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Intergovernmental relations in the United Kingdom were intended to be predominantly informal, but a machinery of intergovernmental councils (IGCs) developed alongside informal relations. This article examines the development, purpose and dynamics of the UK's IGCs, with a particular focus on the multilateral Joint Ministerial Committee and the bilateral Joint Exchequer Committees. These IGCs remain weakly institutionalized and multilateral forums, in particular, are regarded by the devolved governments as providing limited opportunities for exercising influence. By contrast, bilateral IGCs have enabled devolved governments to utilize a range of nonconstitutional resources to exert influence, irrespective of their relative constitutional weakness. The Brexit referendum generated an intensification of multilateral IGCs while exposing their weaknesses as forums for the exercise of shared rule. The purpose and dynamics within IGCs are shaped by the asymmetrical distribution of power, continued constitutional hierarchy, party competition and competing nationalist projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article uses archives created during the English Civil War to itemize losses incurred by local citizens and businesses to consider English state formation in the 1640s. Legislation enacted by Great Britain's Parliament established local committees dedicated to inquiries related to losses as a result of money or goods lost as a result of the Parliamentary Army's actions, both plundered and given.

This article examines the roads upon which the Tudor government's postal arrangements rested, the methods deployed by central government for sending and receiving official mail nationwide, and the network of exchequer-funded post-stages that connected London with the south-western periphery of the realm during periods of war, rebellion and political turmoil. The article also uses a large number of postal endorsements to measure objectively the speed and efficiency of the Tudor south-west's royal post-stage service. In doing so, the study's primary goal is to demonstrate that this mode of government dispatch was more rapid and reliable than the majority of historians, who have relied on anecdotal subjective evidence, recognize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the Labour government, Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) in England were responsible for the delivery of Local Area Agreements (LAAs) - agreed targets between central and local government. This paper uses statistical techniques and local authority case studies to explore the impact of LAAs on LSPs' efforts to promote social cohesion. The results suggest that LSPs with a LAA for social cohesion experienced a better rate of improvement in community cohesiveness than those without, and that tougher targets resulted in stronger improvement. The impact of changes in LSPs' approaches to promoting social cohesion appears to be responsible for this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the political origins and impact of recent managerial reform (the shift from the professional bureaucracy model of public administration to the new public management [NPM]) in UK local government. Two key drivers of managerial reform are identified: central–local relations and labour management. The former are historically complex due, partly, to the Victorian expediential justification of local government, and the tenuous constitutional status of local government in the British polity. These factors necessitate and permit central control with models of public administration a key mechanism for achieving this. In addition, as 70% of overall sector costs are made up of centrally funded labour costs, the centre's attempts to control labour management (pay and performance) is a second key driver of managerial reform. And models of public administration, again, are a major mechanism for achieving central control. The analysis is rooted in a brief historical examination of developments from the 1880s, and a longitudinal case study examining more recent developments to illustrate the general case made. Empirical findings show councillor, union and worker resistance to managerial reform. They also show job loss, work intensification, job insecurity and demoralisation of staff. Another key finding is that NPM is not new, but a regression to the Victorian era. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The nineteenth-century ‘revolution in government’, from which a dramatically altered relationship between central and local government emerged, is of central concern to social historians. This article uses the work of Pierre Bourdieu to analyse the struggles between the magistracy in Cheshire and the Home Office over the centralization of prisons and policing between the 1820s and 1840s. During this period legislative enactments increased the role of central government in monitoring and overseeing administrative management in both areas and this produced both direct and indirect conflict. The article argues that Bourdieu’s concepts of ‘field’, ‘capital’ and ‘habitus’ provide a framework for analysing the changing relationship between central and local government which makes evident the effects of divisions between and within social classes and enables the varying nature of the course and outcome of conflicts to be understood. Overall, the analysis demonstrates the potential of the approach to be used more widely to explore the changing relationship between central and local government in other areas of social policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides a case study about the lowest level of local government in England. It does not mention so-called principal councils that are legal term for counties, districts and unitaries. It does not question a deeply rooted knowledge on large local authorities in the Great Britain, but the text tries to bring a different perspective on the British local government. It is focused on the parish/town councils in England. Territories of Wales, Scotland and the North Ireland are not included because of there was a different development, especially after devolution process. The parishes form the most local level of government and their overwhelming majority represents populations of less than 5,000. Parishes suffer from two difficulties. They do not cover the whole territory of England and they are not obliged to providing particular services and facilities by law. They have no statutory duties, but they possess some statutory rights. The scope of services depends on their own decision. During the time parishes have gained stronger support from central government and currently they strengthen their position thanks promoting the radical decentralisation of power by coalition government. This happened on the backdrop of long-lasting and continuous local government restructuration and merging to greater and greater local authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One major consideration for the stability of Henry VII's reign involved relations with the cities and towns. Realizing it was untenable to control local elites fully from the centre, the first Tudor pursued a policy of financial and judicial constraints based in part on bonds to bring municipalities into the fold of royal rule. This was accomplished through financial obligations in return for city liberties, and the constant vigilance by royal councillors to ferret out forfeitures from those who broke the law. Such activity was especially true for London, where close scrutiny by royal councillors and their minions may have brought about a potential confrontation between City leaders and the crown. At Henry's death, English towns had been drawn closer to a developing 'national' government and law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews developments in Scottish local government post-devolution. In doing so it outlines some expectations, assumptions and realities about local government in Scotland. Three assumptions are examined and rejected: 1999 was 'Year Zero' for Scottish local government; central-local relations are characterised by a cohesive centre versus a cohesive locality; central-local relations in Scotland are nothing more than a fuzzy microcosm of central-local relations in England. The article argues that Scotland increasingly offers a different 'story' of central-local government relations with pre-existing differences accentuating in the context of minority government, different processes of governance and attitudes to the welfare state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following Pride's Purge in 1648, the majority of Lancashire's MPs were excluded or chose to withdraw from Parliament, whilst the county committees and the commission of the peace were all purged and remodelled during the course of the Commonwealth (1649-53). Men who had served in county government for many years were removed from office by the new regime, whilst a number of new men were promoted from obscurity to take their place. This article examines these changes to the administration of Lancashire during the Commonwealth, finding that county government became greatly contracted as fewer men held more offices. Nevertheless, despite the prominence of some townsmen during this period, gentility never ceased to be the norm for provincial government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various aspects of center-periphery relations, or the relationship between a central government and its peripheral regions, between the Scottish government and the Scottish Highlands in the 17th century, primarily focusing on the proliferation of the Covenanting (Scottish Presbyterian) movement in the region. The author analyzes how Covenanter authorities understood the center-periphery issue through notions of local political autonomy, the nature of Scottish government, the presence of Highlands elites in the government, and Covenanting versus Royalist ideology in the region.

