This report is an assessment of the care and support needs of the population in North Wales, including the support needs of carers. It has been produced by the six North Wales councils and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) supported by Public Health Wales, to meet the requirements of the Social Services and Wellbeing Act (Wales) 2014 (the act).

The report aims to improve our understanding of our population and how it might change over the coming years to help us provide better public services in North Wales. To prepare the report we looked at statistics, spoke with our communities and made use of a wide range of information collected by local councils, health services, charities and other organisations that provide services.

The report will be used to inform the area plan which has to be prepared jointly between the health board and local councils overseen by the Regional Partnership Board. The draft guidance on the area plan says we must include the specific services planned in response to each core theme identified in the population assessment. The first North Wales area plan must be published by 1 April 2018 (Welsh Government, 2016d).