Welcome

Gareth Williams - Managing Director

gareth@oldbell3.co.uk

Gareth WilliamsBackground

Gareth has run Old Bell 3 for the last eight years, undertaking a wide range of evaluations and other consultancy assignments for clients including, the Welsh European Funding Office, various Welsh Assembly Government Departments (including the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills or DCELLS, Social Justice and Local Government and Enterprise and Transport), the Skills for Business Network, a number of National Training Organisations/SSCs, JobCentre Plus, the Wales Social Partners Unit, the Welsh Council  for Voluntary Action, the Communities First Support Network and a number of local authorities in Wales. 

Before establishing Old Bell 3, Gareth worked as a UK and European Parliament Civil Servant, the Head of European and International Affairs at Birmingham City Council, an Associate Director of ECOTEC Research and Consulting Ltd and as Chief Special Adviser to Alun Michael as Secretary of State for Wales and the first First Secretary of the National Assembly for Wales.

Education

Gareth has a first class honours degree from Cambridge University and is a Member of the Institution of Economic Development and the UK Evaluation Society.

Consultancy Experience

Gareth has led a very wide range of research and evaluation projects in Wales related to European funding, learning and skills, the labour market, and economic development. He has very extensive experience of undertaking Structural Fund project and programme evaluations, including project managing the Mid Term Evaluation and Mid Term Evaluation Updates of the West Wales and Valleys Objective 1 Programme and has undertaken a number of recent projects for DCELLS including work on the Leitch Review. Gareth also provided on-going strategic advice to the Skills for Business Network/Sector Skills Development Agency in Wales from 2005 to 2008.

In addition to the work set out above, projects upon which Gareth has recently worked include:

  • The Impact of Recession Across Wales and Ways Local Authorities Can Support Sustainable Economic Recovery (WLGA)
  • Preparation of the First Annual Report of the Wales Employment and Skills Board (WESB/DCELLS)
  • Research into the Integration of Employment and Skills in Wales (WESB/DCELLS)
  • The Wales Co-operative Centre (Evaluation of Business Support for Social Enterprises in Wales)
  • Ex post assessment of the second round of the Urban Community Initiative URBAN II in conjunction with ECOTEC – Gareth is leading the evaluation of the URBACT programme;
  • The Equalities and Human Rights Division of the Welsh Assembly Government (Evaluation of a suite of Promoting Equalities Fund Projects);
  • An “Umbrella” Evaluation of Completed Structural Fund projects in Wales;
  •  (WEFO)
  • The ex ante Evaluation of the Ireland – Wales Territorial Co-operation Programme (with Fitzpatrick Associates, Dublin);
  • Research into Student Finance Delivery in Wales with York Consulting LLP (ongoing for DCELLS)
  • Development of a North West Wales Spatial Development Strategy (for the Welsh Assembly Government, Anglesey, Gwynedd and Conwy Councils)
  • An Evaluation of the PGCE/PCET Bursary Scheme (DCELLS)
  • An Evaluation of the Step Up and Related pilot projects for (DCELLS)
  • Evaluation of Building the Learning Community (WEA)
  • Evaluation of the E-Learning and ICT Skills Development Scheme (DCELLS)
  • Evaluation of the Communities @ One Programme (ongoing for the Social Justice and Local Government Department)
  • Evaluation of the Wales Basic Skills Strategy with Miller Research (DCELLS

 

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