Transforming Local Government: Innovation and Modernization

This article is based on research investigating why local authorities innovate and what happens when they do. The authors show how local authorities have responded to the current normative climate for innovation, and explore the interaction between central policy and local action. The article demonstrates the importance of the policy climate set by central government in fostering—or constraining—innovation at a local level.     

THE FINANCIAL IMPACT OF ABOLITION

One argument for metropolitan county council abolition in England was that it would save money, yet detailed studies suggested that it would increase expenditure. After abolition, Government statements emphasised the savings that had resulted. Analysis of expenditure change from 1984/5 to 1987/8 shows that rate and grant-borne expenditure on transferred services increased by four percent over the four-year period, compared with nine percent for all metropolitan county council, district council and precepting authority services. Some increases are directly attributable to diseconomies of scale caused by abolition, while others reflect local political choices which have become possible. Expenditure reductions are also evident in some areas.     

Intervention or Persuasion? Strategies for Turnaround of Poorly-Performing Councils

This article provides early results from a long-term evaluation of the turnaround strategies by poorly-performing local authorities in England. The history and theory behind central government interventions into local government is reviewed, focusing on the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA). The journeys taken by 10 local authorities, after being labelled as 'poor' or 'weak', are described and these responses are located within the literature on theories of turnaround and public sector service improvement. The authors conclude by setting out a research agenda for the future.     

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.