The Decision Process in Local Government: A Case Study of Fluoridation in Hull

Abstract

Dr.Brier is hcturer in Politict in the Universig of Southampton.Accounts now published of the workings of local government suggest that within the institutional framework of the local authority we need to concentrate on the following relationships.( I ) Those between councillors and officersthe decision-makersand their 'public', as expressed formally or informally in consultations with group representatives or individuals with grievances, or through the electoral system.( 2 ) Those between officers and councillors in the process of decisionmaking, and the role of the committee chairman as intermediary and, on occasion spokesman for a department.(3) The role of party groups and their leaders in the decision-making process, bearing in mind the different traditions of party government which seem to exist in essentially similar local government structures. (4) Interaction between the local social structure and the conduct of local government, as reflected for example, in the social composition of the elected membership of the council and local traditions of conflict or co-operation between competing dlites. This list is not exhaustive, nor are the categories mutually exclusive, but it is sufficient to generate some worthwhile hypotheses.The issue of fluoridation provides a useful focus for a case study of these relationships? The addition of fluoride to public water supplies up to the level considered as the optimum for the inhibition of dental decay in the child population has been urged since 1962 by the Ministry of Health (since 1968 the Department of Health and Social Security). The matter is held to be within the existing powers of local health authorities, the majority of which have accepted schemes in principle. The decision for 'Parallels to the well-known problem of 'community-power' research in America, tha different methods tend to produce different results, may, hopefully, be avoided in British local studies by a temporary avoidance of more rigorous methodology. cf. J.Walton, 'Substance and Artefact; the Current Role of Research on Community Power Structure', American Journal of Sociologv, 7 I , 1966, pp. 434-6. '53