal (and professional!) plea, I'd like to ask all GSR members to put devolution on their own personal check-list when they are thinking about their research and evaluation plans. This is not just because you may be doing something from which we can learn and on which we might like to work with you but, of course, vice versa! Although divergence in policymaking may mean that Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland increasingly have different priorities for research and evaluation, there are still many areas where we could profitably work together. And that's as much a plea to researchers in Devolved Administrations as it is to those of you who work in Whitehall Departments because the Celtic Fringe GSR doesn't work together as closely as it might, either.

Devolution presents a fantastic opportunity for comparative work - a 'policy crucible' - and I hope the articles presented here, all written by researchers commissioned through the ESRC Devolution and Constitutional Change Programme, will inspire you to see the value of GSR working together across the UK to build up the evidence base on 'what works'.

If this introduction has spurred you on to contact your opposite number in another department, please use the GSR Directory to search them out. If you have any trouble finding a contact in the Devolved Administrations, the place to begin for each is provided below:

Northern Ireland: tbc
Scotland: nick.bland@scotland.gsi.gov.uk (Tel: 0131 244 6530)
Wales: sarah.lowe@wales.gsi.gov.uk (Tel: 029 2080 1244)

Devolution Issue Editor - Sarah Lowe
Head of REACT, the Welsh Assembly Government Research and Evaluation Advice and Co-ordination Team