What's next? Key issues for the Seventh Senedd
‘What’s next? Key issues for the Seventh Senedd’ is a collection of articles analysing some of the key issues Members of the Senedd are likely to address over the next four years. It's an excellent starting point for anyone interested in getting to grips with the challenging social, economic, environmental and public policy issues facing Wales.
Contents
Health and care
A sustainable future for NHS Wales: moving beyond a hospital by default model
As pressures intensify across the health system, how can Wales shift the balance of care toward prevention and community‑based support?
Can NHS Wales go digital?
Digital tools are already reshaping how patients interact with NHS Wales, but what will it take to turn this early progress into system-wide transformation?
Decades of stalled reform, rising costs and demand, and an overstretched workforce have created instability that will only intensify without significant action to deliver a more sustainable care system.
The economy
Economic renewal: tackling long-standing and upcoming challenges
The Welsh economy faces long-standing structural challenges such as productivity, income and skills gaps, along with regional inequalities. Against an uncertain global backdrop, how might the new Welsh Government look to address these?
From cradle to grave: breaking the cycle of inequality and poverty
For some people, inequality means starting school already behind their peers, facing insecure work and lower pay in adulthood or struggling with poor health in later life. These inequalities are often compounded by simply belonging to a protected characteristic. How do policy makers ensure people’s futures are not determined by structural inequalities and poverty?
Children and education
Up for school? Attendance, behaviour and well-being
Schools have moved beyond the immediate COVID-19 recovery phase, but more pupils are missing school and more often than pre-pandemic. Pupil behaviour is increasingly seen as a barrier to the already significant challenge of improving educational outcomes and is exacerbating existing concerns about learners’ well-being.
Balancing the books: Higher Education finance
For the past decade there has been a political race to pledge more hours of free childcare to more families and to younger children. What are the intended outcomes of free childcare, have these have been realised, and what are the barriers that can make these promises difficult to deliver?
Free childcare: why, who for and how?
For some people, inequality means starting school already behind their peers, facing insecure work and lower pay in adulthood or struggling with poor health in later life. These inequalities are often compounded by simply belonging to a protected characteristic. How do policy makers ensure people’s futures are not determined by structural inequalities and poverty?
Public finances
The evolution of Wales’ fiscal landscape
The Seventh Senedd will see the devolution of new taxes to Wales, and a push for new income tax powers to give the Welsh Government greater control over how funding is raised for the Welsh Budget. Could the devolution of the Crown Estate and its revenues also add to the funding pot in the Seventh Senedd?
Wales’ Budget and public finances: past changes and future challenges
The Sixth Senedd saw the end of pandemic funding, cost-of-living pressures, and shifting UK Government fiscal policy. As a new Senedd term begins, questions around how funding has changed, where spending is heading, and how future pressures will shape decisions are becoming increasingly urgent.
A system under strain: the sustainability of local government
The pressure facing local government risks becoming the norm, with budgets squeezed for over a decade. Despite recent uplifts in core funding, as well as increases to council tax, local government finances are struggling to keep up with rising service demand, inflationary pressures and workforce challenges.
Environment
What’s next for nature and climate action?
The Seventh Senedd marks a pivotal moment for both nature and climate action, with domestic and global targets fast approaching. How will the new Welsh Government tackle key environmental challenges?
At a watershed: designing a Welsh water sector for the future
Water is a finite resource, a public health necessity, and a commodity. Yet current regulation is falling short, leading to rising pollution and higher bills. Policymakers now have a rare opportunity to reshape how Wales manages one of its most essential resources.
What is the countryside for?
Priorities for rural land use are likely to be a policy battleground. Farming, conservation, forestry, public access and energy generation are just some of the issues policymakers will need to address in the Seventh Senedd.
Living in Wales
Is culture in crisis?
A decade of cuts have led bodies including the Arts Council for Wales, the Musicians Union and the Future Generations Commissioner to say that culture in Wales is in “crisis”. How did this happen?
A route to a million Welsh speakers: the role of the classroom
The previous Welsh Government’s flagship Welsh language policy, ‘Cymraeg 2050: a million Welsh speakers’, shifted the approach to Welsh language planning and policy in Wales, setting a target and a pathway to turn a century of Welsh language decline on its head. The education system will be pivotal if this ambition is to be realised.
Communities
Can Wales finally join the dots on public transport?
With key reforms being implemented in both Wales and Westminster, making buses, trains and local transport plans work together will be a defining challenge for delivery of a modern, reliable Welsh transport system.
Homelessness and the housing crisis: new solutions to long-standing challenges?
Will new legislation and an ambitious social housebuilding programme end homelessness?
Immigration in Wales: the numbers and the narrative
Immigration is a topic that attracts significant public attention, often accompanied by polarised views about whether numbers are ‘too high’ and whether migration has a good or bad effect on Welsh society. Much of the public discussion draws on UK-wide figures that do not tell the full story about population change in Wales.
Constitution
What next for devolution?
The Seventh Senedd begins amid unresolved questions about Wales’ constitutional future. But what kind of future do people in Wales want, and how could governments work better together to improve outcomes?
Devolution and international affairs
Responsibility for international affairs is not as clear cut as is often portrayed and is shared between the UK and Welsh governments.
