“Sauce for the Gander”
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1948.tb02637.x |
| Published date | 01 June 1948 |
| Date | 01 June 1948 |
‘‘
Sauce
for
the
Gander
”
EMBERS of the House of Commons have now become familiar with
the
Mfomula used by Ministers in replying to those questions which the Table
does admit about the work of Public Corporations
:
“
This is a matter of day-to-
day administration which is the responsibility
of
the Board (Corporation,
Commis-
sion, Authority).” Whatever may happen in the hture, Ministers have made it
clear that at present they refuse to accept responsibility for the current adminis-
tration of natiodsed undertakings, and providing there are other adequate means
of public control there can be little doubt that the attitude
of
Ministers on this
issue is right.
Right and proper also has been the approach
of
the Minister
of
Health to
the powers of Regional Hospital Boards and the subordinate Hospital Manage-
ment Committees. Regulations made by the Minister to define the functions
of these bodies authorise Regional Hospital Boards to undertake, without the
consent
of
the
Minister, any building
or
civil engineering works, the estimated
cost
of
which does not exceed
€10,000.
Hospital Management Committees are
given similar powers up to a limit of
€1,000
without reference
to
the Regional
Hospital Board.
It
also looks as though the new Town Development Corpora-
tions are likely to be given a large measure
of
freedom from detailed control.
In striking contrast has been the growth in the detailed central control
of
Local Authorities. Members
of
Parliament, members
of
the-public, and even the
Ministers responsible, would be astonished
if
they could see from
a
sample of
actual cases
in
what minute detail
this
control
is
now exercised, and what a large
amount
of correspondence and administrative effort is involved. We could fill
the pages of
PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
with examples taken at random from the
files of the Ministries of Education
or
Health, for example, or of the Local
Authorities. We content ourselves with quoting
on
page 118
two
typical items
which show clearly that Local Authorities are much less favoured than these
new bodies.
It
is,
of
course, true that the Regional Hospital Boards and the
Management Committees are creatures
of
the Minister of Health, and this may
have led him into an attitude
of
fatherly indulgence.
It
is also true that the
Public Corporations are creatures
of
their Ministers, who may have adopted
a
policy
of
non-interference in order to train them
in
sturdy independence. Yet
Local Authorities which are directly elected by the voters in their areas and
possess
technical statfs whose competence will stand comparison with those of any Depart-
ment
or
other public authority, are not so trusted with financial powers, nor
is their day-today administration their own responsibility. The question
of
the
detailed control of Local Authorities needs careful consideration from the view-
point of the efficiency
of
both central and local government. Can the central
Departments really
be
effective in their main
job
of
planning ahead and dealing
with the large issues if their staffs are cluttered
up
with handling thousands of
detailed day-today cases? And can Local Authorities and their staffs be expected
to continue for long
to
feel
a
proper sense of responsibility
if
they are being
watched over
like
a
lot
of
naughty school children? Surely policies prudently
adopted towards the nonelected boards
of
the Public Corporations can be applied
to the elected councils of Local Authorities, whose first-class staffs deserve to be
allowed to get on with the
job
without the pin-pricking control
of
a
past era.
65
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