The Treasury in Public Policy-Making
| Date | 01 January 1998 |
| Published date | 01 January 1998 |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207679801300109 |
| Author | Tony Butcher |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
REVIEW
The
Treasury
in
Public
Policy-Making,
Richard
A.
Chapman,
Routledge,
London,
1997,
xiv
+
204,
ISBN
0-415-09639-1,
hbk.
£40.
A
number
of
books
have been
written
in
the
last
thirty
years
about
the
Treasury
and
its
role
at
the
centre
of
British
government.
Studies
such
as
Henry
Roseveare's
The
Treasury,
published
in
1969,
have
charted
the
historical
development
of
the
Treasury
and
Treasury
control.
In
1974,
Hugh
Heclo
and
Aaron
Wildavsky's
acclaimed
The
Private
Government
of
Public
Money
examined
the
Treasury
and
the
'expenditure
community',
a
subject
which
was
revisited
just
over
twenty
years
later
by
Colin
Thain
and
Maurice
Wright
in
their
authoritative
study
of
the
planning
and
control
of
public
expenditure,
The
Treasury
and
Whitehall.
Although
these,
and
other,
studies
have
made
valuable
contributions
to
our
understanding
of
the
role
and
workings
of
this
most
political
departments,
as
Richard
Chapman
observes
in
his
introduction
to
this
latest
addition
to
the
literature,
there
has
been
a
need
for
a
book
that
provides
a
history
of
the
Treasury,
explains
its
current
functions
and
organisation,
and
assesses
its
importance
in
public
policy-making.
Chapman's
typically
scholarly
and
detailed
study
answers
this
need,
organising
its
material
around
three
core
chapters
on
the
development
of
the
Treasury,
its
structure
and
organisation
at
ministerial
and
official
level
at
the
beginning
of
1996,
and
its
role
in
the
creation
and
financing
of
Next
Steps
agencies.
The
chapter
on
the
history
of
the
Treasury
provides
a
survey
of
the
origins
and
evolution
of
this
most
important
of
government
departments,
emphasising
the
rise
of
Treasury
control
and
the
important
role
played
by
the
Treasury
in
the
unification
of
the
civil
service,
notably
during
the
inter-war
years,
when
Sir
Warren
Fisher
was
the
department's
Permanent
Secretary.
Students
of
public
administration
will
find
Chapman's
account
of
the
period
since
the
1961
Plowden
Report
particularly
useful,
including,
as
it
does,
a
discussion
of
the
Fulton
Report,
the
rise
and
fall
of
the
Civil
Service
Department
and
the
launching
of
the
Financial
Management
Initiative.
As
Chapman
reminds
us,
the
Plowden
Report
marked
the
beginning
of
a
period
which
emphasised
the
importance
of
improved
management
in
central
government.
Since
Plowden,
the
Treasury
has
been
very
much
concerned
with
Public
Policy
and
Administration
Volume
13
No.
1
Spring
1998'
115
To continue reading
Request your trial