We thought it would be a nice thing to share a summary of our activities over the past 12 months.

Highlights

• Our collaboration with our friends in Nova Scotia, Canada continued. We held a Transatlantic Conversation session with Professor Dave Snowden as our guest speaker.
  
  If you’re interested in talking to people from the other side of the Atlantic and learning something interesting at the same time, we're working on our next event and will share details soon.
   
• In January, we held an online event Making Equality impact assessments more than a tick box exercise. Following the publication of a report of the same name, we even had a presentation from Dr Alison Parken of Cardiff University. The presentation was titled ‘The place of Equality Impact Assessments in advancing equality’ and covered two very important topics.
  
  The first was what is the intention behind equality impact assessments (EIAs) and the way they are developed. The second was how to establish EIAs in policy development through a Mainstreaming Equality Model, using a case study ‘An Equal and Just Transition to Net Zero’.
   
• In March, we started a new series of small scale online events, called Sgwrs a Paned (Cuppa and a chat). They're held at lunchtime, and last as long as the conversation.
  
  The first session was held with Scott Tandy of Newydd Housing Association. Scott spoke about the development of the Get Fit Wales app and how that has strengthened relationships and enabled close collaboration.
  
  After Scott, Gemma Lelliott of Community Transport Association Wales spoke about community transport and its value to communities by meeting unmet needs and providing reliable transport for the broadest range of needs.
  
  Robyn Lovelock of the North Wales Economic Ambition Board followed Gemma in describing the methodology that she has developed to take into account biodiversity and environmental impact when commissioning buildings and infrastructure and work towards net zero and biodiversity gain.
  
  At the end of the year, Jill Davies of Circular Economy Innovation Communities (CEIC) spoke of CEIC’s work in bringing together communities of practice to tackle real word issues using sustainable and circular economy principles.
   
• In May, we held an in-person event A Wales of Vibrant Culture and Thriving Welsh Language. Ian Gwyn Hughes discussed the Football Association of Wales’ work in bringing Welshness and the Welsh Language into the core of their identity.
  
  Derek Walker, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales and Efa Gruffydd, the Welsh Language Commissioner along with Sian Davies, Chief Executive of Yr Urdd (in Cardiff) and Sian Morris Jones, Youth and Community Director of Yr Urdd (in Llandudno) held a panel discussion chaired by Einir Siôn, Welsh Language enabler for the Arts Council of Wales. The panel shared their thoughts on how Wales could achieve the wellbeing goal, tackling some big questions.
  
  Also at the event we had thought provoking workshops by Dragons Rugby discussing building community through sport, and Amgueddfa Cymru exploring their project that looks at decolonising their collections and how we relate to our histories.
   
• In June, we held the online event Together we can – creating the conditions to empower our communities to thrive. The event included our Audit Wales colleagues Philippa Dixon and Euros Lake talking through our recent report ‘A missed opportunity – Social Enterprises’.
  
  We also had Susan Owen Jones from Isle of Anglesey County Council talking about Place Shaping. Another example from Scotland with Derek Rankine from the Scotland Regeneration Forum. Also presenting was Andrea Wayman, Chief Executive of ELITE group enterprises talking through her experiences as a practitioner in the sector.
  
  Finally we had Dr Sarah Evans of Cwmpas with a brilliant talk titled ‘A Missed Opportunity; So, What next?’.
   
• In September, we held another in person event; Strategy to Action: How Digital makes a difference to everyday lives. The event was aimed at those who need to be able to work digitally, but are not sure where to begin in a confusing field where everything seems to be equally important.
  
  We offered some practical guidance and information to help them on their way, provided by Cwmpas, Digital Communities Wales, ProMo Cymru and the Centre For Digital Public Services. Tying the digital world together and setting the scene was a fascinating contribution by Professor Tom Crick of Swansea University.
   
• In October, we held an event in partnership with North Wales Public Service Lab and Wrexham University. Working in partnership to improve wellbeing was held in north Wales and was an in-person all day event.
  
  We had over 20 different speakers presenting on the day, many of the presentations can be found on our resource page, as can some clips from speakers and delegates talking about what they had learnt from the conference, or what their talk was about and what they had found out.
  
  We had speakers from a variety of organisations from Natural Resources Wales, Welsh Government, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Arts Council Wales, Warm Wales and many more.
   
• Our last event of the year was an online event on Integrity in the Public Sector. With contributions by Khalid Hamid, International Director for CIPFA, Laura Hough, Director of Trust and Ethics for ICAEW, Sarah McGray, Principal Policy Advisor from the Office of the Auditor General New Zealand and Anne-Marie Harkin, Executive Director of Audit Services, Audit Wales.
  
  Chaired by our own Beth Smith, the panel discussed integrity in public services, covering how important acting with integrity is and how that integrity is a cultural element in an organisation. They also discussed how acting with integrity builds trust, and how important and fragile that trust is. It was a lively discussion, and we’re really thankful to Sarah for being on the call as it was passing midnight in New Zealand!

You can access recordings and slides from the events on our Good Practice Resources page.

Our blogs and podcasts

• A Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language
• Changes, Transitions, Endings
• On the road – Future Generations in Gresford and Aberystwyth
• Community Resilience and Poverty [opens in new window]

What’s coming up

We’re currently planning our programme of work for 2024/25.

We’d love to hear your ideas and suggestions on potential topics we can focus on. Please email good.practice@audit.wales and we’ll arrange a chat with you.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!