Really responsive risk-based regulation

Regulators in a number of countries are increasingly developing "risk-based" strategies to manage their resources, and their reputations as "risk-based regulators" have become much lauded by regulatory reformers. This widespread endorsement of risk-based regulation, together with the experience of regulatory failure, prompts us to consider how risk-based regulators can attune the logics of risk analyses to the complex problems and the dynamics of regulation in practice. We argue, first, that regulators have to regulate in a way that is responsive to five elements: (1) regulated firms' behavior, attitude, and culture; (2) regulation's institutional environments; (3) interactions of regulatory controls; (4) regulatory performance; and (5) change. Secondly, we argue that the challenges of regulation to which regulators have to respond vary across the different regulatory tasks of detection, response development, enforcement, assessment, and modification. Using the "really responsive" framework, we highlight some of the strengths and limitations of using risk-based regulation to manage risk and uncertainty within the constraints that flow from practical circumstances and, indeed, from the framework of risk-based regulation itself. The need for a revised, more nuanced conception of risk-based regulation is stressed

Local government and the changing institutional landscape of economic development in England and Wales

This paper assesses the response by local authorities to the new institutional structure introduced in England and Wales since 1997: of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), the Welsh Assembly and Welsh Development Agency (WDA), subregional partnerships, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), Education and Learning Wales (ELWa), and local government new well-being and Best Value initiatives. The paper demonstrates, using new survey evidence, that RDAs are beginning to promote a regional framework for local organizations, but the strategic impact is limited to county, unitary, and metropolitan areas, which are focused heavily on programme delivery. More generally, regional strategy inputs have added yet another dimension to local government partnerships. RDAs are not yet, therefore, the strategic bodies for all areas that was originally planned. Regional Chambers and the Welsh Assembly have weak influence on local government and are not yet effective monitoring bodies on the RDAs/WDA. Subregional partnerships offer potential for regional-local government strategy, but are chiefly involved in programme design (especially for regeneration) and their future importance appears limited. The transfer from TECs to the LSC/ELWa has had much less impact than expected: local government was already leader and financier of most of the projects in which TECs were involved. However, a reduction in level of activity, effectiveness, and resources has occurred for most projects in England, though to a lesser extent in Wales. Overall, the paper demonstrates that as yet changes in institutions have produced little real changes in how economic development occurs or how local government operates. The complexity and fragmentation of economic development institutions by government, on balance, appear to have increased rather than diminished

Reducing the compliance burden of nonprofit organisations: cutting red tape

Australian governments now rely on the non-profit sector to provide essential services. Yet, anecdotally, the compliance burden imposed by governments consumes scarce service delivery resources. This study quantifies the cost of government generated paperwork for Queensland non-profit organisations. Fourteen non-profits kept logs to record government paperwork over 12 months. The non-profits also provided their experiences of government paperwork and in particular grant submission and reporting processes. The study finds that government grant paperwork forms the bulk of a non-profits total paperwork burden with grant submissions being the most costly to complete. Costs are clearly regressive with small non-profits bearing a significantly higher burden. Governments need to lead the way and empower the non-profit sector by reducing this administrative burden and releasing the funds for direct service provision

Mobile phones and service stations: Rumour, risk and precaution

This paper considers the implications of precautionary restrictions against technologies, in the context of the potential for creating and sustaining rumours. It focuses on the restriction against mobile phone use at petrol stations, based on the rumour that a spark might cause an explosion. Rumours have been substantiated by precautionary usage warnings from mobile phone manufacturers, petrol station usage restrictions, and a general lack of technical understanding. Petrol station employees have themselves spread the rumour about alleged incidents, filling the information gap about the basis for the restriction