Understanding the Local Government Review: A Retrospective Analysis

Reorganizations have provided fertile ground for researchers and practitioners seeking to draw lessons about the nature of public administration. The review leading to the reorganization of British local government in 1991-96 sustains the tradition. In an extraordinary unfolding of events key features of the policy and political system are laid bare. This article provides a background analysis of the review, examines the main turning points in the process, assesses the performance of key players and concludes with a judgement about the sustainability of the settlement that ultimately emerged. A number of lessons are drawn about the nature of the British political system as revealed through the impact of the challenge of a large-scale structural review of local government.     

The Local Government Review: An Inter-Organizational Perspective

This article uses Benson's 'political economy' model of inter-organizational relations to interpret inter-authority relationships during the course of the local government review process in England (1992-95) and in particular to explain the preparedness of large numbers of district councils to support proposals which implied their own destruction. Six more specific influences are identified which led to this outcome:
(i) The changing pattern of expectations and perceived possibilities as the Review progressed.
(ii) The conflictual context of relations within the network linking individual counties and districts, and their respective associations.
(iii) The influence of the districts' national representative body - the ADC - which was arguing strongly for a 'super-district' solution.
(iv) The plausibility of the view of some mergers as de facto takeovers of one authority by another.
(v) The special nature of local authorities as (party) political institutions as well as public sector bureaucracies.
(vi) The rationing of information through central-local networks, in the context of 'unclear rules'.
It is concluded that with certain modifications Benson's framework provides a helpful explanatory mechanism.     

Hearing But Not Listening: The Local Government Review Process

This article presents a study of the local government review process in West Sussex. As in any local government reorganization the career and status concerns of individuals and broader positions of coalitions dominant in different organizations provide the dynamic to a 'play of power' which is in turn conditioned by external events and contextual factors. Underlying the analysis is a concern to assess whether in particular the presence of an independent commission facilitated the application of an element of policy analysis and learning into the process. It is concluded that little in the way of a reflective and deliberative process occurred. Equally it is noted that to achieve such qualities in public decision-making is a challenging and daunting task when major organizational interests are at stake.     

Financing Local Government

There has been much debate in the UK over the implications for local government accountability of the high proportion of central funding of local government. The question has received particular attention recently as a key issue in the government's 'Balance of Funding' review. Two forms of accountability can be distinguished: average accountability and marginal accountability. This paper provides an analysis of the relationship between the balance of funding and these two concepts of accountability and concludes that increasing the proportion of local funding would be beneficial. One method of addressing problems caused by high central funding would be to introduce a local income tax alongside council tax, enabling the central grant to be reduced. The paper examines practical issues involved in the introduction of such a tax.     

Local Government Modernisation in England: A Critical Review of the LGMA Evaluation Studies

New Labour has subjected English local government to an unparalleled period of reform. This article reviews the Local Government Modernisation Agenda evaluation studies commissioned by central government. The review identifies valuable insights from the studies into the contemporary state of English local government, central government and central–local relations. However, the studies also illustrate the need for research on public service reform to include analyses of the political origins of reform policies and the political–bureaucratic issues involved in their implementation. It is also argued that future research needs to rediscover the value of studying local politics ‘in the round’, the impact of socio-economic and non-local factors on local policy outcomes and the role of new sources of policy influence in the channels of central–local relations.     

Competitive Tendering In Local Government: A Review Of Theory And Evidence

The introduction of compulsory competitive tendering in UK local government reflected conventional public choice theories of bureaucracy. These theories suggest that competition for service contracts will lead to lower expenditure and higher efficiency. Extensions and criticisms of the classical public choice model yield very different conclusions. First, the problems of bureaucratic supply are less severe than originally assumed, and secondly competition may itself generate new problems such as transaction costs, erosion of trust between principals and agents, and rent seeking. The impact of competition on spending and efficiency is therefore indeterminate, and must be established empirically. However, studies which evaluate the effects of competitive tendering in local government are few in number, cover a limited range of services, and are methodologically flawed. Therefore neither the initial imposition of competitive tendering by the Conservatives, nor its planned abolition by Labour, can be traced to a solid foundation of theoretical or empirical support. Theoretical and methodological problems that need to be resolved by further empirical studies are identified.     

