REVIEWS
| Date | 01 June 1986 |
| Published date | 01 June 1986 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1986.tb00619.x |
REVIEWS
BETWEEN CENTRE
AND
LOCALITY
Stewart Ranson, George Jones and Kieron
Walsh
(eds.)
Allen
&
Unwin For the Institute
of
Local
Government Studies, University
of
Birmingham,
1985.
332pp.
222.00
Mrs Thatcher and her ministers have at least one singular achievement to their credit:
the study of local government is no longer boring.
If
the policies of successive Conservative
governments have strained credulity over the past seven years, they have also promoted
conflict, confrontation and sharp fluctuations in the relationship between central and local
government. The spectacle may be morbid, the twentieth century equivalent of throwing
Christians to the lions, but it is fascinating for all that. This collection of essays by members
of
the Institute of Local Government Studies
of
the University
of
Birmingham provides
an account of events in the ampitheatre, covering the dilemmas of central-local relations,
the control of resources and the restructuring of policy sectors.
Drawing upon research carried out for the Social Science Research Council's Panel of
Central-Local Government Relations, the essays 'explore the changing patterns of control.
.
.
across a wide range of policy sectors' and 'the restructuring of the relations between state
and society'. Thus, Ranson and Walsh in their introduction argue that the relations have
shifted from the welfare state settlement through the social-democratic and corporate state
to the liberal state post-1979, pursuing the twin strategies of hierarchies and markets. In
consequence there has been an 'erosion of local autonomy' which 'makes the locality the
agent
of
the centre' and generates 'increasing uniformity
of
functions' as 'local authorities
are.
.
.encouraged.
.
.to shift their concern from social to economic priorities' (p.
16).
As
John Stewart points out, however, intervention is not control and he identifies a set of
problems in central-local relations: a divide in understanding, a lack of learning, fragmenta-
tion at the centre and a random set of instruments. The paradox arises, therefore, of a
centre which sees local authorities with a remarkable degree of autonomy and of localities
conscious of the centre's legal and financial constraints and subject to repeated interventions.
The key dilemma is one of 'local authorities which make decisions with which central
government does not necessarily agree' (p.
34).
Subsequent chapters provide numerous examples of this 'necessary dilemma'
in
operation
and nowhere is this clearer than in the discussion
of
resources. Thus, John Gibson explains
why block grant failed, Owen Lomas reviews the spate of judicial interventions, Kieron
Walsh describes the controls on manpower and Norman
Flynn
recounts the peculiar fate
of direct labour organizations
(DLOS).
Walshs conclusion for manpower that 'the present
system provides for neither planning nor control' (p.
117)
could stand as a summary for
the policy mess identified by
all,
but the current
gulf
is perhaps best captured by the 'reform'
of
DLOS.
In an attempt to prevent work being split-up into small packages, thereby
avoiding the requirement to tender, the
DOE
came up with the following 'nonsense' defini-
tion of a 'job:
'A
job.
.
.shall be treated together with one or more other jobs if.
.
.each
232 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
job was undertaken within three months, each relates to work of the same type and each
relates to work to be performed on a single site or surface or on adjacent sites or surfaces
whether separated horizontally or vertically’.(p. 125) although deleted from the circular,
there could be no finer example of either the centre’s perception of a lack of control or
of an intervention better designed to drive local authorities to utter distraction.
The section on policy sectors is sub-divided into infrastructures (e.g. transport), services
(e.g. health) and issues (e.g. unemployment, race). Jt contains particularly useful surveys of
housing (Valerie Karn), education (Stewart Ranson) and social services (Adrian Webb and
Gerald Wistow). Unfortunately, it would seem that the editorial brief was adhered to by
some contributors to their cost. Some chapters are remarkably short, reminiscent of the
surveys of policy areas in
Local
Government
Studies‘ Annual
Review.
Thus inner cities
occupied a mere 12%~~. for housing and 2Opp. for education. Such differences surely
cannot reflect the editors‘ views on the relative importance of the policy areas. Indubitably
the shorter chapters suffer by comparison with their more substantial fellows. A somewhat
heavier editorial hand, or an equal relaxation of the word limitation, would have produced
a more even level and depth of analysis. Nonetheless, the bulk of the essays remain useful
and the only major exception is
Lee
Bridges’ chapter on the police.
In
contrast to the research
based essays elsewhere in the volume, his chapter speculates on the implications of
prospective legislation, with examples drawn primarily from London, in a hectoring and
opinionated manner. It would seem that the new approach to policing bestows ’repressive
powers’ and ‘programmes of social intervention’ which are ’mutually reinforcing tools.
.
.
to
contain and control the political struggles
of
the black and working class communities’
(p. 255). With the enactment of the Police and Criminal Evidence Bill, we will
all
be under
threat.
I
too have serious doubts about the accountability (local or otherwise) of the police
but, in this context, an analysis of actual relationships and the documentation of changes
between 1979-84 would have been infinitely preferable and a valuable addition to a
literature on the police in which opinion dominates evidence to a wholly unhealthy degree.
In the conclusions, George Jones draws out some of the implications for both policy
and institutions of the preceding chapters, developing the case for local government and
suggesting several reforms rooted in ’a clear allocation of policy responsibilities, institutions
and procedures that promote local accountability and a concentration on the involvement
of elected representatives in the policy process’ (p.
315).
His proposals to revive local
representative democracy include the familiar restriction of the grant system to equalizing
taxable capacity; the introduction of local income tax; and charter for local government.
More novel is the proposal for a Commission for Local Government which would replace
the Audit Commission, the Commission for Local Administration and the Local Govem-
ment Training Board. Independent of both centre and locality, it would be the ’authoritative
forum‘ on local government and ‘ensure that the provisions of the charter are adhered to’
by
both
levels of government (p.
318).
In
short, ’It is in the national interest that local
accountability should flourish (p.
321).
These
several essays prompt a number of reflections and criticisms. First, the introductory
promise to explore the restructuring of the relations between state and society raises
expectations
which
are dashed in subsequent chapters.
As
might be expected from an editor,
Ranson’s analysis of the rationalization of educational provision is a case study of the
theoretical ideas raised at the outset, but where he led many did not follow. Genuflections
to the four periods in central-local relations apart, most authors concentrate on telling
the story of their resource or policy sector. Moreover, a number of concepts such as
resources and rules of the game are used but not developed. At the macro-level we have
the ’formations of the post-war state’. At the micro level we have discussions of the resources
of local government. In between
-
the meso level
-
there is nothing on, for example, the
networks of organizations which give the pattern of relationships within policy sectors
their continuity and stability verging on inertia, an inertia which was instrumental in the
failure of many government policies. The tension between developing theoretical ideas
and recounting current affairs is resolved in favour of description.
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