Local Government Improvement in England: Policies, Progress and Prospects

Steve Martin

doi:10.5130/cjlg.v0i8/9.2412

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5130/cjlg.v0i8/9.2412

Steve Martin

Centre for Local & Regional Government Research, Cardiff Business School

Abstract

Whilst many countries have been devolving power to the sub-national level England has moved in the opposite direction. For the last decade English local government has been subjected to tight top down performance monitoring and financial controls. The evidence suggests that these policies have helped to encourage significant improvements in performance. However critics argue that they have been costly to implement and have undermined local democratic accountability. In response to these concerns the current government has promised to sweep away external assessment in favour of self-regulation by councils and in-depth scrutiny by citizens. This ‘new localism’ poses important questions for both policy makers and researchers. In particular how far will the promised reforms actually go and what impacts will they have on the service standards?

How to Cite

Martin, S. (2011). Local Government Improvement in England: Policies, Progress and Prospects. Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance, (8-9). https://doi.org/10.5130/cjlg.v0i8/9.2412

Issue

Issue 8/9 2011

Section

Research and Evaluation (peer-reviewed)

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Author Biography

Steve Martin, Centre for Local & Regional Government Research, Cardiff Business School

Steve Martin is Professor of Public Policy and Management and Director of the Centre for Local & Regional Government Research. Steve’s research interests are in public policy evaluation and public service improvement and he is acknowledged as one of the UK’s leading academic experts on local government policy. He has published more 50 papers in leading refereed academic journals, authored 30 book chapters and written in excess of 100 commissioned reports. He has a long and successful research track record of directing large scale research programmes which have been funded by a range of agencies in the UK and internationally including: the Economic and Social Research Council, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Leverhulme Trust, a range of central government departments, the Scottish Executive, Welsh Assembly Government, European Commission, Audit Commission, Accounts Commission, the Improvement and Development Agency, Standards Board and the Local Government Association. Steve is Associate Editor of Local Government Studies and a member of the editorial boards of Public Money and Management and Solace Foundation Imprint. He has been a Director of the Improvement and Development Agency since 2002, is co-chair of the Department for Communities and Local Government’s Local and Regional Government Research Network and was recently appointed to the board of the New Local Government Network. He has given evidence to a range of select committees and inquiries and was the academic adviser to the Beecham Review of Local Service Delivery in Wales in 2005 and 2006. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Public Sector Management Wales and has been a consultant to the European Commission, UK government, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Scottish Executive, as well as to the Council of Europe’s Committee on Local and Regional Democracy, the Lyons Review and the Ministerial Review of the Balance of Funding. Steve was a founder member of the UK Evaluation Society and is a Director of Options for Life, a voluntary organization that develops innovative services for people with learning disabilities in the UK and internationally.

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Steve Martin, Centre for Local & Regional Government Research, Cardiff Business School