Projects per year
Abstract
A paradox of the New Public Management reform – an influential school of thought in the management of public services in some countries – is that, despite its rhetoric of discretion for public managers, governments frequently reassert direct input controls at the expense of managerial freedoms to deliver – and be held accountable for – agreed output/outcome objectives. The existing literature explains this by highlighting elite incentive structures and institutional norms, but often neglects the wider implications for public managers beyond the centre. Addressing this gap, we trace the effects of public spending control from allocation to delivery through a detailed case study of prisons in England and Wales. We show how ‘top-down’ public spending control, hyper-centralised governance arrangements and ministerial activism combine to subvert managerial freedom and undermine ongoing service improvement. The overriding importance of year-by-year fiscal performance results in short-term, poorly evaluated decision
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1 |
Number of pages | 27 |
Journal | POLICY AND POLITICS |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 24 Oct 2024 |
Keywords
- HM Treasury
- Public spending
- Performance Budgeting
- Prisons
- governance
- New Public Management (NPM)
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'The inefficiency of centralised control and political short-termism: the case of the Prison Service in England and Wales'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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Public Expenditure Planning and Control in Complex Times: A Study of Whitehall Departments? Relationship to the Treasury (1993-Present)
Richards, D. (PI)
1/01/20 → 31/12/22
Project: Research
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Why Labour needs to abandon hyper-centralised financial control: lessons from the prisons crisis
Richards, D., Warner, S., Coyle, D. & Smith, M., 28 Oct 2024Research output: Other contribution
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Breaking from the Iron Cage of ‘prison works
Richards, D. & Warner, S., 18 May 2023, Bennett Institute for Public Policy.Research output: Other contribution
Open Access -
Performance Frameworks, Policy Outcomes and the Politics of Short-Termism: Lesson Learning from UK Prisons Policy
Richards, D., Warner, S., Smith, M. & Coyle, D., 3 Apr 2023.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper