Policy input

Although WIRC researchers aspire to the highest academic standards and engage in academic debates of international standing we are also concerned that our research and expertise should have practical relevance. To this end we engage with policy-makers and opinion-formers in Wales and the UK as a whole.

Social enterprise has become an area of intense policy interest and is seen by many in the UK government as a solution to regeneration in deprived areas. The government has set up a Social Enterprise Unit within the DTI. We are concerned that issues of ownership and control are not lost in this rush to link neighbourhood regeneration with community renewal and work to maintain the profile of cooperatives within this policy area.

Closer to home the Welsh Assembly is also prioritizing support for social enterprise and has set up a Social Economy Team within the Social Inclusion Unit.

In 2004 the Assembly launched a consultation on its Social Enterprise Action plan. The relevant documents can be found here. WIRC was involved in the consultation and produced a paper which strengthened the commitment to ownership and control. It is available to read/download here.

WIRC’s major contribution to the policy discussion surrounding the social economy is its emphasis on the importance of ownership and control. We have developed the concept of capital anchoring, to explore possibilities for resisting the power of the global economy to suck value out of local economies. We also suggest the need for associative entrepreneurship in areas with a strong radical tradition where the individualist entrepreneurial model is not appropriate.

As part of our commitment to influence policy we are represented on the board of the Journal of Cooperative Studies and have worked closely with a number of organizations:

• Cooperative Party
• Wales Cooperative Centre
• Promo, formerly the Wales Cooperative Development Association