From Tuscany to Victoria: Some Determinants of Sustainability Reporting by Local Councils

This paper seeks to respond to recent calls by the academic community for studies investigating sustainability reporting by the public sector, as well as for more engagement-based studies of this issue by examining the views of managers within local councils (LC). The objective of this project is to provide insights as to the possible reasons and explanations for the types of sustainability disclosures among a group of local councils operating in Italy and Australia. In particular, an international comparison is undertaken to ascertain the effect of culture on the adoption of sustainability reporting (SR). Evidence is collected from semi-structured interviews with managers and accountants from ten local councils consisting of five from Italy (Tuscany) and five from Australia (Victoria). The findings suggest that although there are available some general policy documents relating to sustainability reporting, councils are left to their own discretion as to what they consider fit under the definition of sustainability and therefore, determine to a large extent, what to report to stakeholders. Moreover, there was a range of legitimacy type behaviours displayed by a number of councils while others were influenced by notions of public sector accountability and transparency. Adopting Hofstede's cultural framework, the research also highlights the relevance of the Italian and Australian cultural settings in shaping the SR practices used by LCs. The findings suggest that differences regarding cultural dimensions, such as ‘power distance’ and ‘uncertainty avoidance’, influence key aspects of SR.     

The Quality of Life in English Local Authority Areas

Abstract

Since the enactment of New Labour's sustainable development agenda in 1999, English local authorities have been placed at the helm of a variety of devolved localism initiatives designed to foster sustainable communities that contribute to a high quality of life for existing and future generations. This paper considers the scale of the challenge that confronts local authorities in terms of attaining these outcomes, by drawing attention to their current quality of life situation. The baseline conditions in question are measured by reference to the Audit Commission's local quality of life indicators dataset, which it compiled in 2005 from a range of existing local government performance indicators. The dataset is subjected to k-means clustering and principal components analysis to assess how far English local authorities measure up to Labour's sustainable communities ideal and to highlight the type and degree of quality of life disparity that exists between them. The results from the analysis are used to evaluate the feasibility of Labour's devolved localism approach to sustainable community formation and to provide important insights to local policy makers responsible for fostering sustainable communities. The implications of the findings for future research are also considered.     

Municipal Mergers in New Zealand: An Empirical Analysis of the Proposed Amalgamation of Hawke’s Bay Councils

Local government policymakers across the developed world have frequently employed municipal amalgamation to improve the operation of local councils, and New Zealand is no exception. This paper empirically examines claims made in Potential Costs and Savings of Local Government Reform in Hawke’s Bay that the merger of the five local authorities in the Hawke’s Bay Region of New Zealand would generate significant cost-savings. We empirically test for the existence of scale economies in a single merged Hawke’s Bay council and find that no cost-savings can be expected. This removes a key argument for a forced Hawke’s Bay amalgamation.     

Subnational Lobbying and Structural Funds: A French–Scottish Comparison

This article examines subnational actors’ engagement with the European Union's structural funds, and whether these actors are significant in this policy sector. It examines this question by comparing one French regional council with one set of Scottish local authorities. It concludes that there are considerable similarities between the subnational actors studied, in spite of differences in their location and the constitutional structure within which they are located. The subnational actors have unilaterally developed a capacity for engaging in the policy sector. In both cases, however, this engagement is not evidence of a ‘by-passing’ of the central government. Instead, the subnational authorities have worked alongside central government departments to achieve their goals.     

An Evaluation Analysis of E-government Development by Local Authorities in Australia

Local governments play an important role in moving forward towards the vision of a connected and responsive e-government. This research develops a set of evaluation criteria for evaluating local council's websites. By examining the current status of the local government websites, this research provides an overview of the level of sophistication of the e-local government development in Australia. The local governments in Australia have not developed truly sophisticated e-government services. The majority of the local government websites are primarily informational and they provide one way communication of information from government to citizens.

To identify the factors affecting the level of sophistication of local council's websites, a single case study approach is employed in this research. Top leadership support and management capacity and organisational and technical challenges are considered important for e-government development. User-centric website design and bridging the digital divide also play a role in the successful implementation of e-government.     

Is regional government-governance nexus delivering on social sustainability promises? Empirical evidence from Moranbah in Australia

Social sustainability, in theory, should result in responsiveness to change, a durable sense of community trust and interdependent institutional structures. However, recent studies indicate that current sustainability efforts of regional local government are not yielding anticipated outcomes. Drawing on two social theories of Henri Lefebvre, this paper offers an empirical analysis of the ability of the government–governance nexus to deliver on social sustainability promises in Moranbah in regional Australia. Study findings revealed that the Moranbah government–governance nexus suffers from adversarial relationships between key actors that result in a distrust of politics and power, the absence of a defined governance system, community alienation, and State Government dominance and intervention. These experiences of the government–governance nexus have rendered social sustainability a distant hope for Moranbah’s residents. This paper suggests a reform in sustainability policies to improve the current situation in the case region, and theoretical propositions for future research.     