'Sir Philip Musgrave and the Re-Establishment of the "Old Regime" in Cumberland and Westmorland c. 1660–1664: Local Loyalty and National Influence'. This paper examines the career of Sir Philip Musgrave in Cumberland and Westmorland during the period 1660–64, and illuminates the continuing integration of outlying English regions and their gentry families into a national polity, wherein gentry horizons frequently stretched beyond the boundaries of their native counties, and in which their local and national political 'worlds' were often inextricably linked. Musgrave was eager to consolidate the newly restored authority of the monarchy and Church of England, as well as his own influence within the returning 'old regime'. In cooperating with central government against Protestant Nonconformity, Quakerism and political insurrection in the Lake Counties, Musgrave and other local government officials highlight how local and central interests could dovetail. On one level, Sir Philip had little difficulty in perceiving himself as a straightforward servant of the State, declaring himself a 'State physician' during the application of the Corporation Act in Cumberland and Westmorland. Yet, as this paper will demonstrate, Sir Philip Musgrave was more than a mere compliant Royalist yes-man. As servants of central government, Musgrave and a number of his local associates were extremely important as agents of political innovation. In interpreting, applying and calling for changes in policy, they demonstrate that the exercise of political power in the developing British State was not simply a top-down process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the ways in which Great Britain's Labour Party dealt with issues surrounding localism, government devolution, and centralization during its period of rule from 1997 to 2010. Themes surrounding state power, policy formation, and local government in Great Britain are emphasized by the author. The party's inability to alter the nation's public services is explained as well. The author evaluates the national government's relationship with town councils during this period. The relationship between Britain's social democracy and government devolution is also assessed.

