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Budgeting and governing for deficit reduction in the UK public sector: act three 'accountability and audit arrangements'

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  • Laurence Ferry
  • Peter Eckersley

Abstract

This paper explains how the UK central government has changed accountability and audit arrangements for local government in England, while retaining its approach to setting annual budgets within the context of multi-year spending reviews. It highlights how dismantling the institutions and processes that monitored outputs and outcomes for spending, such as public service agreements and comprehensive area assessment, meant that top-down accountability became focused overwhelmingly on financial conformance rather than organizational performance for local government. Supplementary reforms to increase the transparency or 'visibility' of public administration, and thereby enable greater bottom-up accountability, have resulted in a performance assessment system that is neither rigorous nor standardized. The overall result is a weakening of local accountability arrangements.

Suggested Citation

  • Laurence Ferry & Peter Eckersley, 2015. "Budgeting and governing for deficit reduction in the UK public sector: act three 'accountability and audit arrangements'," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 203-210, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:pubmmg:v:35:y:2015:i:3:p:203-210
    DOI: 10.1080/09540962.2015.1027496
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. David Richards & Sam Warner & Martin J Smith & Diane Coyle, 2023. "Crisis and state transformation: Covid-19, levelling up and the UK’s incoherent state," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(1), pages 31-48.
    2. Katarzyna Aleksandra Wόjtowicz & Sabina Hodžić, 2022. "Financial Resilience in the Face of Turbulent Times: Evidence from Poland and Croatian Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-16, August.

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