Welsh Devolution and Public Services in a Period of Economic Crisis

Abstract

Cole and Stafford offer a fine-grained analysis of devolved policy communities in public finance and secondary education within contemporary Wales. The two policy fields are examined to assess their relationships with both exogenous and endogenous forces driving convergence and divergence. The chapter evaluates the hypothesis that secondary education is open primarily to influence from domestic sources of divergence and public finance is shaped more by international factors driving convergence. As well as examining these case studies, Cole and Stafford consider the wider pressures for the reform of public services that have emerged in Wales during the economic crisis.