UK Local Governments & the Management by Central Government

1. UK Local Governments & the Management by Central Government

2. Contents Survey of UK local government Relationship between central and local government Enlightenment to Chinese reform

3. UK Local Governments & the Management by Central Government Survey of UK local government

4. Survey of UK local government • Survey of UK local government Since the Local Government Act（1972）was enacted, UK local government has evolved. Especially in England and Wales, local government system is quite similar. But there are still a little difference in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

5. Survey of UK local government Type of UK local governments

6. Survey of UK local government

7. Survey of UK local government • Survey of UK local government The core of UK local government is local elected council. County Councils or District Councils are called principal local authorities.

8. Executive Chief Directions Strategic Survey of UK local government local elected council Cabinet

9. various fee council tax National non-domestic rates rate support grant（RSG） Survey of UK local government • Finance of local government Local government revenue sources

10. Survey of UK local government • Finance of local government rate support grant UK central government every year distributes rate support grant, providing support to carry out the duty of local government. It can be used for any fields of local government operation.

11. Survey of UK local government • Finance of local government National non-domestic rate National non-domestic rate is based on value of commerce and industry. Central government determines the standard rate and levy in whole country and then distribute to local governments according to their number of people.

12. Survey of UK local government • Finance of local government Council tax Council tax is the only tax levied by local government. But before 1998, the upper limit of council tax was decided by Parliament, and local government has no rights to excess it. Recently the situation become flexible and local government still struggle for more rights on council tax.

13. Survey of UK local government • Finance of local government various fee Local government can also raise money in money market, but it must be approved by the responsible minister or is limited in the credit line that decided by central government. Councils can also raise income through charges – for instance, charges for some refuse collection services or leisure services.

14. Survey of UK local government Most of the money of local government is used for education, housing, road, social services, police, law and order, environment, culture and entertainment. All of expenditure cannot be over 7.9% of GDP. According to the law local government is not allowed to have budget deficit.

15. Survey of UK local government • Characteristic of local government （1）Confer and implement in one organization Basically UK local government is the cabinet that consists of delegates of majority party in council. The members of local government are all elected councilors. So in a certain extent, UK local government can be regarded as an organization which confers and implements at a local level.

16. Survey of UK local government • Characteristic of local government （2）Decide by committees Except some most important issues, almost every affair in local government is processed and decided by specialized committees. The issues decided in council plenary session are also based on reports of specialized committees. Since the Labor Party reformation, this characteristic has been changed.

17. Survey of UK local government • Characteristic of local government （3）Autonomous from each other Local governments on different level are not belonging to each other. They are just responsible to local councils. The vassalage relationship only appears in regional concept, not in political or administrative. Duties of local governments on higher-level or lower-level are complement to each other, not against to each other.

18. Survey of UK local government • Characteristic of local government （4）Manage like company The chief executive in UK local government, as well as the officers under him, is not civil servant according to the law. They are just employed by local government. The relationship between chief executive, local cabinet and local council is similar to that of the general manager、board of directors and general meeting of shareholders in company.

19. UK Local Governments & the Management by Central Government Relationship between central and local government

20. duality Relationship between central and local government Central government controls the administrative action of local government strictly. Central government and its agency maintain strong power to supervise local government all the time, and the supervise person sent by central government has great power. Local government is established from elected council, not appointed by central government. It is responsible to local voters firstly and has duty to provide local public services.

21. Relationship between central and local government 97 03 “Central-local” partnership was established between central and local government, its purpose is to reinforce and support local government. The partnership agreement made a range of systems and both sides are required to discuss over the issues of common concern. The Local Government Act （2003） is a embodiment that local government was given further autonomy rights by central government. The Act decreased some relevant indicators and simplified some procedures of supervising. The purpose is to help local government provide better service.

22. democratize democratize democratize democratize have local inhabitants’ opinion local people to participate in local affairs giving question rights to social organizations encouraging local councilors to stickle their opinions Relationship between central and local government During recent years, the Labor Party government pushed on with decentralization policy, in the same time, the policies of democratize local government have been reinforced. Some measures have been made to supervise local government by social force.

23. Relationship between central and local government According to recent law, decisions of local government were required to have local people’s opinion as more as possible. A research found that over 90% of England and Wales local governments ask for local people’s advice about local financial report. The white paper published in 2006 put forward a series of systems to reinforce the power of social force, including giving question rights to social organizations, encouraging local councilors to stickle their opinions and local people to participate in local affairs.

24. Relationship between central and local government • Audit Commission Audit Commission is a main implement organ set up in 1982 to supervise local government. It has legal power to audit finance and management of local government and evaluate the effect of policies that central government carried out to help local government provide public services.

25. Relationship between central and local government • Audit Commission The members of Audit Commission are appointed by central government. Duty and budget of Audit Commission are determined in law by Parliament, which ensures the independence of Audit Commission.

26. Relationship between central and local government • Audit Commission BVPIs ——Best Value Performance Indicators established in 1999 CPA ——Comprehensive Performance Assessment established in 2002 two parallel and relative performance indicators systems

27. BVPIs CPA Relationship between central and local government • Audit Commission evaluates performance of local government by static indicators. Its key point is to examine all public services through administrative intervention, not just by the market. based on the BVPIs to evaluate the strategy plan, service ability and quality, innovative ability, efficiency and benefit of local government by more comprehensive and more embedded dynamical indicators.