The relationship between political decentralisation and the welfare state is much studied, and large-scale studies have repeatedly found that decentralised states have less generous welfare states. How do we fit that with other studies that emphasise the potential of decentralisation to raise welfare standards? This article argues that decentralisation, as a variable, is too broad and it is more efficient to focus on the structure of veto players in the central state, intergovernmental relations and intergovernmental finance. Those are the actual mechanisms that connect decentralisation to the welfare states, and they can all vary independently of decentralisation. It uses recent changes in the United States and United Kingdom as examples. The fragmentation and average weakness of the US welfare state is mostly due to a federal government riddled with internal veto points that permits considerable interstate variation and low overall average provision, while tight central control on finances in the UK means that most variation is in the organisation, rather than levels, of social services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the evolution of local government economic development activities in England against the background of central-local relations and specifically the Sub-National Review (SNR) completed as part of the Treasury's 2007 Spending Review. The exercise represented perhaps the most comprehensive assessment of this aspect of public policy ever undertaken and was notable for the enhanced status and role which was proposed for local government. This vision is assessed in the light of earlier periods of local economic development and highlights a number of recurrent themes and challenges. The article concludes by examining how far these recurrent themes have been addressed in the SNR process and considers whether the proposals truly represent a sea change in government's attitude towards the contribution of local government to regional and local economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over recent years central-local relations has been a neglected topic for research in England. Local government research has mostly focused on political and institutional changes at the local level. The aim of this article is to set out a future research agenda on central-local relations which recognises how the spread of new 'governance' arrangements has changed those relations and how insights from the governance literature can shed light on those relations. The article stresses the need (1) to understand local policy processes and outcomes within the context of a wide range of non-local factors and actors, and (2) how those processes and outcomes have changed as governance arrangements have grown in significance. The contemporary politics of the welfare state involve both a greater central reliance on governance arrangements but also a rejection of the formerly highly institutionalised national local government system, dominated by service-based policy communities. Instead, the national-level policy processes now involve more diverse types of actors and, in many cases, cut across service-based boundaries. The key question is the extent to which these changes have modified the policy systems within which local government is embedded and whether they are more pluralistic or open than the old policy communities which once dominated local government policy-making at the centre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a lack of clarity about the principles and desirable outcomes behind the ad hoc reorganisations of local government since 1979 and the gradual journey towards creating unitary councils in England. Yet those reorganisations and the unitary councils that were created as a result have developed form a shared belief between governments, of different political complexion, that unitary local government is preferable to a two-tier or multi-tiered system. The paper explores and challenges the foundations on which the preference for unitary local government has been built. It questions the motivations, claims and objectives of the processes of local government reorganisation that have seen the creation of bigger units of local government and the continual drift towards unitary local government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Scottish Concordat was presented as a new model of central-local relations, based on mutual respect and joint accountability. In practice, it delivered an uncosted package with inadequate measures of outcomes. The result is service reductions, job losses, and blurred accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In terms of the configuration of structures and the distribution of functions for the delivery of public services, the final decisions on the Review of Public Administration in Northern Ireland encompass significant changes compared to those proposed in 2005. This article places that review in the context of a devolved system of public administration. It identifies four different phases of the review process which have had a differential impact on the predominant themes, principles and structures. A range of tensions are identified, particularly between the proposals for structural change in the final outcomes and earlier recommendations, and also between the final decisions on structural changes and the guiding principles set out as underpinning these changes. The review proposals can be located within the public service reforms of the UK government and a number of perspectives are suggested for evaluating the extent to which the outcomes of the review are compatible with key components of the modernizing and devolution agendas of the UK government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Labour government's stated commitment to shifting the balance of power to communities, citizens and users has been expressed in numerous initiatives to promote participatory governance in the local state. In this context achieving reliable ways of learning about participants' views becomes critical. A prime concern then becomes what constitutes 'community knowledge' and how that knowledge can be developed. This article considers some issues that arise for communities and policy makers in reshaping local services through community involvement in governance. It draws out some implications of theoretical understandings of community, social capital and participation for the practice of community involvement and raises questions about the nature, and the potential, of community knowledge to exercise influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reassesses the importance of local factors in shaping policy for Scotland and Wales, and explores their subsequent incorporation into the Conservative Party's wider discourse of decentralisation. It is noted that the party's new policies for Scotland and Wales formed part of a distinctive strategic response to the new political world that opened up at home and abroad after I945. The nationalist pressure on rank and file Conservatives in Wales and Scotland was an important stimulus to the creation of policy, but the party's leaders championed the proposals as part of a genuine alternative to Labour Party's model of the centralised State.

