Michael Macaulay

Ethics at the Crossroads? Developments in the Ethical Framework for Local Government

This article discusses the current state of the ethical framework for local government, which developed under the broader Modernisation Agenda of the Local Government Act 2000. It argues that the local government framework stands at a crossroads between the high road and the low road of ethics. Whereas the low road leads down the path of compliance and quantifiable performance measures, the high road is far more ambitious and leads to a culture of ethical governance. Recent developments - such as upcoming Section 66 regulations and the expansion of the role of the monitoring officer - have highlighted the choice between these two paths. This article will analyse the scope of unethical activity in local government, primarily in England, and map the regulatory terrain of the local government ethical framework. It identifies precursors to the framework and examines the way in which the Local Government Act 2000 built upon, and deviated from, the recommendations of the third report of the Committee for Standards in Public Life. Finally it discusses what has happened since the LGA 2000 Act was implemented, and assesses whether the framework is now poised to go down the high road of ethical culture or low road of compliance.

Towards a Model of Local Integrity Systems: The Experiences of Local Government in Great Britain

This article expands upon the concepts of the local integrity system (LIS) and integrity management system through a qualitative analysis of the integrity frameworks for local government in Great Britain. With an emphasis on the recent English experience, but drawing upon the comparative systems in Wales and Scotland, the article demonstrates some ways in which integrity has been developed, led, monitored, and enforced, and discusses the perceptions of leading stakeholders in relation to this. It will argue, in addition, that recent changes brought by the Localism Act 2011, has potentially weakened the English LIS.

So Near Yet So Far Implications for the Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Legislation Bill*

This article explores some of the implications that arise from New Zealand’s Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Legislation Bill, (OCACL) which was passed into law on 5 November 2015 and comes into effect on 1 January 2016. As an Omnibus Bill, the OCACL makes amendments to twelve different Acts; chief among these are legislative changes pertaining to bribery and corruption. Despite New Zealand’s long-standing reputation for good governance it was one of the very few signatories that had still to ratify the United Nations Conventions Against Corruption (UNCAC). This article identifies a number of potential areas that potentially still do not meet UNCAC requirements, which begs questions not only of the Bill but of the utility of UNCAC itself. Furthermore the article explores a new offence of Trading in Influence, which we suggest has potentially far reaching consequences, in theory at least.

Ethics and Integrity

The last decade has borne witness to an extensive European contribution to the field of ethics and integrity in public administration from theoretical, empirical and methodological perspectives. This chapter begins by distinguishing two broad directions of travel—contributions from Europe and contributions about Europe—before highlighting what was initially identified as the baseline for European research on ethics and integrity. It will then briefly survey the empirical work that has been conducted, and also the conceptual contributions that have been made. In particular, it will look at the European trend to look at integrity from a system level—national, local and organisational. This chapter will conclude with some suggestions about future directions in the field, and gaps that still need to be more deeply addressed.

Local government in England: Fault lines in ethical governance?

Abstract nPurpose nThis chapter looks at the development of the concepts of ethical governance within the English local government structure. It examines this development by reference both to the current crisis in funding and service provision, and also to the development of standards for good governance and integrity. n n nDesign nThe chapter draws upon a national survey that was conducted by the authors in 2012. n n nFindings nThe chapter suggests that while there may have been a wish to create more opportunities for devolved decision-making in English local government through changes in legislation, those policy-makers surveyed thought that the structures and processes of decision-making might be weakened. n n nImplications nThe chapter indicates not just the need for further studies but also a more holistic exploration of the relationships between the ideas of ‘good governance’ and whose different interests are met through such changes.

Looking Back, Moving Forward: Reflections on the Developments in the Field of Quality and Integrity of Governance

In this chapter, Macaulay and de Graaf chart the history of the EGPA Permanent Study Group Quality and Integrity of Governance from its origins, as a European equivalent to the American Society for Public Administration’s ethics chapter, to its achievements in advancing European scholarship and the field of integrity and ethics itself. The authors will show how the Permanent Study Group (PSG) has championed research throughout Europe and beyond, and will highlight the range of jurisdictions that have been represented. They also explain how the PSG has sought to expand the range of methodological perspectives (including experimental psychology, historical method, Q-methodology; and many others) used in the field. In terms of knowledge development, the PSG has led the globe in specific areas (e.g. in local integrity systems) and has been used by national and supranational institutions to forward debate in transparency, integrity and governance.

Introduction to a Symposium in Integrity and Integrity Systems

Welcome to this symposium issue of IJPA, which is based on papers presented at the European Group of Public Administration annual conference in Bergen, Norway in September 2012. The papers are from the permanent study group on Quality and Integrity of Governance, which has been running for eleven years and in that time has produced a wide range of conceptual and empirical research from Asia, Australasia, Africa, and both North and South America. We are delighted to be able to continue this tradition here, and the following articles for the symposium all have a European flavor, encompassing studies from North, South, West, and East, which nevertheless covers a spectrum of integrity issues, from the local, through the national, to the supra-national. We begin in Southern Europe, with Jiménez-Sánchez, García-Quesada, and Villoria’s discussion in “Integrity Systems, Values and Expectations: Explaining Differences in the Extent of Corruption in Three Spanish Local Governments.” The article focuses upon the Local Integrity Systems in three separate locales and looks at the way in which each has tackled the problem of corruption relating to increasing levels of urban development. The authors found that despite differences in the level and nature of corrupt practices in each area, Local Integrity Systems alone could not account for such differences. Nor could public values, which were found through survey data to be broadly similar across each case. Jiménez-Sánchez et al. suggest, therefore, that broader explanatory factors may be at play including informal rules and context-dependent relationships. All of these make the continued search for a set of generalized local integrity measures a quest worth striving for.