Week 9.1 In what ways can we measure the success of devolution

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Week 9.1In what ways can we measure the success
of devolution?

• (1) Recapping on the course, looking for
  indicators

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Week 1 The first point to note is that devolution
did not exactly happen in 1999

• Remember the discussion about the UK as a union
  state rather than a unitary state from its
  inception.
• Remember the idea of the Scottish settlement and
  the successive incremental means used to address
  nationalism.
• Secretary of State for Scotland as a figurehead
  and representative in Cabinet.
• The early Scottish Office as a means of bringing
  together a disparate set of quangos and the
  Scotch Education Department.
• Then it developed much more than expected. It
  grew as the state grew. The precedent was set
  Scottish solutions/ administrative arrangements
  if it could be demonstrated that policy problems
  had a clear Scottish element.
• Also remember the idea that the 1979 referendum
  result produced unfinished business but also a
  sense that a Scottish Parliament could have saved
  Scotland from the worst aspects of Thatcherism.
  This may still be important arguably much of
  the Scottish policy difference has involved
  opting-out of English initiatives. Think the NHS
  internal market, school diversity,

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Week 2.1 The Scottish Political System

• Gives clues to the operation of the Scottish
  Executive after devolution. The idea of
  qualified autonomy is useful when looking at the
  potential for public policy differences
• Most likely differences (based on levels of
  autonomy) in the areas of education, law reform,
  local government where there is already a
  different starting point and less potential for
  comparison
• Scotland going it s own way successfully when the
  differences are played down, the issues is
  presented as humdrum or the policy is described
  as a pilot or UK experiment
• Remember the idea of autonomy through neglect as
  well as the debate on the practical effect of the
  ultimate authority residing elsewhere
• Plus Patersons idea of measuring the scope for
  Scottish policy on the basis of its relatively
  small size and place in the world of independent
  states of a similar size
• No control over taxation but much more discretion
  over public spending, bearing in mind the inertia
  involved when money is tied up in existing policy
  commitments

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Week 2.2 The New Politics

• MOST SUCCESS
• A proportional electoral system with a strong
  likelihood of coalition
• Fostering equality in the selection of candidates
  and making the Scottish Parliament equally
  attractive to men and women
• Ensuring that MSPs have enough time for
  constituency work (by restricting work in the
  Scottish Parliament mainly to 3 days per week)
• GIVING POTENTIAL FOR SUCCESS
• A strong role for committees to initiate
  legislation, scrutinise the activity of the
  executive and conduct inquiries
• Fostering closer links between state and civil
  society through parliament (e.g. with a focus on
  the right to petition parliament and the
  committee role in obliging the executive to
  consult widely)
• UNCERTAIN SUCCESS
• A consensual style of politics with a reduced
  role for party conflict
• Power sharing rather than executive dominance
• IS THIS RIGHT?

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Week 3.2

• SCC qualified success, uncertain future
• Petitions some agenda setting value
• Interest groups usual suspects discussion and
  pre-pre consultation, capacity of groups
• Is participatory democracy good/ successful and
  representative democracy bad/ unsuccessful?

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Week 4.1 Parties

• One-party dominance problem resolved?
• Success of the small parties?
• More debate, more ideas?
• Is coalition a sign of success?
• Remember the debate on the value of parties and
  the value of consensus
• A smaller policy space?

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Week 4.2 Scottish Parliament

• Successful delivery of new committee procedures
  and powers
• Agenda setting and legislating influence of
  committees less clear
• Evidence (but heavily qualified) of committee
  influence in amendments process

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Week 6 - Scottish Government. There are clues
about how to measure success here but be careful!

• More collegial cabinet system?
• Coalition cabinet government
• A smaller central function (FM office, Treasury)
• Civil service a stumble?
• Lack of policy capacity in government?
• Lack of external policy capacity?
• Less of a policy contest (e.g. between
  influential think thanks)
• Fewer strong personalities in government?
• Reserved/ devolved issues as a constraint?
• Is the use of Sewel motions a sign of failure?
• Consider the argument that the policy cupboard
  was bare since in the early devolution years
  since so much political effort was expended
  looking at the constitutional arrangements and
  not the purpose of the powers

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Week 7 Convergence and Divergence

• Consider whether or not policy convergence is a
  sign of devolution delivering is divergence
  good and convergence bad?
• Is policy change good and stability/ inertia bad?
• Is the value of devolution the ability to stay
  the same in the face of the constant reform
  agenda in England? Or is this a sign of a lack
  of innovation/ ideas?
• Analysis of legislation suggests only a handful
  of divergence acts mental health, free personal
  care, tuition fees, PR local government elections
• Implementation suggests even less divergences
• But a focus beyond legislation also shows that
  change/ divergence can happen more organically
• A focus on policy change rather than divergence
  also shows that the same policy can have a more
  profound effect in Scotland (e.g. housing stock
  transfer)

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Week 8 Finance

• What does the maintenance of Barnett say about
  devolution success?
• Having your cake and eating it? I.e. successful
  maintenance of higher spending in Scotland
  despite issues of nationalism being addressed?
• Does the power of the Treasury undermine the
  ability of the Scottish Executive to go its own
  way?
• Can we only judge the success of devolution in a
  period of financial stringency?
• Note the topical nature of public service reform
  in this context and the now annual debate between
  the Scottish Executive and local authorities.

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(2) Future issues has devolution delivered?

• There is also a more topical issue that concerns
  delivery how are Scotlands public services
  delivering?
• How do they compare with England, Wales and
  Northern Ireland?
• Has devolution produced modernisation/ innovation
  in England and stagnation in Scotland, England,
  Wales?

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Lagging behind?

• Scotland and Wales have no city academies,
  foundation hospitals, school league tables, or
  beacon councils.
• There are fewer summary measures of institutional
  performance and targets appear to work
  differently from the way they do in England.
• The speed of change is different in
  Public-Private Partnerships, university top-up
  fees and housing stock transfer.

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Contrasts with previous discussions

• smoking
• free personal care
• higher education
• PR local government

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What is the basis for argument?

• Examination of the performance of public services
  and then relating this back to policy. Bear in
  mind
• The chain of cause and effect is complex, from
  the initial identification of different policy
  conditions, to differences in policy choices,
  introduction and implementation, means of
  measuring performance and use of incentives and
  targets.
• It is therefore difficult to assess differences
  in performance and link this to policy when we
  are not sure exactly what the differences are,
  why they exist and how far these have been
  pursued in practice.
• Yet this does not stop governments, think tanks
  and academics trying! E.g. BMJ on health

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2. The advantages England has

• Policy capacity e.g. civil servants
• External policy capacity e.g. interests groups
• Policy competition e.g. a thriving think tank
  environment
• More policy space
• More committed knowledgeable leaders?
• Government with more experience of policy work