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Has DevolutionDelivered?

The strange death of localgovernment….

Richard KerleyR.Kerley@ed.ac.uk

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My intentions ...• To try and answer the question posed in this

seminar series;• To support the proposition of my own title and

- I hope- to prove it;• To challenge some myths & misconceptions

of the devolution process & local government;• To suggest some possible courses of action

to stimulate local government• And…..

‘,,, it’s my job to provoke you ..that’s w hatacademics are for..’ [D avid M amet -O leana]

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Should we even ask yet…?

Read David Hume:

‘To balance a large state or society..is a work of sogreat difficulty that no humangenius however comprehensive…is able to effectthis…the judgements of many are necessary….[and ]time must correct the mistakes which they inevitablyfall into in their first trials and experiments…’

[The Founding Fathers did]

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For local govt there are 4 keyaspects to the question

• Devolution as a process

• The Parliament

• The Executive [ The Scottish Ministers]

• The Executive [ The Scottish Administration]

• All of these elements are related in multipleways to local government

• …any alteration to, or re-stabilising of some ofthese relationships is a classic ‘wicked ‘problem

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Devolution and local government -a symbiotic relationship?

• ‘Devolution is a challenge for localgovernment around the UK’ Jeffery

• Each of the White Papers/ Acts has referredto building relationships with localgovernment in different ways; working with &through local government

• Proposed English Regional Assemblies, apre-condition - concurrent removal of one tier…and local authorities are fundamental to thepromotion of RA’s

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Devolution – a challenge forcentral and local government….

‘Mr Prescott was not in control of events. The

problem with this dispute is that no one has been entirely incontrol.As such, the chaotic pay negotiations are emblematic ofBritain's blurred lines of power…..In the longer term there are

questions about the relations between central and localgovernment, a dry issue that nonetheless is a recurring themein most such dramas that have unfolded in recent years, fromthe management of the floods to the chaos caused by the madcow disease. In most developed countries there is more local

autonomy than in Britain, …………’

Steve Richards Ind on Sun 24.11.02

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Is local governmentimportant?

• ‘Why do I keep going on aboutschool boards and citycouncils?‘Because that is where all thegoverning is done - that’s whatcounts for people’

President Josiah Bartlett, West Wing

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Scale of local government inScotland

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One hundred yearsago…..

[ A man will….]“..walk along the municipalpavement, lit by municipal gas, swept by municipalbrooms with municipal water, and seeing by themunicipal clock in the municipal marketplace that heis too early to meet his children from the municipalschool, hard by the county lunatic asylum andmunicipal hospital, will ...tell them not to walk throughthe municipal park but come by municipal tram..tothe municipal library, gallery and museum..’ ….Sydney Webb [1896]

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However change iscontinuous..even in our

pavements

Edinburgh used to supply electricity

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And there was an‘Edinburgh’ Water Works

Most recently ‘ care’ home inspection departed local government…but new developments in waste ‘re-cycling’are appearing

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Golden age - when?

• Chamberlain and‘sagacious audacity’[Hattersley]: 100years ago ?

• Glasgow CityChambers: 100years ago ?

• Waterloo Bridge : 60/70 yrs?

•Long term -discretionreduced

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Today -Localgovt…irredeemably dull

and banal ?‘I am the wrong person for this job, I feel I should beworking for the council..’ Kathy Burke - Oscar winning

actress

[Mrs Shepherd, Secty of State] ..Looking like the second-in-charge municipal librarian. Hugo Young

‘The Austrian Chancellor…has qualities no more than would beexpected of a competent county council chairman’ British

Ambassador

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However -localgovernment does things• ‘What the council

does matters farmore to myconstituents thanwho forms thenationalgovernment’Simon Hughes MP. F.T.27.4.1997 P10

Resolutions inthe Town Hallaren’t asimportant asgetting the binsemptied.’Margaret Hodge, M.P

Daily Telegraph 2/07/02

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But it is often condemned asdoing them badly

‘ Public sector management, especially inlocal government, is often bad .’[Economist ]

‘Local authority bureaucracy is not bestsuited to deliver dynamism..’ [DigbyJones]

Any commentary on the recent fire-fightersnegotiations *

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Views in Scotland onlocal government...

• ‘My local council provides highquality services’ : 43 to 32

• ‘My local council does the bestit can with the money available’:42 to 33 [Scottish Household Survey]

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But maybe the ‘public’have inconsistent views..

• Satisfaction with local government is high;indeed people are more than twice as likely[52%] to be satisfied with their local council asthey are with parliament. Mori 1997

• However…….91% of respondents agree withthe statement: ‘Generally councils needs toget better at running services..’ Mori 1998

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So the devolution process iseasily damned by

‘Municipalism’Mcwhirter:‘ You couldn’t help thinking that is it all, well, a little bit

municipal’*On renaming the Scottish Executive……[ as]‘ Strathclyde Large; greater Lanarkshire; or

Bigcooncil.com’Andrew Neil:‘ Not one member of the Scottish Parliament would get

more than £18000 pa in the private sector…they wereall jumped up councillors’

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Yet where is the taint of‘municipalism’?

