The Centre for Local Policy Studies (CLPS) and the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) are carrying out a research study for NWIP, the partnership of Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations in the North West.
The aim of the research is to fully understand how the current government’s policies affect:
- People who are defined as having protected characteristics under the Equality Act (this covers disability, race, sex, sexual orientation, maternity and pregnancy, gender reassignment, faith and belief and age)
- The capacity of the voluntary and community sector to support equality and meet the needs of vulnerable or marginalised communities in the North West.
In order to gather evidence there will be a number of roundtable discussions (approximately 2 hours long) focussed on specific equalities issues. This roundtable is part of a series which will be organised around disability, race, sex, age (young people), age (older people), sexual orientation, trans people and faith communities.
Each roundtable will look at five central areas of Government policy (each topic will be introduced by a member of the research team):
- Welfare reforms
- Health and social care reforms
- Localism and the changes to local service provision
- Economic development, with an emphasis on the Local Growth White Paper
- Big Society