CLES – Wales must turn its co-operative care promise into practice At the Senedd Co-op Cross Party Group meeting this week, Dr Sarah Evans’s presentation of CLES research exposed a troubling gap between Wales’s social care ambitions and how public money is spent. For the co-operative sector, the challenge is to turn commitments to voice, prevention and community wellbeing into ownership, investment and commissioning decisions that deliver them.
CLES has provided a compelling reason to act. Wales must make its co-operative commitments visible in contracts, budgets and people’s everyday lives. Success means careshaped by people, with resources strengthening the communities that sustain them.
About David Smith
A lifelong co-operative and community activist, including the Co-op Group Main Board. Public service includes Government Food Adviser; UK Healthcare Regulator.
David founded the first Community Law Centre in Wales and directed the first EC funded Wales Anti-Poverty Programme: pioneering co-operative & place making community initiatives. https://www.svcymru.org/files/2021-03/david-smith-a-founders-tale.pdf
Robert Owen Memorial Museum Trustee. Director, Sheffield Co-op Development Group.
Graduate Ruskin College, Oxford and UC Cardiff + PGCE, MA (European Human Resource Management) Keele; Professional Food & Management qualifications. Former Lecturer, Gwent Tertiary College.
