There's no doubt that we're living in challenging times - the recession brings new headlines every day about businesses in trouble and increasing job losses, and as the next general election looms, we may be about to see a change in government by June 2010.

But what difference could a change in government make, and how might policy changes affect the Yorkshire and Humber region? According to Peter Wells, deputy director of the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) at Sheffield Hallam University, whoever forms the next government, the move towards more devolved local power is set to continue.

'A central plank of the New Labour approach since 1997 has been devolved government and that's been demonstrated in practice by the establishment of the Scottish and Welsh Assemblies, and the introduction of the Regional Development Agencies in England.

'We've also seen a shift in local government, with a growing number of elected mayors, cabinet style government and citizen's panels. The Empowerment White Paper of 2008 paved the way for more neighbourhood governance and community power, so it looks likely that there will be further developments in bringing power closer to the people, although how that is done will naturally alter depending on which party is in charge. Three key challenges remain however - reversing the decline in turnout and interest in local government elections, giving local government greater control over their finances, and continuing to build the capacity of local government and partners to plan and deliver services.'

Peter and his colleagues in CRESR are heavily involved in a wide range of regional and national research and evaluation projects, not just for the public sector but, increasingly, for the third sector too.

'As the third sector - the voluntary and community sector - increases in importance and influence, so it is becoming a more and more significant element of our workload. We're currently involved in a number of initiatives, including a national evaluation of the Future Builders programme, looking at how successful new models of funding for the sector have been. And we're looking at other models of loan funding for the third sector in an evaluation of the Charity Bank of the North.'

And in a further timely piece of work, the team have been carrying out an evaluation of the impact of the recession on the third sector on behalf of Capacity Builders, a non-departmental public body focusing on strengthening the third sector - and their report is due for publication in April 2009.

Another important strand of the work carried out by CRESR is looking at labour markets - a particularly crucial area in the current climate. A recent study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, led by CRESR principal research fellow Dr Tony Gore, with researchers at Napier and Cardiff Universities, examined changes in coalfield labour markets and the role of new governance arrangements.

Through case studies in England, Scotland and Wales and analysis of labour market trends in the British coalfields, the research took an in-depth look at the economic, social and governance links between the coalfields and their neighbouring cities. The team concluded that a 'one size fits all' approach to reviving former coalfield communities on the back of city growth would be inappropriate, as relationships between the coalfields and their neighbouring cities vary and some former coalfield areas remain major economic zones in their own right.

Making sure that public money is being spent effectively is likely to become an increasing priority over the next few years, and this is an area in which the University already has significant experience.

'For many years now, we've been conducting a national evaluation of the government's New Deal for Communities Programme, which aims to tackle multiple deprivation in some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country,' said Paul Lawless, the Faculty of Development and Society's assistant dean for research and knowledge transfer.

'This work has provided a unique opportunity to learn lessons about what works in neighbourhood renewal, and the most effective ways of using public funding to deliver the programmes policy goals in the five key areas of health, education, worklessness, housing and the physical environment, and crime.

'As public sector spending looks set to decrease significantly over the next few years as a result of the current economic turmoil, it's more important than ever that the effect of that spending is effectively monitored and evaluated, to ensure maximum public benefits from any investment.'

To find out more about how CRESR could help you, visit www.shu.ac.uk/cresr