Public Sector Partnerships - A Model for Success?

In the UK and elsewhere there is increasing emphasis on public sector organisations working together in local partnerships. Partnerships can potentially encourage the delivery of joined-up services to citizens, promote democracy and improve public policy making, but partnership working is not always easy and can be challenging for the individuals and organisations involved. This research explores how English local authorities and their partners work together on electronic government. E-government is the use of computer technologies by government to transform the provision of services and information to citizens, encourage citizen participation and modernise government. The research is based on a systematic literature review and comparative case studies of three sub-regional e-government partnerships, using a mixed methods approach. In each case study social network data was collected from participants using a short questionnaire to ascertain who they dealt with in relation to e-government. This data was analysed using Ucinet and then used during qualitative interviews and workshops to generate discussions on why the network looks the way it does and learn more about the meaning behind the surface of the relationships. A preliminary model of partnership effectiveness has been developed which identifies network structure, governance and system stability as three themes contributing to the success of local e-government partnerships. Research with a county partnership made up of staff from 10 local councils, councillors and other public organisations such as police and fire services will be used to illustrate and explore these three themes. Its network structure is centralised around a staff team, which has helped drive forward the shared projects to successful implementation, but the lack of a dense web of relationships among participants provides limited opportunities to learn from each other or share best practice. In terms of governance, there is a strong shared vision among participants of joining up services, but no shared strategy of how to work towards it and a lack of leadership direction from the top. Few people from citizen-facing directorates are involved and not all the representatives are sufficiently senior to commit to decisions. On system stability, despite little history of county-wide joint working, the partnership is now embedded and the respect it has earned has led to the development of a number of other partnership arrangements in the locality. Overall, the partnership is working productively and has delivered a substantial number of shared projects, but the initiatives being pursued focus on customer service and administrative reform rather than advancing local democracy or improving policy making.