Decentralization Reform in the United Kingdom - Case Study Example

Policy Memo United Kingdom, February 23, THE POLICY MEMO OF UNITED KINGDOM DECENTRALIZATION REFORM IN UNITED KINGDOM Executive Summary This policy document explains the overview of the main ideas and goals of the decentralization reforms, the associated proposed and actual changes, its implications in terms of governance, and a reflection presented in the memo. Overview of the main ideas and goals of decentralization. According to Rhodes et al (2006) decentralization is the transfer of power from the central government to subordinate authorities. Decentralization can either be political or administrative. Decentralization was an initiative of New Labour under the leadership of Tony Blair, prime minister from 1999- 2007 who believed that the central government was too big and too distant to effectively govern. The main motivation for decentralization can be traced to the need to enhance effective governance and promote democracy through devolution. The previous government was challenged by lack of transparency in governance and political misrepresentation. Decentralization of powers to the regional governments of Cardiff and Edinburg meant the solution to such democratic challenges. Implications of Decentralization in terms Governance Governance refers to a changed condition of ordered rule, or the new method by which the society is governed as argued by Kjaer (2004). Decentralization in the UK led to an asymmetrical multilevel of system of governance where there are a vast number of jurisdiction but they are rather limited in nature. The government is divided into several levels that with designated territorial scales. As such, they are able to handle specific functions in a rather flexible manner. This ensures that the citizens do not rely on the services of ‘the’ government, but specific services from a variety of public service industries (Frey and Eichenberger 1999). The associated, proposed and actual changes The decentralization reforms led to the change in the structure of the government. Governance powers were contained in smaller, but large number of jurisdictions. This transformed the old spheres of governance by introducing the new concept of “fragmegration”. This included the transfer of decision making powers such as healthcare, social services, housing and homelessness to regional government in Cardiff, Edin burgh, and Belfast. Changes brought about by the asymmetrical multi-level system of governance include; Scotland was empowered by getting an elected parliament, Wales an elected assembly and Northen Ireland an elected assembly also. The situation in Northern Ireland has been since been unique and with volatile history that led to the Belfast peace agreement of 1998. Reflection on the information presented in the memo Evaluating the impacts of decentralization is the United Kingdom by following the regulation and laws of reforms is a challenging task. Following the Marsh and Rhodes’s (1992), it is argued that of all the reforms achieved, decentralization has had the most significant part of the UK constitution. It is imperative to recommend for further research on this topic in order to extensively quantify the effects on decentralization on the government as presented in this memo. Work Cited Kjaer,A.M. Governance. Cambridge: Polity, 2004. Print. Rhodes, R.A.W., Moran, M., Rein, M, and Goodin, R.E, (eds) “Policy network analysis”. In the oxford handbook of policy. Oxford university press, 423-445, 2006. Print. Marsh, D. and Rhodes, R.A.W., Policy networks in British government. Oxford: Clarendon, 1992. Print. THE POLICY MEMO OF ITALY Subject: THE STATE OF DECENTRALIZATION IN ITALY Decentralization refers to the process of delegating various powers and functions from a central authority to smaller authorities such as regional or local authority governments. Decentralization took place in Italy in the 1990s as part of a wave of change that swept across the whole of Europe. The nation experienced a massive shift in all public sphere, from the central government structure to the handlers of public offices, from educational system to accounting procedures, from health systems to universities to a decentralized system of governance (Capano, 2000). Main Ideas and Goals The main problem that forms the motivation for the reform is the inflexibility, inefficiency and insensitivity to the needs of the citizens caused by the very Italian public administration. The hegemonic paradigm of the Italian administration focused more on conforming to the law rather than the results achieved. The main underlying idea is a shift from the hegemonic paradigm to a ‘solution’ termed as New Public Management (NPM). The NPM sets to achieve a vast array of objectives, the main one being decentralization. NPM also targeted to establish and incorporate a culture of strategic planning and management in all sectors of the economy. Decentralization reforms were also motivated by the need to strengthen the managerial and organizational capacities of the local government in a more ambitious and radical reforms that will see power delegated to local authorities in the regions through the introduction of a system of checks and balances, managerial accounting and city managers whose performance would be linked to their performance (Bassanini 2000b). Through a series of laws and regulations introduced by the reforms, the government sought to change the lives of the Italians by governing the policies and organizational behavior of those in power. Proposed and Actual Changes The most significant areas targeted for reforms are devolution and administrative federalism, the reorganization of the central government, Civil Service Reform and the simplification of regulatory and administrative procedures (Capano 1987). Several changes were introduced in the name of innovative legislation. Law 421 local government level required the government to introduce measures of controlling finances at the local government level. According to legislative decree number 93, public employment had to be ‘privatized’ save for top managers, the Army, university professors and ambassadors. In 1995, Law no. 273 was introduced to enforce efficiency in public administration. Local government managerial accounting was introduced as per the Legislative Decree no. 77.Various laws were introduced in years 1996, 1997, 1998 up to 2001. One of the crucial changes that took place is the creation of technical-operative structures. However, some of the aspects of the technical-operative structures had already been introduced in sectors such as the environmental field a long time ago. The country saw changes in the employment sector whereby, employees could use collective bargaining for better wages and implementation of pay-per-performance policies. Further, the process of simplification has become successful as concerns the eradication of certificates. The process of decentralization drew more value to the public policy of granting local government’s autonomy through decisional procedures. A system of legal procedures and regulations was setup to oversee the coordination of the decentralization process. According to the review by the OECD, the decentralization process raised the danger of fragmentation in the quality of regulations in the country. Government ministries were also affected by decentralization due to