Enduring Financial Sustainability Through “Bottom-Up” Local Authority Ingenuity and Rational “Top-Down” State Regulation: The Case of Lake Macquarie City Council

For decades Australian policy-makers have relied on the blunt instrument of forced amalgamation to reform local government. However, a host of recent public inquiries has demonstrated that despite compulsory mergers in all states, except WA, financial unsustainability has become more acute. Using the case study of the successful achievement of ongoing financial sustainability by Lake Macquarie City Council in NSW through its resourceful “bottom-up” use of the “top-down” financial parameters set for NSW local government, this paper argues that state governments should concentrate on “process change” by establishing sound “top-down” regulatory frameworks thereby enabling “bottom-up” ingenuity by local authorities rather than “structural change” through compulsory mergers.     

Performance Reporting: Assessing the Annual Reports of Malaysian Local Authorities

There have been calls for Malaysian local authorities to be more transparent and accountable in the discharge of their functional responsibilities. This study empirically evaluates the extent and quality of current performance reporting by local authorities. The disclosure of relevant information for discharging accountability obligations, as defined by a broad range of stakeholders, falls short of best practice. Therefore, the performance of Malaysian local authorities lacks transparency. The findings could assist in the development of more comprehensive guidelines for local authority reporting and raise awareness of information stakeholders expect to be reported in the context of accountability.     

CONSUMER COMPLAINTS IN PUBLIC SECTOR SERVICES

This article summarizes the findings of a recent research project investigating complaints handling in local government. It discusses the results of a survey of half the local authorities in England, to discover their complaints handling practices. The article also summarizes the results of a more limited survey of local authority consumers; this aimed to discover their attitude to and experience of complaining, and the level of awareness of their local authority's procedure. Finally there is a discussion about the desirability of formalized complaints procedures and the form they might take.     

Merger Melancholia: An Empirical Analysis of the Perceptions of the Residents of the Forcibly Amalgamated Manilla Shire Council

Notwithstanding cogent reasons for the continued existence of small local authorities in the sparsely populated Australian hinterland, compulsory council consolidation has been a recurring theme throughout the history of Australian local government. Despite its ubiquity, especially in rural, regional and remote Australian communities, its local consequences have not yet been fully examined by scholars or policy makers. The present paper seeks to remedy this neglect with an exploratory study of the social and economic consequences of forced local government amalgamations through the lens of the ‘lived experience’ of the small rural community of Manilla, which was forced in merge with the much larger Tamworth in 2004.     

Estimating the Performance of Local Authorities as a Measure to Overpass the Financial Crisis: The Greek Case Study

Nowadays, local authorities face a number of problems that are related to the global economic crisis. For every government, the idea of measuring authorities’ performances and transferring funds based on this estimation seems to be a solution for their sustainable development. In this article, we introduce a methodological framework for measuring the performance of local authorities based on the (a) quality of services offered, (b) complexity of operational procedures, and (c) cooperation with the central governance. Finally, we propose a model for improving local authorities’ effectiveness.     

Local Government Modernization and the Views of Chief Financial Officers

Since its election in May 1997, the Labour Government in the United Kingdom has emphasized the need for modernization in the improvement of public services. For local government, this emphasis has led to the introduction of a variety of measures intended, primarily, to improve political management and service delivery. Two key policies have been the introduction of Best Value and the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA). CPA is used by the Audit Commission for measuring local authority performance in England and has led to each authority being classified as excellent, good, fair, weak or poor. Each authority's classification has implications, financially and in terms of its freedom to determine priorities and policies. In addition, the structure of local government is being reviewed by central government, alongside discussions as to the merits of establishing regional assemblies. In considering the justification for, and the impact of, changes, it is important to consider the views of local government employees, not least professional groupings and chief officers. This paper reports the findings of a national survey of chief financial officers (CFOs) of the single tier and county council local authorities in England to establish their views on key features of the Government's modernization agenda.     

Occupations and wages — the case of public administration in Britain’

Both local authorities and central government (represented by the Department of the Environment, DoE) have responded to the pressures affecting the role of the council sector in the British housing system by attempting to develop new strategies aimed at management and maintenance. This paper assesses the stimuli which have led to the creation of one such initiative, Estate Action (EA). It also seeks to evaluate the extent to which EA has fulfilled its stated remit of helping authorities to innovate in order to revitalize run‐down council estates. It is argued that conflicting pressures within EA operate not only to limit some of its effects, but also create substantial difficulties for local authorities.     

Coping with the Cuts? The Management of the Worst Financial Settlement in Living Memory

The scale of the cuts to local government finance, coupled with increasing demand for services, has led to unprecedented ‘budget gaps’ in council budgets. Arguably, two competing narratives of the trajectory of local government have emerged in which contrasting futures are imagined for the sector – a positive story of adaptation and survival and more negative one of residualisation and marginalisation. Drawing on case study evidence from three English local authorities, the paper distinguishes and provides examples of three strategic approaches to managing austerity – efficiency, retrenchment and investment. It demonstrates how and why the balance of these strategies has shifted between the early and later phases of austerity and considers the extent to which the evidence of the case studies provide support for either the survival or marginalisation narrative. The paper concludes by arguing that a third narrative – responsibilisation – captures more fully the trajectory of local government in England.     

