THE UK EXPERIENCE OF ENSURING PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY

1
THE UK EXPERIENCE OF ENSURING PUBLIC
ACCOUNTABILITY

• Tony Redmond
• Chairman and Chief Executive
• The Commission for Local Administration in
  England
• Local Government Ombudsman

2
PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY

• Public Service Reform
• Structure Constitutions
• Configuration of Local Authorities
• Devolution
• Organisational arrangements
• Decision making process
• Officer / Member protocols
• Monitoring control
• Governance
• Principles
• Partnerships
• Checklist
• External Regulation
• Audit Inspection regime
• Comprehensive Performance Assessment
• Ombudsmans perspective

3
PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM

• National Standards and Accountability targets
  and monitoring
• Devolution freedom to deliver standards
• Flexibility at the front line removing
  bureaucratic barriers
• Choice for customers giving options

4
CONFIGURATION OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES

• 460 Local Authorities in the UK comprising
  County, Metropolitan and District Councils
• Services include Education, Social Services,
  Highways, Planning, Housing, Leisure, Environment
  and Refuse Collection
• 50 Police Authorities
• 60 Fire Authorities

5
DEVOLUTION

• Scottish Parliament
• Welsh Assembly
• (Northern Ireland Executive)
• Regional Government in England?

6
ORGANISATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

• Local devolution / decentralisation
• Executive and Scrutiny
• Statutory roles of Chief Executive, Director of
  Finance Monitoring Officer
• Political Advisers / Secretariats
• Community engagement
• Involvement of other Stakeholders

7
DECISION MAKING PROCESS

• Council
• Elected Mayor
• Leader
• Executive / Cabinet
• Committees
• Officers

8
OFFICER / MEMBER PROTOCOLS

• Understanding respective roles
• Clarity in decision making
• Use of delegations
• Transparency
• Recording all decisions
• Accountability

9
MONITORING AND CONTROL

• Standards Committee
• Overview and Scrutiny Committees
• Audit Committee

10
PRINCIPLES OF A GOOD GOVERNANCE CODE

• Transparent
• Coherent and simple
• Clear and consistent
• Practical / workable
• Enforceable
• Regularly monitored and reviewed
• Practised by top management (Leadership)
• Relevant to all levels
• Prominent and accessible
• Integral to all that happens
• Referenced to other codes internal and external

11
GOVERNANCE IN PARTNERSHIPS

• Strategic Partnerships
• Public / Private / Voluntary
• Statutory provisions what are the limits?
• Joined up Government where is the support?
• Joint commissioning who does the work?
• Joint financing who pays?
• Joint accountability who is ultimately
  responsible?

12
GOVERNANCE IN PARTNERSHIPS (contd)

• Potential Partnerships
• Crime and Disorder
• Health and Social Care
• Regeneration
• Lifelong Learning
• Youth Justice
• Homelessness

13
GOVERNANCE CHECKLIST

• Values
• Conduct and behaviour
• Standards
• Service delivery
• Doing things right
• Executive
• Leadership direction
• Decision making
• Risk management
• Accountability
• Control and Regulation
• Audit
• Inspection
• Scrutiny

14
AUDIT AND INSPECTION REGIME

• Audit Commission
• Office for Standards in Education
• Social Services Inspectorate
• Best Value Inspectorate
• Benefits Fraud Inspectorate
• Housing Inspectorate

15
COMPREHENSIVE PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

• Council objectives
• Delivering priorities
• Achievements to date
• Forward plans
• Ability to improve
• Assessment and rating

16
OMBUDSMANS PERSPECTIVE

• 18,000 complaints in England
• Maladministration and injustice found in about
  25 caused by
• Systematic and procedural weaknesses
• Delay
• Lack of consultation
• Simple error
• Poor complaints handling
• Flawed decision making
• Failure to observe regulations / codes of practice