Research Note: Purchaser-Provider – Are the Purchasers Ready for It?

New Public Management (NPM) is correctly seen as a multifaceted set of changes, with different emphases in the many countries in which programs of reform have been implemented (Hood 1995). In Australia and New Zealand, and to a significant extent in the UK, the replacement of hierarchical with contractual or quasi-contractual relations lies at the heart of NPM (Boston et al. 1996; Laffin 1997; Walsh 1995).     

No visible difference: a women's empowerment process in a Cambodian NGO

The lives of female Cambodian NGO staff are characterised by the contradictions of apparent freedom and multiple invisible constraints on their behaviour and choices. An empowerment process facilitated by an expatriate did not produce the expected responses of sisterhood and group action. Through a series of workshops, learning emerged about the context-dependent nature of concepts of empowerment, and the irrelevance of many Western models for other cultures. Fear and mistrust, rooted in both traditional culture and the post-conflict context, are powerful and profound blocks to change in women's lives. No visible difference in workplace behaviours appeared after the empowerment process. However, the women responded to new insights about their lives, beliefs, and culture in ways that had meaning for them; and they reported significant benefits for family and social relationships.     

The development of the comprehensive health assessment tool for young offenders within the secure estate

Health inequalities are high among offending groups. The comprehensive health assessment tool (CHAT) is a semi-structured assessment developed to provide a standardised approach to health screening for all young offenders admitted to the secure estate. The four sections of the CHAT (physical health, mental health, substance misuse and neurodisability) were evaluated within a two-phased study of male adolescents (aged 15–18?years) within a young offenders institution in the north-west of England. Within Phase 1, a consecutive sample of 127 new receptions was assessed using the physical health, mental health and substance misuse sections of the CHAT against a range of reference standard assessments. Phase 2 of the study evaluated the neurodisability section on 93 male adolescents against reference standard tools. The four sections of the CHAT demonstrated fair to good convergent validity when compared against reference standard tools in male offenders. The diagnostic accuracy rate was 76% for mental health, 63% for physical health, 83% for substance misuse and 53% for neurodisability when compared against reference standard assessment tools. The introduction of the CHAT offers the opportunity to enhance existing reception screening practices and create an integrated approach to the assessment of health needs across the secure estate.     

Actions taken in response to mental health screening at reception into prison

Screening for mental health problems on reception into custody has been criticised. However, there have been few studies on care pathways through custody as a result of screening identification. We aimed to identify what actions were taken as a result of screening positive for suicidal ideation and mental health problems. Case records for 2166 prisoners newly received into five prisons in England and documented contact with health care professionals in the following month were examined by hand over a four-month period. Altogether, 3% of prisoners were screened as having current suicidal ideas, of whom 30% had no contact with mental health services or risk assessment documentation. Another 21% of new receptions received psychotropic medication, for whom over 60% received no primary mental health assessment, and only 36% received psychotropic medication in prison. Care pathways need to be defined, and screening needs to be delivered as originally intended by initial screen for life-threatening matters, followed by a later, comprehensive assessment of health needs.     

Governance Disclosure on the Internet: The Case of Australian State Government Departments

This paper examines corporate governance disclosures on the websites of Australian state government departments. The study focuses on the nature and extent of governance information and the ease of finding this information directly on department websites and also in annual reports which are downloadable from websites. Our sample comprises six departments from each of the six states in Australia, giving a sample size of 36 departments. Our findings indicate considerable variability in both the level of disclosure and the accessibility of the information disclosed. The study also highlights a lack of consensus regarding the meaning of governance and what governance comprises, together with the need for a more structured approach to communicating governance information to stakeholders.     

