Welcome

Old Bell 3 is a company formed in April 2000 by Gareth Williams to provide consultancy support to public, private and voluntary sector organisations on regional and local economic development issues, working principally within Wales.

We have undertaken a wide range of work, principally in the field of Programme
and project-level evaluation and strategy development.

Our Evaluation work includes a number of very major studies for the Welsh European Funding Office, a part of the Welsh Assembly Government. These include the Mid Term Evaluation Updates of the Objective 1, Objective 3 and Ireland - Wales INTERREG IIIA Programmes, a study of Good Practice in Project Management and a so-called "Umbrella" Evaluation of large (£1m plus) completed Structural Fund projects.

A selection of other evaluation clients have included:

  • The Department of Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills of the Welsh Assembly Government (Long term evaluation of the Welsh for Adults Programme with Dateb); (Long term evaluation of the Step Up Workforce Development Programme); (Long term evaluation of the Basic Skills Strategy for Wales with Miller Research); (Evaluation of the PGCE/PCET Bursary Scheme); (Evaluation of the E-Learning and ICT Skills Development Scheme with Dateb); (Evaluation of the National Practitioner Training Programme and Sabbatical Scheme with Dateb); (Evaluation of the Bi-lingual Learning Scheme with Dateb);
  • The Department for Economy and Transport of the Welsh Assembly Government (Evaluation of the High Growth programme); (Evaluation of the Accelerate Clusters Programme); (Evaluation of the Recruitment Support Programme); (Evaluation of the Taste of Enterprise Projects); (Evaluation of the Broadband Wales Observatory);
  • The Wales Co-operative Centre (Evaluation of Business Support for Social Enterprises and Co-operatives in Wales);
  • The Equalities and Human Rights Division of the Welsh Assembly Government (Evaluation of a suite of Promoting Equalities Fund Projects);
  • DG Regio of the European Commission (ex post assessment of the second round of the Urban Community Initiative URBAN II - Old Bell 3 leading the evaluation of the URBACT programme);
  • The Social Justice and Local Government Department of the Welsh Assembly Government (Long term evaluation of the Communities@One Programme);
  • The Communities First Support Network (an evaluation of the CFSN and the Communities First Trust Fund);
  • The Wales TUC (Evaluation of the EQUAL funded Equal at Work Project);
  • The Wales Social Partners Unit (an evaluation of the work of the Unit);
  • The Wales Council for Voluntary Action (an evaluation of Objective 1 Capacity Building Projects);
  • Anglesey County Council (Evaluation of Business Development Grants);
  • Gwyneddd Council (Evaluation of the Llwyddo’n Lleol initiative);
  • The University of Wales, Newport (a long term external evaluation of the Equinex project);
  • Cardiff Council (an evaluation of Objective 2 and 3 in Cardiff);
  • The French Government (the Mid Term Evaluation and Mid Term Evaluation Update of the URBACT Programme with ECOTEC).

Research, Policy and Strategy Commissions have included:

  • Preparing the First Annual Report of the Wales Employment and Skills Board (for WESB/DCELLS);
  • The Impact of Recession Across Wales and Ways Local Authorities Can Support Sustainable Economic Recovery (WLGA)
  • Undertaking Research into the Employer Perspective on the Integration of Employmement and Skills Support in Wales (for WESB/DCELLS);
  • Research into School Headships in Wales (DCELLS);
  • National Science Academy Scoping Study (DCELLS);
  • A Review of Student Finance Delivery in Wales (DCELLS);
  • Various commissions to provide advice and support to the former Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) in Wales, the network of 25 Strong SSCs (Skills for Business Network) and latterly to the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils in Wales;
  • Various Research commissions and Strategic Reviews for Sector Skills Councils, including SEMTA, Skillset, SkillsActive;
  • Welsh Assembly Government, Gwynedd, Conwy and Anglesey County Councils (North West Wales Spatial Development Strategy);
  • Gwynedd, Conwy, Anglesey and Denbighshire County Councils (EU Convergence Activities Framework 2007-13);
  • Denbighshire County Council (Economic Growth Strategy 2007-13);
  • Research into Skills Needs and Requirements of Hotel, Leisure, Travel and Tourism Industry Employers (DCELLS);
  • Research into Children and Young People’s Participation in Wales (DCELLS).

 

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