We’re 20 today!

On the Bevan Foundation’s 20th birthday, Victoria Winckler looks back at its story and its achievements.

Today it is 20 years since the then Archbishop of Wales, Rowan Williams, along with other politicians, trades union leaders, academics and musicians launched the Bevan Foundation.

Why were we founded?

The Bevan Foundation was born out of a desire to make more of devolution. The very young Welsh Assembly – as it was then known – was cautious and took a great deal of its early direction from the UK Government.  Policy capacity was relatively weak both within the Welsh civil service and within wider civil society.  Our founders wanted to make sure that there was a wider range of ideas from which public policy could draw, and in particular they wanted devolved policies to reflect better the specific circumstances and values of people in Wales.

It was a ‘gang of five’ who did the hard, behind-the-scenes work of getting a new organisation off the ground. Key amongst them was Hywel Francis, then Professor of Continuing Education at Swansea University, who not only had a vision of the Bevan Foundation contribution to Welsh life but also did much of the fund-raising too. We are extremely sad that Hywel passed away just two weeks ago.

Early years

I became the director of the Bevan Foundation in early 2002, replacing journalist Paul Starling. It’s fair to say that the early years were extremely challenging.  There was no endowment or slush fund, nor was there any help in kind with free office space or postal costs – on several occasions there were barely enough funds to pay wages.

Making a mark with just two staff – both of us part-time – was also tough. The political culture of the time did not particularly welcome challenge or new ideas – indeed I was told many times that Wales did not ‘need’ an independent think tank.  On more than one occasion I was asked who had given us permission to address an issue.

We were also dogged by untrue allegations that the Foundation, as well as myself, were politically aligned. Yet from the outset, we were firmly independent of any party.  Far from toeing any party line we often questioned parties’ policies and track records.  And as for me, I have not been a member of a political party for 25 years and have voted for most of them at some point in my life.

Evolving and influencing

Over the twenty years since our creation we have evolved to become Wales’ most influential think tank.

We have clear objectives in terms of the social and economic changes we want to see, and robust proposals for reform.  We have also refined and honed how we make change happen – our ‘theory of change’ – so that we are truly informing public policy, in the Senedd, at Westminster, in local government and in charities.  We’ve also grown, so we are now a great team of 7 people, and thanks to funding from several trusts and foundations I no longer worry about paying the wages (although I do worry about the securing the next grant).

We’ve achieved a great deal over the years.  To select just a few examples.

• Our early work on poverty made it a key focus in previous Welsh Government’s programmes even though we did not necessarily agree with how they tackled it.
• Our focus on the south Wales valleys prompted a Heads of the Valleys initiative, again with good intent although we were disappointed at its delivery.
• We put raised the profile of new, devolved taxes (whose existence was wrongly disputed in the Senedd!) and shaped with Welsh Government’s taking forward of proposals.
• And now our Welsh Benefits System proposal has cross-party support.

When we say we are influential, we mean it.

What next?

The pandemic has made the need for an independent voice to push for social and economic change all the greater.  It has laid bare the deep divisions in our society, whether between rich and poor, women and men, young and old, white or ethnic minority.  It is simply unacceptable that people living in deprived parts of Wales are around twice as likely to be hospitalised or to die with Covid-19 than people elsewhere.

Our work is clearly far from done.  The Foundation will continue to press for a fairer Wales so long as these inequalities continue.

Victoria Winckler is Director of the Bevan Foundation