Glasgow Aligning Local Policy Partnerships (GALoPP): connecting people, ideas, sectors and policies for inclusive sustainable futures

Inequality is a growing problem in the United Kingdom (UK) with austerity measures continuing to hit the poorest hardest. The pandemic shone a light on rising inequality in the UK. It also brought about large-scale cross-sectoral working to respond to the pandemic in a way that was previously almost unimaginable. Now, as the country experiences a cost-of-living crisis, the scale of inequalities is predicted to worsen. This is especially true for people already disadvantaged by poverty, or disability, or for Black and minority ethnic communities and migrants. Like other post-industrial cities and regions across the UK, Glasgow continues to be affected by persistent deprivation, income and education inequity, poor health, and declining natural environments. For decades, researchers from a broad range of disciplines have been measuring and describing inequalities to help policymakers find answers. But often the problems needing to be addressed are driven by a complex interaction of factors, including a lack of affordable housing, insecure and poorly paid work, inadequate access to social support, and needing solutions which transcend the sectorised nature of policymaking. The challenge here is to create a new innovative policy partnership with the experience and foresight to design policies that mutually benefit multiple sectors and support shared goals. Our aim in Phase 1 is to bring together an exciting new partnership in the Glasgow City Region, the Glasgow City Region Future Look Network. This Network will work together in finding solutions that will lead to an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable future that satisfies the needs of various parts of the policymaking system, whilst working towards inclusive and equitable goals aligned with community priorities.

To achieve our aim, we will bring together stakeholders from policy, practice, research, private sector, and the community within the Glasgow City Region through a series of meetings and workshops focused on the following three priority areas:
1. Productivity, employment, and skills
2. Health and social deprivation
3. Empowering communities

We will host three stakeholder dialogues, one focussed on each priority area, which will each include a core workshop. These dialogues will aim to understand different stakeholders' aspirations for the future and share thinking on ways to overcome current challenges in aligning policies to achieve this future vision. Information from the three dialogues will then be brought together to create a policy system map that explores the interrelationships between the three priority areas. We will also review existing data providers and datasets, local evidence, and tools, to see how this might contribute to new thinking on developing solutions to the identified challenges, and where additional new evidence is needed. In order to drive forward change within the priority areas, we will host a roundtable event with senior leaders in policy, academia, and practice to review the project findings and identify innovative and actionable solutions to take forward. This will form the basis of our Phase 2 proposal. This network and associated activities will help secure buy-in from partners and senior leaders across the Glasgow City Region to support this future work.