New development: Corporatization of local authorities in England in the wake of austerity 2010–2016

A key institutional driver of current reforms within English local government is ‘alternative service delivery’. Our review of councils’ annual accounts between 2010/11 and 2016/17 suggests ‘corporatization’—the creation of local authority companies—is a growing phenomenon across the whole of English local government. This represents such a significant and far-reaching development in the governance, performance and efficiency of local public services that it constitutes a major field-level change at the interstices of the institutions of state, market, corporation and community. In this article, the authors briefly sketch ways corporatization could be regarded as a field-level change, before presenting findings and reflecting on their implications.     

Accountability and Transparency in English Local Government: Moving from ‘Matching Parts’ to ‘Awkward Couple’?

Although excessive transparency and accountability demands can have a counterproductive effect on organisational performance (Bovens, 2005), longstanding hierarchical accountability structures to ensure financial conformance in English local government continue to endure. Interestingly however, the previously top‐down regime for performance accountability in English local government has been replaced by bottom‐up mechanisms such as greater transparency and a more open market for public services. Using the framework developed by Hood (2010), this paper will show how such reforms mean that transparency and accountability are moving from being ‘matching parts’ to an ‘awkward couple’, and how this has significant implications for public services.     

Local authority education expenditure in 1982/83: A paper for the expenditure steering group ‐ Education

Central service departments of local authorities (such as personnel and legal services) have had to become more aware of direct service departments as ‘customers’. A proportion of these professional services will be subject to Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT) over the next few years. These services have to adapt to being customer‐led, or face the possibility of losing business. One of the earliest responses to this new situation occurred in Newcastle City Council, where the Treasurer's Department undertook a ‘customer‐care’ initiative. This article describes an evaluation of the initiative, showing how the effects can be measured and revealing how clear feedback about areas that might otherwise be neglected can be obtained using survey methods.     

Risk management challenges of shared public services: a comparative analysis of Scotland and Finland

This paper analyses the risk management challenges of shared service provision in Scotland and Finland. Policy context and institutional frameworks largely determine the local choice of organizational arrangements and so the risks that arise and the way they are shared. Finnish municipalities have developed joint municipal arrangements for sharing services, whereas Scotland's shared service challenges are related to the historical separation of health and social care services and the search for cost savings while improving service effectiveness.     

Public Participation and Citizen-Centred Local Government: Lessons from the Best Value and Better Government for Older People Pilot Programmes

This article examines the contribution that public participation can make to the development of 'citizen-centred government'. It draws upon the evidence of two major initiatives established by central and local government to develop and test out new approaches to service delivery (the Best Value and the Better Government for Older People pilot programmes). Evaluation of these two sets of pilots suggests that the notion of 'citizen-centred government' and the forms of participation that are required to achieve it are liable to a range of different interpretations. In particular there is an important distinction between approaches which seek to promote community planning and user-focused services, and those that envisage a much more active role for local people in designing and delivering local services.     

上海市人口老龄化与养老服务体系建设

21世纪上半叶,上海市户籍老年人养老服务需求增长速度将明显在快于老年人口数增长速度。本文在概括近年来上海市按＂9073＂养老服务格局要求加快养老服务体系建设的基础上,提出了相应对策和建议,认为上海市应按适度比例增加养老机构床位数,完善养老服务优惠政策,加强对亲属或民间保姆照顾的支持,重视老年人心灵关爱等,更进一步地搞好养老服务体系的建设。     

Higher education

There is a growing interest in the use of marketing techniques and approaches in the management of the public services, as a result of changed perceptions of public services, and the developments in public service management in the last decade. This article discusses the nature of marketing and distinguishes strategic marketing from consumer marketing. The particular difficulties of marketing public services are considered. Specific development of marketing approaches in the civil service, local government, and the National Health Service are discussed. Finally, it is argued that the applicability of marketing concepts in the public services is limited because of the nature of the polity and the relationship between states and citizens.     

