Steve Leach

The changing organisation and management of local government

The Nature of Local Authorities - The Contribution of Organisation Theory - Organisational Continuity and Organisational Change - Internal Management: Structures and Processes - The Political Dimension - Managing People - Decentralised Management - The Role of the Centre - Managing with Other Organisations: Competition and Enabling - Conclusion: The New Local Authority?

The politics of hung authorities

Hung councils in context influences of the hung situation objectives and strategies structural budgetary and policy outcomes procedural outcomes ways of working and cirumstances and circumstances of change the lessons to be learnt. Appendices: hung authorities 1980-90 characteristics of the hung authorities visited in the survey local conventions and working practices in Avon County Council.

The Impact of Compulsory Competitive Tendering

Of all the changes introduced by the 1979–97 Conservative Governments, perhaps the most fundamental and far-reaching were those associated with compulsory competitive tendering (CCT). Successive legislative enactments forced local authorities to put specified services out to competitive tender on terms and time-scales established by the centre. In many cases, as we shall see, the tenders were won not by private companies but by in-house bids from a council’s own workforce. But the very acts of putting together a tender document and drawing up and monitoring contracts produce profound changes in the internal management and operation of an authority — sufficiently profound in our view for CCT to justify a chapter in its own right.

Political Parties and Local Democracy

The period immediately following local government reorganisation in 1974 saw, particularly in more rural areas, a marked acceleration of the party politicisation of local government. One major cause of this development was the structural reorganisation itself: the boundary changes and the amalgamation of small and independent-dominated authorities into larger and more overtly partisan ones. An additional cause was the incorporation of formerly ‘independent’ councillors, associated with, and even members of, the Conservative Party into the Conservative mainstream as a result of explicit pressure being placed upon them to stand in future as officially adopted Conservative candidates, or risk facing the opposition of such candidates. As a result, in the years since reorganisation, the number of ‘non-partisan’ councils and independent councillors has continued to fall, although the latter are still in a majority in nearly one council in ten, and retain a significant presence on at least the same number again.

The local government review: A critical appraisal

The Local Government Review is facing a crisis of credibility. The process of reorganization has always been fundamentally flawed, because of the Reviews isolation from the other major issues facing local government and the fact that it is rooted in an explicit concept of the role and functions of local government. The Governments intervention in October 1993—speeding up the Review and imposing revised guidance—made a difficult situation worse. Although there are other possible scenarios, the new guidance is likely to lead to ‘political’ situations, in which the role of the Local Government Commission is reduced to that of a symbolic legitimation of a governmental ‘quick fix’, along the lines of the solution so arbitrarily drawn up and imposed in Scotland and Wales.

Center–Local Linkages: The Impact of Policy Planning Systems

This paper examines policy planning systems in British central-local government relations, and in particular the formal, structured relationship in the local transport policy sector, as a means of exploring the impact in intergovernmental relations of the form of linkage between institutions. This impact is analysed in terms of central governments ability to use the planning system to promote policy processes and promote and regulate policy content in the locality. The use of specific and block grants by central government as a potential instrument of control in relation to policy planning systems is discussed. An examination of limiting cases reveals the importance of local resources in minimising central government influence through the policy planning system, and suggests that institutions will seek to restructure the form of linkage or underlying resources when they see themselves loosing advantage to others.

The Role of the Centre

In the previous chapter, we analysed recent changes which had taken place in the organisational structures and processes of local authorities. In this chapter we focus on one particular aspect of structure and process, which has received a good deal of attention recently — the role of the centre. In fact, the nature and role of the centre in the local authority has been the subject of debate and review since the mid-1960s. The centre typically consists of a number of services and structures that are not engaged in the management of the direct delivery of service but contribute to the overall effectiveness of the organisation, either through providing indirect services or through corporate activity. The functions that are typically organised on a generalised basis are finance, legal services, personnel management, computer services, property management and public relations. Virtually every local authority now has a Chief Executive who is the head of the organisation at the officer level. At the elected-member level there is also a central organisation, involving the policy committee, the leading elected members and leader of the council. The central organisation of the local authority tends to be large, often contributing 10 per cent or more of total costs and employment.

The Lessons to be Learnt

In this book we have set out the experience of hung authorities in Great Britain in the period from 1985 to 1989, although drawing upon other experience where it was appropriate. The importance of 1985 to 1989 was that during that period there was a significant increase in the number of hung authorities, particularly in the counties. Between 1985 and 1989 as we have seen, about half the counties were hung, enabling us to study the experience of the hung situation across a wide range of major authorities as well as to draw upon other experience.

The National Local Government System

This chapter moves beyond the traditional and rather narrow focus of Whitehall-English local authority relations to convey something of the extent and diversity of the ‘national local government system’ in the UK. What will emerge is a picture of numerous policy networks constituting a governmental system which is both complex and fragmented. This chapter focuses on five of the most important elements comprising and impinging upon the national local government system: 1 Territorial Relationships — the distinctive patterns of central-local relations which operate in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 2 The Local Authority Associations — the ‘national community of local government’ e.g. Association of Metropolitan Authorities (AMA) and Association of District Councils (ADC). 3 The Impact of Professionalism — professionalised networks in specific areas (e.g. housing, planning) can play a major role in pushing forward specific policy options which are then frequently applied throughout UK local authorities. 4 Non-elected Bodies — the plethora of nominated boards, central government arm’s-length agencies, public-private partnership organisations now operating at local level with their own policy networks. 5 The European Dimension — a growing number of local authorities are engaging with the EC, both directly and via bodies such as the Local Government International Bureau. Additionally, EC legislation and policies directly impact on the activities of individual local authorities.

Themes and Issues in Local Government

This chapter introduces some of the main issues and themes of UK local government in the 1990s. It then identifies some of the key defining characteristics of our local government system. We start by trying to demonstrate the value of our own advice about the benefits of following local government in the national and local press. If, for example, you had been scanning the press in the winter of 1992/93, the headlines that might have caught your eye would almost certainly have included some of those in Exhibit 2.1.