Consultancy

Blenheim Palace

Economic impact study

The aim of this study is to examine the economic contribution that Blenheim Palace makes to the community, the regional economy and also the national economy of the UK.

Blenheim Palace attracts visitors from around the world and is a filming location, a venue for weddings and events, as well as a producer and supplier of Natural Mineral Water. Blenheim Estate is rich in forestry and farming practices, a landowner and construction business with a portfolio of residential and commercial properties.

In 2017, Blenheim Palace announced 10 goals to deliver over the next 10 years. One of these was to triple the economic impact of Blenheim to the local area. Working with a team from the Oxford Brookes Business School, a methodology for capturing, calculating and reporting on this and other activities was developed to provide a robust, quantitative basis to measure progress towards these goals.

Now in its third year, the study considers the direct, indirect and induced impacts that Blenheim Palace has as an anchor institution within its community, including the impact of staff, visitors, and local businesses. The economic impact analysis also incorporated the contributions that Blenheim Palace makes to GDP and job creation.

Blenheim publishes an annual report based on the analysis undertaken by Oxford Brookes to demonstrate its transparency and progress against impact targets.

This work has attracted attention from a range of organisations that work in the heritage asset management field, and Oxford Brookes is working with a number of these, using the methodologies developed with Blenheim, to provide a cost-effective research and analysis service.

Social Care Wales

Developing resources for social workers and practitioners

“There is a real national political interest in this work and there has already been interest from the Minister for Health and Social Services in Wales. This project will hopefully build on the current skills of social workers and related professionals and promote the well-being and personal outcomes for carers’ in Wales, which is a key aim of the legislation and policy.”

Tammy Abarno, IPC Consultant and registered social worker

The culture of social care in Wales is changing following The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act (2014). The Act gives carers living in Wales the same legal rights and entitlements as those they care for and means assessments are carried out to help promote well-being.

Social Care Wales is a regulatory and workforce body, sponsored by the Welsh Government, whose mission is to make a positive difference to social care in Wales by enabling skills and responding to reform. The Institute of Public Care (IPC) at Oxford Brookes won a competitive tender from Social Care Wales to research and develop resources to help social workers and related professionals embrace change and achieve best practice in carers’ assessments.