Traditionally, education in Scotland has been viewed as a national service that is locally administered. This research casts new light on that relationship between the Scottish Executive and local authorities by drawing on evidence from an evaluation of the implementation of the additional support staff element of the Teachers' Agreement which determined not only teachers' pay structure but also established the professional conditions under which they would work. The paper identifies how local authorities and schools spent the grant aid on staff and equipment, how many additional support staff were appointed, and what impact they were reported to be having on teaching and learning. Information was gathered from a postal survey of all 32 Scottish local authorities and a random sample of 267 schools, and also from interviews held in six case study schools. The findings show that: all the grant aid could not be accounted for, the target number of support staff was not achieved, and their deployment and impact varied across local authorities and schools. By way of conclusion it poses the question: 'Was the money well spent?' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the implication of the effort for effective means for cities and regions to pursue economic, physical and social developments in Great Britain. It indicates an increasingly open global economy, major changes in demographic and social trends and renewed interest in the devolution of powers and responsibilities from national to more local and regional entities. It also focused on a comparative assessment of development corporations to aid reflection on the different means to construct an agency for economic development.

The article seeks to contribute to theoretical analysis of political decentralisation in the UK occasioned by devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1998–9. It examines the contribution that can be made by Jim Bulpitt's 1983 book, Territory and Power in the United Kingdom. First, it argues that Bulpitt's critique of conventional wisdoms in the early 1980s remains highly relevant to reflecting on shortcomings in the literature today. Key among these is the lack of a common conceptual language for analysis, and Bulpitt's overarching re-conceptualisation of the field as the study of ‘territorial politics’ would repay renewed reflection. Secondly, the article clarifies Bulpitt's own centre perspective and argues that its application is best understood today as a realist historical institutionalist account of UK territorial politics. In so doing Bulpitt also provides an enduring methodological and interpretative challenge to assumptions of state centralism. Thirdly, the article argues that key methodological/interpretative insights can be adapted from Territory and Power in analysis of UK territorial politics and the advent of devolution. This reinforces the utility of Bulpitt's historical institutionalism to contemporary analysis. Finally, it argues that Territory and Power's concepts and methods, understood in these ways, would bear application in comparative studies of political decentralisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the responses of local health authorities' managers to performance requirements imposed by central government in the National Health Service in Great Britain. The author implies that due to the limitations of financial performance measurement adopted in the public sector, some have suggested the use of a multi-dimensional approach for delivering organizational long-term objectives and fulfilling key stakeholders' interests. This study found that the impact of some institutional factors on managerial responses might outweigh that of others. The author concludes that the application of a multi-dimensional performance measurement approach was promoted by the government as serving strategic management purposes.

The article discusses the nationalist mobilisation strategies of the Parti Québécois (PQ) in Québec and the Scottish National Party (SNP) in Scotland. Emphasis is given to the role of economic policy and interests in discourses on independence in the wake of globalization and growing integration within the international political economy. The author describes the influence of free trade on popular support for the sovereignty of Québec. The SNP's plan for economic growth and social justice is also explored.