• < Fewer MSPs areformer councillorsthan :

• amongst ScottishMP’s

• amongst Membersof the WA

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Who got the right message onall that local government

experience?‘….remember , also , that

[the] Parliament is criticisedfor being full of localgovernmentfunctionaries…..whoseexperience is viewed as adisadvantage.Less obviously, one of theinstitutions advantages hasbeen turned against it.Alistair McKay 11.01

Blairite ministers, oftenwith a local governmentbackground themselves,have proved to be eagercentralisers in theirdetermination to getresults… Peter Riddell09.02W

rong! W

rong!W

rong!

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How does the ‘old lags’view express itself?

• Ministerial actions

• The attitude offormer [councillors]as Ministers to theirex-colleagues

• ‘Baseline study ofpublic perceptionsof Local govt.’[1995]

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In Scotland as inWestminster..

• At Ministerial level there is tacitscepticism of the capacity of localgovernment to ‘deliver’

• Bennett et al report on mutualsuspicion/hostility across the localgovernment official <> civil servicedivide

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Local govnt + Devolvedinstitutions

Councillors’ views• Local govt shares

same objectives asExecutive:No : 58%Yes: 29%

• Local govt sharessame objectives asParliament:No: 50%Yes:33%

•[Lab cllrs: 44/38]

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The paradox of[ALL]

government

‘...a government ill executed,whatever it may be in theory ,must be, in practice, a badgovernment’

Alexander Hamilton[?]

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The symptoms/causes of[terminal?] decline

• Our declining enthusiasm for voting & collective endeavour

• Our public aspirations v our private wishes

• Increasing homogenisation of society

• Government good intentions

• Government ill intentions

Do they have a similar impact??

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Voting less: than ourneighbours, than our elders..

• 21 country studyshows 81-77 overalldecline over theperiod since 1945

• ‘The disappearingAmerican voter’discusses the’ cohorteffect - also seen inUK

• But only 10% of pop.say voting is notimportant [SHS]

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Turnout

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Collective endeavour in anindividualised society?

• ‘the object of government is to do collectively for peoplewhet they cannot do or cannot do well for themselves intheir separate capacities..’ [Lincoln]…

• But many can do more and more for themselves

• cf with decline in trade union penetration; increase inindividual litigation

• ‘Involved in the local community?’

• 17% adults DUNDEE <> 58% SHETLAND [SHS]

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Public aspirations <>private endeavours

• Typically, we want better public services but to payless in tax; there is limited evidence that this ischanging

• A decline in civic behaviour [ the Edinburghparking furore]

• Much of strong public reaction appears to beexpressed as ‘Me & mine’ [ the Edinburgh floodingdilemma ]

• K. Grant in ‘Scotsman’ of Monday?

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Increasing ‘horizontal’homogenisation of service

activity• 1995 53% thought

services ‘here’ same/ orno different fromelsewhere [Baselinestudy];

• An increased emphasison national standards

• Increased complaintsabout ‘post code ‘ everykind of service

• An increased‘nationalisation’ ofexpectations

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Government ‘Good’intentions

Universal pre-school provision ; whendoes it become compulsory?

Free Care for the elderly – a passportbenefit; is there any need for a localgovernment intermediary?

Cheap public transport for older people -why not an elderly card at 60/65 [orBlunkett style ID cards?]?

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Government ‘ill’intentions

• Perfomance Indicators as league tables -they are treated as such by some media -and this trend may accelerate

• Targets…..may lead to sanctions• The dissolution of a DLO [North

Lanarkshire]…may be a prelude to the‘centrification’ of, say, an Education/Socialwork/Cleansing department that is ‘failing’.

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1997/8/9McIntosh;

Suspension of CCT

1999/2000…2001Champions of Change

Leadership Advisory PanelWP on Renewing Local

DemocracyConsultation

2000/2001Ethical Standards Act

Commnty PlanningWorking Pty

2002/3Local Government

BillLocal Governance

Bill ?

England

Scotland

1999Local Govt ActWhite Paper

2000Local government

Act

1997/8White Paper

2002/3Regional

assemblies etc

A comparison of progress

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Contrasting past- contrasting futures..

• Services and jobs - 80’s

• Services or jobs? Many councilleaders in the 90’s

• Services or government?Not many people -yet?

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Some modest proposals

• If housing is exiting from councils – what of education?• Affirmative local voting on capital proposals; bond issue &

council tax supplement to cover interest.• Repatriate business rates to the jurisdiction.• Remove all planning and other ‘appeal’ channels.• Remove all ‘second guessing ‘powers on – e.g. - school

closure, traffic crossings, flood prevention, and countlessother matters!

•Proportion representation for local government …..Ihave nothing to add

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Are we all ready to pay the [policy &financial ] price of multi tier

governmentSteve Richards again:

‘Mr Prescott was not in control of events. The problem with this dispute is thatno one has been entirely in control. As such, the chaotic pay negotiations

are emblematic of Britain's blurred lines of power

……………………………..In the longer term there are questions about therelations between central and local government, a dry issue that

nonetheless is a recurring theme in most such dramas that have

unfolded in recent years, from the management of the floods to the chaoscaused by the mad cow disease. In most developed countries there is more

local autonomy than in Britain…….

……allowing for more regional variations in pay settlements in public

services and more clear-cut lines of responsibility

in terms of who runs what. ‘

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I somehow think we arenot ready…..

‘Take what you want - butpay the price’

A Spanish Proverb

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Thank you!

• And from January27th contact me - ifyou wish - @