Forensic accounting services in English local government and the counter-fraud agenda

ABSTRACT

Fraud is a growing challenge for English local government, yet the resources and support local authorities (LAs) have available to prevent, detect and investigate it are limited. Forensic accounting services (FAS) provided by external specialist private sector firms, particularly those undertaking mandatory external audit, might be one solution. Research reported in this paper suggests, however, that existing English LA users are not all convinced. Nevertheless, better awareness and understanding of what FAS have to offer, perhaps through case studies of successful implementation, would be a valuable contribution to helping local government enhance its counter-fraud capabilities and make informed decisions about how best to meet the increasingly complex fraud challenge.     

How demand scale affect services exports? Evidence from financial development perspective

China's service trade is increasingly capable of "going out," but there are still problems of uneven and insufficient economic development. This study uses bilateral services trade data from 2000 to 2018 to conduct empirical testing using the extended mutual gravity model and the threshold effect model. The results show that (i) an expansion in the size of the domestic market can significantly boost a country's service exports, and the magnitude of the impact is rising year by year. (ii) The development of the financial sector can strengthen the local market effect by increasing demand, thus promoting foreign exports. Financial development has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between demand size and the exports of service trade. (iii) Under the influence of the level of financial development, there is a "threshold effect" of domestic market demand size on service exports. This threshold effect varies among different types of services and different country categories. This study provides macro evidence that the scale of demand affects service exports and has important theoretical implications for the formulation of national service trade policies.     

Performing 'Performance'—A Comedy in Five Acts

The public service in the United Kingdom is awash with performance data. From the ubiquitous league tables for schools, local authorities and police services, through key performance indicators for civil service agencies right up to Government-level Public Service Agreements, the number of published performance data sets probably now reaches five figures annually. The author discusses some of the aspects of being what are probably the most 'performance-reported' public services in the world.     

More long-term care for better healthcare and vice versa: investigating the mortality effects of interactions between these public sectors

Public healthcare (HC) and long-term care (LTC) sectors coexist in several OECD countries. Economic interactions between these two sectors have been found to occur even in the absence of formal integrated care arrangements. We investigate whether and how interactions between the HC and LTC sectors impact mortality. We analyse data on English local authorities in 2014–15 and employ a sequence of cross-sectional econometric specifications based on instrumental variables to identify the effect that LTC expenditure has on mortality through its interactions with HC services, and vice versa. Our findings suggest that any effect of LTC expenditure on mortality is likely to run through the HC sector by allowing the latter to reallocate resources from less to more effective services. A 10 per cent increase in LTC expenditure per user can indirectly save, on average, about three lives per million individuals. In addition, on top of the known HC direct mortality effects, we find that investing an extra £42 million in the HC sector – equivalent to a 10 per cent increase in HC expenditure per capita for the average local authority – can decrease the use of LTC services, producing around £7.8 million of savings. These can generate mortality effects if invested in services having an impact on mortality.     

中国政府间财政关系改革:地方视角

1994年的分税制改革,初步理顺了中央与各省级政府间的财政关系。体制运行十余年来,在取得巨大成效的背景下,暴露出以基层财政困难、地区间公共服务水平差异显著等为典型的现实问题。从地方视角而言,应以增强地方政府公共服务能力和均衡地方公共服务水平为基本出发点,逐步建立收入划分与支出划分相匹配的政府间财政关系安排。     

Operating Codes in the Emerging System of Local Governance: From 'Top-Down State' to 'Disciplined Pluralism'?

By focusing on the intentional interventions of recent governments, many accounts of UK local governance have under-estimated the significance of evolutionary local institutional change. This article corrects that imbalance. Following an exploration of ideas associated with the 'adaptive state', the article considers the relevance of the concept of 'disciplined pluralism' to an appropriate rebalancing of the legitimate interests of the different stakeholders in local public services. The author also examines the fundamental issue of the desirable future operating code for managing local institutional innovation.     