Stray bullets and “mushrooms”: Random shootings of bystanders in four cities, 1977–1988

Bystanders killed by bullets not specifically intended for them have long been a very small part of the homicide problem. But the frequency of press accounts of such killings and woundings has apparently increased nationally in recent years. To test this impression, we compiled all shootings of bystanders hit at random and reported in the published indexes of theNew York Times, theLos Angeles Times, and theWashington Post for 1977–1988, as well as a key word computer search of stories in theBoston Globe. We found a rapid increase in both bystander woundings and killings since 1985 in all four cities. The base rate was quite low, and total bystander deaths appear to comprise less than 1% of all homicides in these cities. Nonetheless, the numbers were large enough to show that most bystanders reported shot in New York and Los Angeles are victims of random shootings into crowds, rather than single stray bullets striking a lone individual mushroom. The reverse was true in Boston and Washington, with the effect of much lower rates of bystanders reported shot in those cities.     

‘Needed — a sense of proportion !’ Notes on the history of expenditure control

Abstract. In the current debate about excessive and alleged wasteful public expenditures, it is important to review the history of the control process since the early 1930s and to re-examine the principal conclusions of the Glassco Commission of the early 1960s. Presently the government has announced its intention to appoint a Financial Comptroller or overseer, which was a course recommended by Mr. Macdonell, the Auditor General of Canada. It is not clear how this new appointee would fit into the public service system. Will this constitute a partial return to the system of pre-audit and central accounting which was embodied in the former Comptroller of the Treasury? How will these new financial responsibilities be related to the authority of the Treasury Board and the responsibilities of the various government departments and agencies for ensuring that they have good internal control procedures? It is suggested here that there is now a quiet acceptance of the idea that objective tests of financial judgments are very difficult to develop and apply. There is, in fact, a current view that the findings of the early 1960s placed too much emphasis on the possibility of adapting private sector mechanisms to public sector problems. This proposition needs a renewed and critical appraisal, particularly as the restiveness of those outside government about public sector laxity is rising steadily. This presentation to the Government Management program reviews the main findings of Glassco and concludes that there has been only a partial implementation of the Royal Commission recommendations and that this may be a major factor in weakening the system of internal review and control. The public debate will continue and the talk was prepared prior to the announcement of the inquiry now being chaired by Mr. Allen Lambert. The issues raised are important to everyone concerned with high standards of public administration. Sommaire. Au cours du débat actuel sur le gaspillage présumé et excessif des fonds publics, il est important de faire l'historique du processus de contrǒle à partir de 1930 et de réexaminer les principales conclusions de la Commission Glassco, au début des années 60. A l'heure actuelle, le gouvernement s'est déclaré prět à nommer un contrǒleur des finances, comme l'avait recommandé M. Macdonell, l'auditeur-général du Canada. Toutefois le rǒle qu'assumerait ce contrǒleur est mal défini. Est-ce qu'il impliquerait un retour partiel au système de pré-vérification et de comptabilité centralisée dont l'ancien contrǒ leur du Trésor était la personnification? Comment ces nouvelles responsabilités en matière financière seraient-elles reliées à celles du Conseil du Trésor à celles des différents services et organismes gouvernementaux en ce qui concerne les procédures de contrǒle internes? Des remarques récentes de l'ancien secrétaire du Conseil du Trésor suggèrent que Ton reconnaǐt aujourd'hui, au moins offi-cieusement, que l'élaboration et l'application de tests objectifs aux jugements financiers présentent de grandes difficultés. On pense couramment, en fait, que les conclusions du début des années 60 insistaient trop sur la possibilité d'adapter les mécanismes du secteur privé aux problèmes du secteur public. Cette proposition doit ětre d'autant plus réexaminée et réévaluée qu’à l'extérieur du gouvernement on se préoccupe de plus en plus d'un certain public. L'auteur de cet exposé aux participants du programme de gestion du gouvemement passe en revue les principales conclusions de Classco et conclut que les recommandatìons de la Commission royale n'ont été appliquées que partìellement, ce qui pourrait ětre l'un des principaux facteurs responsable de l'affaiblissement du système de vérification et de contrǒle internes. Le débat public va continuer. Cet exposé avait été préparé avant l'annonce de l'enquěte que préside maintenant M. Allen Lambert. Les questions qu'elle soulève sont importantes pour tous ceux qui désirent une administration publique de haut calibre.