The redevelopment of the former naval dockyards in Chatham is one of the largest regeneration sites in the UK and is widely seen as a high-profile flagship project aimed at encouraging business investment. This paper utilises the Chatham redevelopment project as a basis from which to discuss recent developments in UK policy. It draws upon the methods of critical discourse analysis in order to discuss particular tensions within the project in the context of central-local government relations, partnership arrangements, project implementation and marketing. The paper's conclusion is that, in spite of the initiatives established to devolve decision-making and establish regional autonomy, property-led development projects in the UK are likely to remain tightly controlled with only limited scope for community groups to exert influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the more intriguing theoretical discussions of recent years involves the concept of governance. There is now a substantial body of work concerning the way governance has affected the contribution of central government to the policy process. Possibly the most prominent and influential account of governance theory in British political science is offered by Rod Rhodes. His most recent writings have employed governance theory to explore the institutions, actors and processes of change within the core executive. His ‘Anglo-governance’ model has emerged as a prevalent and authoritative account of how new methods of governing have emerged in society. Significantly, it is maintained that a distinct shift has taken place in government, from a hierarchical organisation to a fragmented and decentralised entity that is heavily reliant on a range of complex and independent policy networks. There is undoubted evidence that government is a fractured institution that is dependent on state and non-state actors beyond the centre. This paper questions whether such features entail the emergence of a new form of governance. Central government is still highly resourced and has, at its disposal, a range of powers with which to retain influence over public sector agencies. Historical evidence also shows that the British polity has long been decentralised. Thus, it is difficult to see how recent developments have in any way transformed the capacities of the core executive. It seems that alternative ways of conceptualising the institutions, actors and processes of change in government are required. Recent efforts to develop ‘organising perspectives’, within the intellectual parameters of governance theory, offer a more ‘conceptually cautious’ treatment of the central state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Central-local relations have been of particular interest since the Labour government came to power in 1997. Both academics and practitioners have pointed to tensions within the Labour government's reform agenda—between a ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approach; between a drive for national standards and the encouragement of local learning and innovation; and between strengthening executive leadership and enhancing public participation. It is argued that while Labour's modernisation strategy has clear elements of a top-down approach (legislation, inspectorates, white papers, etc) there is also a significant bottom-up dimension (a variety of zones, experiments and pilots, albeit with different degrees of freedom). This article utilises a multi-level governance framework of analysis and argues that, while much of the research using such frameworks has hitherto focused on the EU, recent developments in governance at neighbourhood, local authority, sub-regional and regional levels facilitate its application within a nation state. The central thesis is that, while there is extensive interaction between actors at sub-national level, this should not be seen as a proxy for policy influence. The local political arena is characterised less by multi-level governance than by multi-level dialogue. Sub-national actors participate but they are rarely major players in shaping policy outcomes: the plurality which characterises sub-central governance does not reflect a pluralist power structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Policy & Politics is the property of Policy Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Focuses on the different models of individualism during the nineteenth century in Great Britain. Cultural manifestation of the problem associated in the individual-state relationship in Great Britain; Influential idea of philosopher Herbert Spencer on individualism and social progress; Political economic account on social progress by Adam Smith.

Reflects on the nature and significance of central-local government relations in Great Britain. Crucial involvement of the parliament in sanctioning or refusing to sanction local projects; Local legislation on the provision of social services and amenities; Requirement of inaugural petition for local legislation.

Highlights the significance of members of parliament in England as intercessors between local and central government in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Assessment of development of the state in the Augustan period; Role of member of parliament as town lobbyist and town representative to the board of trade, customs house and other agencies which might influence the town's affairs.

Presents a rejoinder to the article `The October 1993 Coal Crisis and UK Energy Policy,' by M. Parker and J. Surrey published in a 1993 issue of the periodical `The Political Quarterly.' Accelerated decline in Great Britain's coal industry; Failure to identify what constitutes intervention; Privatization of the electricity supply industry.

Calls for increasing the role of British local government in healthcare rationing decisions. Argument that increasing the role for the British central government in healthcare rationing is not the only approach in addressing the chaotic situation; Logic of democracy; Local authorities as healthcare purchasers.

Supports a greater role for the British central government in healthcare rationing decisions. Central government's responsibility for deciding how resources for health care are distributed around Britain; Lack of coherence; Erosion of public confidence; Competency and legitimacy.

The article analyzes the underlying reasons on the decision of the British government to abandon the Local Authority Planning Systems (LAPS) initiative in 1979 that would have addressed problems associated with the Department of Health and Social Security. It cites the two contending and possible explanation for the government's decision, namely the cynical option and the softer option. Moreover, the author attempts to reconcile the two cited reasons for the government's abandonment of the LAPS initiative by examining the kind of information that the initiative would have provided the government and its detractors.

