Written statement (Wales) on Conclusion of Expert Group on Cohesion - Mar 26

Jane Hutt MS, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip: I established the independent Expert Group on Cohesion in November 2025 to rapidly respond to the Senedd's Equality and Social Justice Committee Inquiry report on social cohesion, with the aim of identifying actions to strengthen cohesion across Wales. The Group were tasked with delivering on Recommendation 1 and 4 of the 2025 Equality and Social Justice Committee Report, ‘Co-operation over Conflict: Wales must Act', and concluding their work by March 2026.   

I am very grateful to Gaynor Legall CBE for agreeing to chair the Group and for guiding members to craft their proposed actions for a new Government within a demanding timeframe. This delivers on the pace which I know members of the Committee were keen to see. 

The Group brought together experts from local government, the third sector, policing, academics, cohesion policy thinktanks, equality support organisations and those with lived experience. I would like to extend my thanks to each of the Group members for drawing upon their extensive experience and accepting the collective challenge of reaching consensus. 

Given the rapid nature of the Group and need to ensure future actions are drawn from good quality evidence, the First Minister and I agreed for the Wales Centre for Public Policy to undertake an analysis of the evidence gathered by the Senedd Equality and Social Justice Committee and further reports regarding evidence-based cohesion-related interventions. Their analysis was fundamental to helping the Group understand what the evidence tells us works and identify recommended actions. The final WCPP report will be published in the summer, in line with the normal quality assurance processes.

The Group worked quickly to discuss and agree the Community Cohesion Principles for Wales, which are designed to support and guide those implementing cohesion work in the private, public and voluntary sector in Wales. They also help to communicate to the public what we mean by community cohesion and complement our collective understanding of our Wales of Cohesive Communities well-being goal. The principles and accompanying guide for practitioners were published in January 2026 and available on the Welsh Government website.

The Expert Group also discussed the other issues recommended by the Committee: challenges to cohesion; improved measurement of cohesion; and sharing of best practice. 

Following the last meeting of the Group on 19 March, Gaynor Legall CBE has written to me setting out her views and the collective recommended actions which the Group wants to propose for the next Welsh Government.  

“Relating to Welsh Government and Local Government processes:

• Better support schools and other services for children and young people to strengthen cohesion.
• Identify areas of higher risk and invest in community anchor organisations in these locations to enable them to bring people together over time.
• Commit to multi-year funding for cohesion activities to allow local government and Voluntary and Community sector to develop long-term strategies with communities, and to forward plan. 

• Prioritise embedding the Cohesion Principles across all relevant policy areas and with partner organisations across Wales, using existing partnership infrastructure such as the Public Services Board, Regional Partnership Boards and Corporate Joint Committees.

  Working with Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations and communities:

• Ensure civil society is given parity of esteem as a partner working to foster cohesion.
• Invest in community spaces with the involvement of communities, including progressing a ‘community right to buy'. Integrate thinking on community buildings, religious spaces, and hubs. 
• Commit to longer-term, community-led, and co-produced approaches to cohesion (beyond short-term pilots).
• Recognise cohesion-building activities as critical preventative measures which build local resilience. Support increased investment in preventative, place-based approaches to building cohesion at neighbourhood level. 

• Recognise the interface between volunteering infrastructure and social cohesion and resource accordingly. Review where less regulation of volunteering would be beneficial, creating more space for informal and ad-hoc participation.

  Improving awareness and data:

• Establish a national approach to capturing lived experiences of hate and exclusion, considerate of intersecting experiences and inclusive of gender, beyond the existing police data.

• Develop broader measures of cohesion, specifically relating to relational and institutional trust.

  In addition to these specific recommended interventions, the Expert Group recommends that Cohesion should be treated as an enabler of a prosperous, equal and safe Wales, rather than as a discrete or reactive activity. This aligns directly with the Well‑being of Future Generations (Wales) Act, particularly the goal of a Wales of Cohesive Communities and the requirement to take a long‑term, preventative, and integrated approach to decision‑making. The Group highlights the importance of recognising intersectionality - noting that inequality, disadvantage, and protected characteristics overlap in real lives. Further work should also include understanding and responding to the interface of extremism, cohesion, and misogyny. Policies aiming to actively foster good relations, reduce harm and strengthen belonging must reflect this. Delivery should be grounded in meaningful involvement of communities, with lived and living experience recognised as a legitimate and valuable form of evidence, alongside academic research, and administrative data.

  The Group calls for a more open, practical, and confident approach to how government works with communities, particularly during periods of tension. This includes improving how government prevents information gaps and builds trust. The Group feels Welsh Government could make better use of existing data collections, local intelligence and monitoring already held across public services and local governments, rather than repeatedly consulting the same communities. Using what is already known more intelligently can support earlier action, reduce duplication, and help avoid consultation fatigue. The Group places strong emphasis on understanding the links between online harms and offline tensions, including the need to tackle online polarisation and mis‑, dis‑ and mal-information as part of cohesion work. Finally, the Group highlights the importance of being willing to test new approaches and be prepared to fail, learn from what does not work, and adapt to improve long‑term outcomes for current and future generations.”

We all have a collective responsibility to deliver a more cohesive Wales, not just because we legislated to this as a long-term well-being goal for Wales, but because it matters to the day-to-day experience of people and communities across Wales.

Cohesion matters because it is the foundation for how we can all live well together in safe, inclusive societies, where individuals can thrive and collective progress is possible. I am proud that over this Senedd term we have invested in the Wales wide Community Cohesion Programme and have increased funding to respond to growing needs in our communities. We have built solid foundations for strengthening social cohesion in Wales, working closely with our public and third sector partners. We have invested in national and local initiatives that reduce hate, prejudice and community tensions. Any approach to strengthening social cohesion across Wales will need to leverage the insights, resources and experience of all partners. The work of the Committee, and now the work of the Expert Group on Social Cohesion outlines a way forward for the next Welsh Government to consider and act at pace.