Learning from Local Authority Budgeting

Elcock, Howard

doi:10.1177/095207678600100201

Cited by 10 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…However, in order for such competition to impose pressures towards greater ef® ciency, it is necessary for local politicians to monitor effectively the bids for resources made by different departments. There is little evidence of such budgetary scrutiny by the elected members in British local authorities (Elcock and Jordan, 1987). This may be a consequence of the absence of effective party competition: if local elections results are largely determined by national issues, then politicians have little incentive to control bureaucratic behaviour.…”

Section: Concepts Of Competitionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Competition and Local Government: A Public Choice Perspective

Boyne

1996

Urban Studies

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Section: Concepts Of Competitionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Competition and Local Government: A Public Choice Perspective

Boyne

1996

Urban Studies

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“…The finance departments reviewed the base budgets of the service departments; translated political preferences into budgetary strategies; suggested alternative ways of financing to avoid making spending cuts; and monitored the implementation of budgets. The resource squeeze in local government has greatly enhanced the power of finance professionals (Clarke & Cochrane, 1989;Elcock, 1986, pp.180-192;Elcock & Jordan, 1987;Elcock et ai, 1989, pp.181-182;Rosenberg, 1985;and Rosenberg, 1989). Third, there is managerial expertise based on knowledge of the administration of local authorities.…”

Section: Rationalist Traits Of Cutback Managementmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Financial uncertainty breeds policy uncertainty because there is no guarantee that existing policies, never mind new policies, can be financed in the future. Policy planning by local authorities became almost a redundant exercise (Clapham, 1983;Elcock & Jordan, 1987;and Pendlebury, 1985, pp.25-26).…”

Section: Rationalist Traits Of Cutback Managementmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Councillors depend upon officers for expertise to advise and implement their decisions; and officers depend upon councillors for support sanction their advice. The interactions between the leading councillors and officers were largely conducted via informal groups and not formal committees (Elcock & Jordan, 1987;and Elcock et ai, 1989, p.184). For example, in Stockport MBC the Leader of the ruling Conservative Group, the Chief Executive and the Director of Finance presided over informal meetings during which committee chairmen and chief officers defended their budgets.…”

Section: Incremental Traits Of Cutback Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Budget-making was resource-driven in local authorities. Budgets were set according to the level of resources available to local authorities and not to the level of service provision preferred by the local authorities (Elcock & Jordan, 1987;Elcock et ai, 1989;Greenwood, 1979;and Greenwood, 1983).…”

Section: Rationalist Traits Of Cutback Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Cutbank Management in Local Government: An Empirical Analysis

Cope

1992

Teaching Public Administration

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An End to Incrementalism? The Impact of Expenditure Restraint on Social Services Budgets 1979–1986

Kelly

1989

J. Soc. Pol.

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The theory of incrementalism is a long-standing and influential perspective on policy making and resource allocation in the public sector. Previous research on social services budgeting suggests that resources are allocated incrementally, although there has been some debate as to whether this would persist in an era of prolonged expenditure restraint. Incremental budgetary outcomes are operationalised as percentage changes in budgets pro-rata with percentage changes in the total budget, and as stable shares of total expenditure for each activity. Data for 99 English social service departments supports incrementalism in that budget shares change by only 1.8 per cent, but percentage allocations depart from pro-rata incrementalism by a mean of 74 per cent. The comparison of the two summary indices over time supports those who have argued that prolonged restraint would encourage non-incremental budgeting, but change in the agency's total budget does not consistently predict budgetary outcomes. The effect of restraint on incrementalism varies with the measure used and across the component activities of the measures, but there is enough evidence to suggest a significant decline in the level of incrementalism in social service departments. In particular, non-incremental budgeting is strongly associated with the growth of day centre expenditure on the mentally ill and the elderly before 1982-3, and after that with the pursuit of the 'community care' strategy within state provided services for the elderly and children. Incrementalism as a general theory of agency budgeting is limited in its ability to explain variations in the degree of incrementalism between agencies, between component budgets and over time. The conclusion suggests that further research should seek explanations for these variations in the varying balance of the competing forces which shape outcomes in welfare bureaucracies and in the relationship between these forces and the organisation's environment.* I wish to thank Chris Pickvance. Roger Burrows and an anonymous referee for their comments and suggestions regarding this paper. t Principal Lecturer. Department of Sociology. North East London Polytechnic.

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Learning from Local Authority Budgeting

Cited by 10 publications

References 6 publications

Competition and Local Government: A Public Choice Perspective

Competition and Local Government: A Public Choice Perspective

Cutbank Management in Local Government: An Empirical Analysis

An End to Incrementalism? The Impact of Expenditure Restraint on Social Services Budgets 1979–1986

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