This article focuses on the accession of Great Britain into the European Community in 1973 and the growth in power and competence of European institutions in subsequent years prompts a rethink of relationships between central and local governance. The article develops six possible scenarios of new relationships which can be simplified into centralization, no change or decentralization. The article examines the operation of the European Regional Development Fund, the additionality controversy, lobbying over the 1994 reform of the structural funds and aspects of environmental regulation. Rather than one scenario dominating, the findings show several types of new relationships emerging. The constitutional distinction has influenced most accounts of the balance of power and influence between center and locality and is acknowledged even by writers who examine center-local politics from the viewpoint of resource interdependent policy communities.

Discusses four of the main perspectives on the changing nature of intergovernmental relations in Great Britain. Historical and institutional analysis within the tradition of public administration; Organizational theory; Rational choice analysis; Neo-Marxist influenced state theory.

Despite the centralizing trends which have characterized the 1980s, local authorities have displayed considerable skill in their pursuit of policies designed to cope with effects of the government's grant abatements and other, legislative restrictions. Indeed, it is paradoxical that a continued diversity in response has characterized the strategies of various local authorities over the period. However, our theoretical understanding has often failed to keep pace with the reality of a still vibrant local government. Even those ‘output’ studies which identified the different influences at work invariably failed to explain why localities diverged in their responses. Similarly, the expository power of sophisticated intergovernmental relations (IGR) models has not fully accounted for such divergence. This research builds on the IGR model but explicitly acknowledges the importance of a ‘localities effect’ in shaping the application of the model in specific local authorities. This is facilitated by a comparative case study approach based on evidence from Glasgow and Liverpool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the devolution plans of the 1970s were abandoned, those debates had far-reaching consequences for the determination of relative public expenditure levels in the United Kingdom. The Barnett formula (10:5:85) of 1978 provided that increases in public expenditure in Scotland and in Wales for specific services within the territorial blocks would be determined according to the formula consequences of changes in equivalent English expenditure. A parallel formula allocated 2.75 per cent of the change in equivalent expenditure in Great Britain to Northern Ireland. The essential distinction is between base expenditure (whose current levels are carried forward) and incremental expenditure (which is determined by formula). The predicted convergence of block expenditure relatives on the UK per capita average was frustrated by formula bypass, and in Scotland by relative population decline. The background to the 1992 recalibration of the Barnett formula (10.66:6.02:100.00 and Northern Ireland 2.87 per cent) is analysed. Territorial block expenditure is set within the structure of territorial public expenditure aggregates, and evidence is assembled on identifiable public expenditure relatives between countries and by English region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks into the report conducted by the Royal Commission on the Constitution and the Memorandum of Dissent regarding various issues on public administration in Great Britain. The reports have analyzed the political and constitutional dilemmas affecting the government. Significantly, the scheme for legislative devolution reveals very clearly the influence of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 as it applied to Northern Ireland. Significantly, the Commission considers the alternative of executive devolution wherein the retention of responsibility for major policy making and legislation is at the center while subordinate policy making and administration is devolved on to local assemblies. The author has also compared and differentiated both reports.

The article brings fresh evidence to bear on the debate about centralization of decentralization of power within the Conservative Party in Great Britain by casting new light on Central Office efforts to secure Conservative working-class members of the Parliament. It then demonstrates that both central pressure and constituency resistance throughout most of the 20th century have been much greater than has been realized previously. The implications of this to the debate about central control and constituency autonomy within the party is assessed.

Focuses on local government taxation and expenditures in Great Britain. Rationale of the central government's efforts to rein in local authorities' spending; Overspending by these entities as a percentage of total public expenditure; Concerns that rate limitation proposals impinge upon local autonomy.

The article discusses key issues concerning the necessity of client group budgeting to the efficient financing and delivery of health care services in Great Britain in 1983. Key issues discussed include the reorganization of health and personal social services that left the care of some groups shared between the national health service and local authorities and efforts by the national government to achieve a strategic shift in priorities health and personal social service spending towards groups such as children, the mentally handicapped, the elderly and the mentally-ill.