28. LGA —— Local Government Association NALC —— The National Association of Local Councils Relationship between central and local government • LGA& NALC

29. Relationship between central and local government • LGA& NALC LGA is formed on April 1st 1997. It represents all of England and Wales local governments and other authorities in Parliament and central government as a voluntary lobbying organization. The association covers over 50 million people and aims to promote better local government.

30. Relationship between central and local government • LGA& NALC NALC represents around 8,500 town and parish councils in England. Its duty is to provide expert advices to local government and be involved in lobbying government at a national level to advance and protect the interests of their councils and communities.

31. Relationship between central and local government • LGA& NALC Although local union organizations like LGA and NALC have no executive power, only responsible for discussing the issues of common concern, they promote the connection between central and local government and set up a system to take care of the dispute issues. It is a great help for resolving the conflict between different sides.

32. Relationship between central and local government • “Local governance” After coming into power in 1997, the Labor Party government encouraged state-private joint program on local level. From 2001, a range of measures have been run to improve the quality of local government’s work by various channels. Till 2002, there have been 5500 joint state-private programs developed on local level.

33. Relationship between central and local government • “Local governance” These measures carried out by the Labor Party government are designed to improve those policies run by Conservative Party. The measures carried out by Labor Party government not only focus on saving and efficiency, but also respond people actively. Various channels were chosen to improve public services within local government, market and social organization. These policies appear to give greater flexibility.

34. Relationship between central and local government • “Local governance” According to them, some parts of public services provided by local government have been turned over to semi-government organizations and private companies. Local government decreases its management of human services and is no longer a unique provider of public services.

35. NGO Relationship between central and local government • “Local governance” It plays a role to guide different semi-government organizations and private companies now. Local government is converting to “local governance” gradually. local government private companies semi- government organizations

36. Relationship between central and local government • “Local governance” That means if there are any other measures and techniques to manage public affairs better, the local government should make the best use of them. Besides local government, private or public organization can be allowed to manage public affairs. It involves power going up to down and interacting with private business.

37. UK Local Governments & the Management by Central Government Enlightenment to Chinese reform

38. Enlightenment to Chinese reform There are a lot of difference in political and social system, ideology and culture between China and UK, but the structure and the function of UK local government and improvement on the relationship between central and local government are helpful to Chinese reform in administrative system.

39. Enlightenment to Chinese reform Foster citizen’s political consciousness to participate in local affairs Due to thousands of years’ political tradition, centralized system such as be responsible to superiors level is inevitable in China. It is difficult to change in a short period. But we have to realize the negative effect. If the democracy on basic-level develops slowly, the citizen will rely too much on the government. And they will lack enthusiasm to participate in local affairs.

40. Enlightenment to Chinese reform Foster citizen’s political consciousness to participate in local affairs We can learn a lot from experience that local governments in UK are required to consider local people’s opinion while they are making decision. As the reform penetrates deeply in China, we should train the citizen to take part in democratic involvement, therefore tamp the foundation of democracy on basic-level.

41. Enlightenment to Chinese reform Strengthening various kinds of cooperation between governments Since reforming and opening, the extent and intensity of competition between Chinese local governments have become stronger and stronger. On one hand this situation encouraged local governments to improve the executive efficiency and reduce the business cost. On the other hand it caused regional protectionism, redundant project and environment pollution, which also discouraged the development of whole area’s economy.

42. Enlightenment to Chinese reform Strengthening various kinds of cooperation between governments We also need to learn the successful experience of UK, such as the organization of LGA and other interregional cooperation between government organizations. These organizations can encourage optimum competition between different regions and strengthen communication with central government.

43. Enlightenment to Chinese reform Establishing logical government performance evaluation system Performance management and evaluation is a system that administration power could use to supervise itself. The experience of UK Audit Commission carrying out BVPIs and CPA indicated that logical government performance evaluation system could be a good guide for the government, help to establish an equitable, transparent, honest and efficient administrative system.

44. Enlightenment to Chinese reform Establishing logical government performance evaluation system. Chinese government performance evaluation system is not mature. We can refer to the UK similar system, so that we can improve quality of government’s work, reduce the executive cost and raise the efficiency on the basis of our own country situation.

45. Enlightenment to Chinese reform Introducing the company structure into administration system moderately There are many disadvantages in Chinese local government, such as enormous size of organ, extensive operation and high executive cost. It is mainly because the administration system has no cost- profit concept.

46. Enlightenment to Chinese reform Introducing the company structure into administration system moderately Therefore, the experience of UK local government managed like a company is really a good model to study. A company-structured administration system can be adapted to the development of market economy, distinguish duty and rights and clear the flow of work.

47. Enlightenment to Chinese reform Introducing the company structure into administration system moderately Certainly the cultures of administrative in China and in UK are different, and the concept of “company-structured government” is controversial in developed country too. So when we introduce the company structure into administration system, we should improve social performance as well as economic performance, instead of simply pursuing maximum of economic profit.

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