reorganization. The decision to restructure the ministry was motivated by the hegemonic paradigm that sought to reduce government excesses and duplication as well as ensure standardization of ministry procedures. Implications for Governance Most of the reforms exhibited hallmarks of the very public administration that reformers fought. The process through which certificates were eliminated seemed more like the enforcement of the principles passed into law in1968 rather than implementation of the new laws. Implementation of the pay-for-performance concept was not done properly. Instead the usual distributive mode was used. The government’s approach towards management and employees has been strengthened through the re-establishment of union bargaining. Traditional instruments have been used in the implementation of the reforms, although in an extreme manner. The result is a continuity of the ‘old’ policy strategy, rather than elimination. Due to the long, complex and continuous nature of the decentralization reform, the government has introduced many orders, circulars, legislative and regulations with each major law of reform to be implemented in governance. However, the application of traditional instruments to effect new changes seems like continuing the same governance culture the reforms sought to change. Reflection There was a difficulty in accessing the exact results of the implementation of decentralization policies as provided by the various legislative changes. The memo is a summative overview of the decentralization of Italy’s administration in the 90s. Further research is necessary to understand how the ‘old’ administrative policies metamorphosed and continue surviving into the ‘new’ decentralization policies. Works Cited Capano, Giliberto. Administrative Traditions and Policy Change: When Policy Paradigms Matter. The Case of Italian Administrative Reform During The 1990s. 4th ed. Vol. 1. 2003. 781-801. Print. Capano, G. ‘Le politiche amministrative: dall’improbabile riforma alla riforma permanente?’, in G. Di Palma, S. Fabbrini and G. Freddi (eds), Condannata al successo. Bologna: Il Mulino, 2000, pp. 153–98. Print. Bassanini, F. La riforma della pubblica, amministrazione in Italia: un bilancio a fine 2000. paper presented at the Congress of Unioncamere Le autonomie per lo sviluppo economico, Rome, 13 December.2000b. Print. THE POLICY MEMO OF NETHERLANDS Subject: STATE OF DECENTRALIZATION IN NETHERLANDS Executive Summary Historically, Netherlands has revealed major shifts from centralization of government responsibilities towards decentralization and vice versa. The reforms that have been carried by the Dutch towards decentralization had some economic implications. One of the major reason for changes in fiscal decentralization agreement was a deterioration of political and economic circumstances. Other factors such as increase in communication level, population density, mobility, urbanization necessitated these reforms. It is also worth noting that the transparency and accountability of local government has been enhanced significantly. The central government has retained some social responsibilities like disability care but in the next few years this will also be devolved to the communes. Overview of the main ideas and goals of decentralization. The main reason to decentralize was driven by the need to give citizens a more directional approach to stimulating development at a personal level. Another reason was to promote efficiency in service delivery at municipality level (David 41). The most successful form of decentralization has been social decentralization, which involves the reforms in the legislation and of welfare and social assistance. Decentralization of this social activities to the municipalities involve development of policies like reintegration measures, cooperation, and prevention of unemployment and gate-keeper roles. Despite the success of the devolved responsibility, a number of challenges have been observed. The central government still allocated smaller budgets to the municipalities, and this puts pressure on their budgets hence slowing developmental influence. Continued stream of responsibilities has also significantly posed a significant challenge especially to the small municipalities. This has been solved by the merger of small municipalities (Linze 15). Implications of Decentralization in terms Governance Each Dutch municipality was tasked with financing at least 10-percent of its welfare benefits and the remaining 90-percent reimbursed by the central government through open-ended grants. Matching grants are quite inefficient because of limitations on local governments ability to handle extra welfare payments. However, matching grants are fair in the sense that it puts the central government to task of footing equal responsibility hence lessening local administrations burden. Municipalities with high expenditure need only to be furnished with larger share of the grant to support its generous welfare spending. The block grants are much more acceptable as they do not limit the municipalities health spending needs. Block grants has a significant limitation as it does not guarantee that the central government will shoulder its share of health responsibilities in the jurisdiction and the municipality may be compelled to use its resources to compensate this deficit. Matching grants have since been replaced by block grants and therefore if a municipality spends more than its allocated budget then it will be required to settle the extra cost. The associated, proposed and actual changes Some proposals have been made to increase efficiency in expenditure at municipality level. One of the proposals seeks to integrate an extension of municipal taxes into central government taxes. This is applicable mostly when buying a property e.g. a house. The system used for general transfers to municipalities should be directly linked to GDP. This will replace the complexities required by the current system and, therefore, encourage a more accountable fiscal management. The proposed transfers should also be limited and should not bear clear definition. This is defined by demographic changes in social and welfare responsibilities at the municipality level. The fall of welfare dependency as a result of the introduction of new financial system in 2004 has since depicted efficiency in municipality expenditure (Deacon 41). Reflection on the information presented in the memo There has also been other proposals that are meant to improve fiscal decentralization in the Netherlands. First the municipal taxes should be stretched by containing the central government’s taxes on possessing and buying a house. Secondly, the present complex and subjective formula for the general transfer to municipalities and provinces should be replaced by a link to GDP. Lastly the number of earmarked transfers should be limited and they should not to be defined too stringently (Bos 16). Work Cited Bos, F., ‘The Dutch fiscal framework; history, current practice and the role of the CPB’ OECD Journal on budgeting, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 7-48. 2008. Print. Gelauff, G., I. Grilo and A. Lejour (Eds.). Subsidiarity and economic reform in Europe, Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 2008. Print. Linze, Schaap et al. Innovations in Sub National Government in Europe. Netherlands: Tilburg UP, 2010. Print. Read More