Malcolm Wicks made a major contribution to changing public and policy debate on family issues. Through the Family Policy Studies Centre and its predecessor, the Study Commission on the Family, he successfully used social science research and analysis to look at family change and the effects of this on public policy and practice, as well as the impact of public policy on all types of families. The FPSC's publications and briefings were a model of how to present facts and figures in easily accessible documents well suited to meeting the needs of busy politicians or journalists – a strategy subsequently much emulated by others. Malcolm and his team commented on all major family policy initiatives at early stages and had their analysis been adopted, some of the glaring policy failures of the 1990s, such as the child support policy, could have been avoided.
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