Health and Local Government Partnerships: The Local Government Policy Context

This article explores partnerships between health and local government from the local government perspective; placing developments between the two sectors within the wider context of the Local Government Modernisation agenda. A number of commentators have argued that developments since 1997 – in particular the emphasis on community leadership and the new power of well-being – have provided local authorities with an exciting opportunity to reclaim a more pivotal role in shaping the health agenda at the local level. Such a role would be based on promoting well-being and a good quality of life, in keeping with the social model of health. In the longer run this reclaimed role could produce a shift in what has become the main boundary between health and local government: the health–social care boundary. The article reviews developments in three key areas: the health–social care boundary; the core components of the Local Government Modernisation Agenda; and the relationship between regeneration and health. The paper concludes that although progress has been made in regeneration and health and there is potential in elements of the Modernisation Agenda that these do not equate to a paradigm shift in local government's perspective on health. Instead, the social care boundary continues to dominate local government's vision of health. Central to this picture of modest progress is the substantial barrier to more radical change provided by the performance management frameworks governing both sectors.     

Local Political Leadership and the Modernisation of Local Government

Political leadership has been a key element of central government's attempts to ‘modernise’ local government over the past decade, within a discourse that emphasised ‘strong’ and ‘visible’ leadership and the role of leaders and leadership in driving change within local authorities. In the context of such an approach, and also taking account of academic discourse, this article draws upon interviews with nearly thirty individuals in leadership positions in local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales to assess their experiences of leadership and their views of some aspects of the role and work of councils. It suggests that whilst there is broad convergence between the aspirations of government and the narratives that emerge from these leaders on some aspects of local political leadership, there are also differences, perhaps most notably over the relationship between changes to decision-making structures and the loci of political power.     

'Unprecedented in Local Government Terms'– The Local Government Commission's Public Consultation Programme

The purpose of this article is to describe and evaluate the public consultation exercises mounted by the Local Government Commission for England under its successive Chairmen, Sir John Banham and Sir David Cooksey. The Commission was evidently proud of this aspect of its work, emphasizing repeatedly its unprecedented nature: in itself an unremarkable claim in the context of British local government structural reviews. This article suggests that, in terms of quality and value for money, as opposed to sheer scale, the consultation programme - and particularly the three principal tranches of MORI residential surveys - was less laudable. The article examines each of these surveys: the stage one community identity polls, which might have contributed to the government's intended 'community index', had the latter not previously been rejected by the Commission; the stage three option consultation surveys, the Banham Commission's instrument for the hybridization of English local government, which prompted accusations of policymaking by opinion poll; and the stage three 're-review' surveys for the Cooksey Commission, which had already indicated its disinclination to accord local public opinion any special weighting in its deliberations. The article attempts to summarize, in two key tables, both the results and the impact of the Commission's public consultations, and in doing so to trace the progress of the review from an initially proposed 99 new unitary authorities, down to 50, then 38, and back up to the final total of 46.     

Labour's Modernization of Local Government

The modernization of local government is central to the government's plans to revitalize the UK's constitutional arrangements. Implicitly managerialist, the modernizing local government project also contains centralist and localist themes. Translated into policy, these themes are articulated as leadership, community, democracy and regulation. However, these elements are potentially contradictory and may produce tensions in the project that may be difficult to resolve. By reviewing the government's aims to promote leadership, community and democracy in local government, it is also argued that the planned modernization of local government will extend further and into new areas the regulation of local authorities.     

The Implications of the Lyons Report into Local Government in England for Structural Reform in Australian Local Government

The Lyons Inquiry into English local government presented its Final Report in 2007. It has significant implications for local government jurisdictions beyond England. This article considers the import of the Lyons Inquiry for reform to Australian local government. It is argued that the Lyons Inquiry adds weight to other work that questions the traditional reliance on amalgamation as the chief instrument of Australian local government reform. In particular, the “place-shaping” thesis developed in the Lyons Inquiry shows that the Australian emphasis on structural reform has been misdirected. Further, the Lyons Report offers a range of policy options besides municipal amalgamation.