Projects
For the Office Of The Deputy Prime Minister: central/local government relationships
In November 2002, we completed a study for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to review the planning framework for local government. Currently central government requires each local authority to produce (or at least contribute to) 66 separate plans collectively covering all aspects of local authority activity. The remit of our study was to make recommendations on the future of these plan requirements, with a view to their rationalisation. The study was part of a wider review of central/local government relationships in the context of the new Comprehensive Performance Assessment process. The work was undertaken jointly by ourselves and Portico Consulting.
Our overall recommendation was that, over time, the government should replace all centrally-mandated plans - except for the Best Value Performance Plans and Community Strategies - by using the development of performance assessment or management systems, notably Comprehensive Performance Assessment, to assess the effectiveness of authorities’ planning (as opposed to plans), together with clear communication of national priorities.