声誉风险视角下商业银行服务收费问题分析

近年以来,服务收费问题令商业银行面临严峻的声誉风险考验。随着银行市场经济主体地位的转型和强化,实施服务收费已是大势所趋。因此,有必要采取以下措施:加强有关法律与银行服务价格管理办法之间的衔接,引导社会公众树立有偿金融服务理念;增强服务定价机制的科学性与收费行为的公信力,有效保证客户的事前知情权和交易选择权,促进服务收费过程的透明化和合理化;站在公共利益角度切实加强对银行服务收费的外部监督管理,维护良好的市场竞争秩序;将服务收费标准的提高建立在服务增值的基础之上,通过效率的改进实现银行与客户的互惠共赢。     

Third sector commissioning and English local government procurement

This article investigates third sector commissioning policy commitments and their relevance to English local government procurement. The conclusion is that there is confusion regarding the differences between commissioning and procurement. Policy commitments are not properly embedded in procurement policy, strategy, procedures and performance management. Other countries with an interest in these policy developments should take note of the issues regarding embedding in order to improve service delivery and commissioning decisions.     

Imagining Australia's energy services futures

The ways Australians use energy have changed significantly over the past 30 years, for example the low-energy intensity services sector has grown its share of the economy, and they will change more, as factors such as climate change, an ageing population and changing cultures and technologies impact. Many consider that energy use is driven by economic and population growth. While these are important, the nature of change in energy service requirements and the efficiency with which energy services are delivered are even more important. This paper discusses past and future trends in Australia's energy service requirements, and assesses the implications for energy supply.Changes in global and local energy service requirements mean that demand for Australian energy and resource exports may decline significantly in absolute terms, and the viability of conventional energy grids, even in cities, will be questionable. The actual outcome will be sensitive to decisions, both conscious and unconscious, made by individuals, business and governments.     

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Most of the management accounting activity in local government has traditionally been thought of as being confined primarily to the requirements of budget preparation and budgetary control. The budget is generally recognised as being at the heart of planning, decision-making and control and yet there have been many examples of the limitations in conventional budgeting and budgetary control practices being pointed out. It might have been expected that the period of consistent financial stringency faced by local government from 1979 onwards would have quickly exposed any limitations and brought about changes. In reality it seems that the management accounting and budgeting practices in local government responded surprisingly slowly to the financial pressures and it is only with the relatively recent introduction of the 'private sector' philosophies of devolved management and market testing that widespread developments in management accounting have begun to occur. Many of these developments are still evolving and because of this it seemed inappropriate at this stage to attempt a cross-sectional survey of current practices. This paper therefore concentrates on the position in two specific local authorities and examines the current DSO accounting practices. In addition, the analysis undertaken by one of the authorities of the steps needed to implement internal trading accounts for financial support services is discussed and the interesting experimental attempt by one of the authorities to introduce zero base budgeting for a major service is also examined.     

A cross-category examination of consumer price awareness in financial and non-financial services

Consumer awareness of prices is a fundamental requirement for sound purchase decisions. However, while in recent years the volume of research on consumer price awareness for manufactured goods has grown significantly, studies of price awareness in services, and in particular in financial services are almost nonexistent. As a result, the overall understanding of the level price awareness for financial services and its potential determinants has been limited. This paper profiles the level price awareness for a series of financial services as well as non-financial services. Systematic differences between financial and non-financial services are empirically examined, and the related drivers are contrasted between the two types of service. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings on the pricing and marketing of financial services.     

Best Value: Is It Delivering?

The enhancement of public service performance has been a central concern of successive Labour governments since 1997. Best Value is intended to address this by replacing the former policy of compulsory competitive tendering with a policy that has been likened to a local government version of total quality management. In this article the authors draw on a survey of local government officers to explore the extent to which BV is providing the basis for improvements in the quality of local services and finds mixed results.