The local agenda 21 issue commission in bath and North‐East Somerset: Review of a community consultation exercise towards sustainability

Local authorities in the UK have come under renewed pressure from central government both to adopt Local Agenda 21 and to advance participative democracy. In late 1996/early 1997, the (then) new unitary authority of Bath and North‐East Somerset Council set up a Local Agenda 21 Issue Commission to review its ‘sustainability’ performance and policy development practice with the direct involvement of the community. The way in which the commission was conceived and conducted resulted in difficulties in identifying and carrying out its task. Nonetheless, it kick‐started significant steps towards LA 21 within the council, and provided valuable insights into LA 21 implementation, and the nature of meaningful consultation.     

Controlling Local Government Spending: The Implementation and Impact of Capping Council Taxes

The level of local fiscal autonomy is widely regarded as an important indicator of the state of central-local relations and the capping of council tax increases has proved to be one of the most contentious of all of the constraints placed on local authorities by UK central government. Over the last decade the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales have moved away from capping in favour of a more consensual approach. This decision reflects the difference in scale and nature of their policy communities and appears to have been at least as successful in controlling increases in local taxes as the more directive, top-down strategy favoured by policymakers in England. The current UK government's proposals to promote local referenda rather than ministerial diktat as the means of controlling council tax levels represents a potentially important new but as yet unproven approach.     

Cultural policy,local government and museums: an Australian perspective

This article examines cultural policy developments affecting the Australian local government sector arguing for policy that directly addresses the operational needs of small to medium museums. Over a period spanning roughly three decades, national and state government involvement in ‘community’ cultural programmes has decreased, with local authorities assuming primary funding responsibility; a process I call the ‘municipalisation of culture’. The dual imperative for councils to provide dynamic cultural facilities while demonstrating prudent spending of ratepayer money has produced a challenging climate for local museums. Using the state of New South Wales as a case study, this article explores how this shifting cultural policy landscape, together with growing instrumentalisation of cultural programmes, has transformed the perceived context and purpose of museums in local government areas. It argues that the pressures of demonstrating impact across an array of public benefits in a restricted funding climate threatens the sustainability and meaningfulness of local museums.     

Supporting Effective Citizenship in Local Government: Engaging,Educating and Empowering Local Citizens

Civic-republican theories suggest that an active citizenry is associated with community cohesion, better political institutions and inclusive democratic decision making. The influence of these arguments on the UK Labour government has led policy makers to focus attention on strategies to promote citizenship at a local level. In particular, English local authorities are expected to provide ‘support for citizenship’ as part of their wider duty to promote ‘effective community engagement’. The ways in which they can do this are various, ranging from the simple provision of information to direct support for community networks and groups. This article reports the findings of an extensive study of English councils' efforts to engage, educate and empower local citizens. The paper concludes that although local authorities have made significant progress in recent years in widening the structures for communicating with, and engaging citizens, there remains considerable scope for improving activities that address the learning implications of effective citizenship.     

Collaborative leadership and financial sustainability in local government

This research examines whether collaborative leadership significantly influences the financial sustainability of local government. Unlike other studies on financial sustainability, ours examined collaborative leadership’s effect on both subjective and objective financial sustainability by controlling for socio-demographic and economic factors (i.e., population size, population density, population aged over 65 years, unemployment rate, and gross domestic regional product) that influence the financial sustainability of local government. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis of data collected from local revenue officers as well as secondary data from local governments in South Korea revealed that collaborative leadership has a positive effect on the subjective perception of financial sustainability and a negative effect on the objective financial sustainability (net debt) of local government. These findings underscore the necessity of collaborative leadership for financial sustainability as well as the strategies needed for its development in local government.     

Comprehensive Performance Assessment and Public Services Improvement in England? A Case Study of the Benefits Administration Service in Local Government

The purpose of this paper is to independently evaluate the impact of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment regime on one particular public service, namely the provision of council tax and housing benefits distributed by local authorities throughout the course of the regime. This service was assessed in every iteration of the CPA methodologies and it included one of the few key performance indicators (KPIs) where the definition of the performance indicator, the means of collection and the public reporting of its results, remained the same throughout the CPA period between 2002 and 2008.

The findings show that there were considerable and consistent improvements in benefits administration nationally within England and across all of its regions. The paper then investigates a series of propositions. Whether there was any significant variations in the performance of larger as opposed to smaller authorities, or between predominantly rural authority areas and urban authorities or between authorities with different party political control. Finding no significant differences the research suggests implementation of the CPA regime itself appears to have had a catalytic effect upon the performance of the benefit administration services within local authorities throughout this period. The paper therefore concludes with a brief discussion as to whether the findings support the theoretical position of proponents of neo-institutionalism isomorphism or more traditional rational actor theories of public choice.