44 research outputs found
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Developing the data sets for English and Welsh local authorities to understand their financial resilience in the face of austerity
This working paper is intended to be part of the thesis Financial Resilience in the face of austerity in Local Authorities in England. The datasets created will also be used in journal papers relating to local authorities in Wales
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Written evidence to the Welsh Affairs Select Committee inquiry on the impact of population change in Wales
This evidence does not seek to respond to the committees’ full agenda rather it focuses on the following aspects of the inquiry’s terms of reference.
• What will the impact of population trends be on the demand for and delivery of public services, including housing, education, and healthcare?
• What steps should the Government take to mitigate the challenges of population change in Wales?
The Committee seeks to understand the reasons for population change and its impacts. It will also examine what mitigations could be put in place by the UK Government to meet the potential challenges of population change
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East of England local authorities’ financial resilience in order to be partners for sustainable, inclusive growth
Councils across England have been exposed to the twin pressures of financial constraints and increasing service demand since austerity was introduced in 2010/11. The East of England (EoE) faces particular challenges coming from having the largest population increase in England over the last ten years (488,000 more residents, or a growth of 8.3%), and also an increasingly ageing population.
This report discusses how councils in the region manage major sources of funding in order to deliver a wide range of services to their communities. Following reductions in Government funding and councils’ lack of flexibility in raising local tax rates, the report also explores the difficulties councils face in obtaining funding and provides suggestions on opportunities available to make funding accessible to councils and/or grant them the flexibility to spend based on their needs and responsibilities
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The impact of austerity on Welsh local authorities: where the axe falls.
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Perceiving financial vulnerability: investigating Northamptonshire County Council through the lens of financial resilience
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Where the axe falls: austerity and cutback management in social services and education
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Co-producing an evidence-based toolkit for financial resilience: translating ideas across practitioner and academic communities
The academic-practitioner gap is a long-standing issue in public administration, as noted for more than 50 years by Waldo (1965). Over the years, attempts have been made to identify reasons for this gap, which include a lack of agreement and ambiguity between academic scholars’ research outputs and practitioners’ organisational practices (Orr and Bennett, 2009), concerns about rigour and relevance (Schön, 1991; Antonacopoulou, 2010; Cepiku, 2011), or a preference for short-term over long-term time orientation (Buick et al., 2015). This attracted the attention of interested scholars to discover possible ways to bridge the gap. Orr and Bennett (2012) and Cepiku (2011) emphasised the need to engage in “co-production” among researchers and practitioners, a process of research where both parties collaborate to achieve negotiated objectives – ultimately leading to “full partnerships with a high degree of interaction” (Buick et al., 2015, p. 37).
Borrowing the concept of “translation of ideas” from the Scandinavian institutionalism, we argue there is a transfer of ideas between the academic and practitioner worlds (or organisational fields), as different actors translate such ideas to fit their needs (Wedlin and Sahlin, 2017). It means that public organisations and their members are not simply passive recipients of academic scholarship discourses, but actively transform the concepts raised by scholars into meaningful practices embedded in their daily organisational routines – including the technological aspects that turn ideas into practice (Sahlin & Wedlin, 2008). The same applies to scholars who translate ideas that emerge from the organisational practice field into new research objectives. By framing the academic-practitioner gap as an issue of “translation”, including its discursive, operational, and technological aspects, we aim to answer calls from the literature on better understanding the mechanisms through which we can make the work of PA scholars more useful for practitioners (Bushouse et al., 2011).
This paper analyses the translation of ideas between academia and practice on the co-production of an evidence-based toolkit for local governments. As known, the co-production of knowledge works better when there is a clear and common purpose between academics and practitioners (Buick et al., 2015). Thus, our toolkit focuses on the financial resilience of local governments – which has been a matter of concern and topic for debate among practitioners in the last few decades. Local governments were challenged to continue improving service delivery amidst reduced financial resources and increased demand for services.
The toolkit aims to translate Barbera et al. (2015; 2017) financial resilience framework to the local governments’ operational routines. We relied on (i) surveys, (ii) focus groups (round table discussions), and (iii) interviews that were used to feedback into and co-produce the financial resilience toolkit for UK LAs. Each of these steps is linked to the editing rules identified by Sahlin-Andersson (1996): formulation, logic and context. Our findings point out how the cooperation between academics and practitioners led to the development of an online-based toolkit that exceeded the initial foreseen uses of the toolkit as compared to the initial design solely by academics – i.e., the toolkit become a legitimate solution to different problems (logic) when framed on the right way (formulation) and respecting the local settings specific needs (context)
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UK local authorities’ financial resilience during the era of austerity
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Better understanding financial resilience through an innovative toolkit
This document summarises the main points discussed at the workshop “Better understanding financial resilience through an innovative toolkit” organised by the University of Essex, in collaboration with CIPFA South East (SE), where participants had a hands-on opportunity to explore the toolkit and engage in open discussions and breakout groups to exchange knowledge about financial resilience. Our evidence-based toolkit is being developed by Ileana Steccolini, André Lino, and Bernard Dom. The workshop was facilitated by Jeffrey Matsu (CIPFA), André Lino (University of Essex) and Bernard Dom (Nottingham Trent University), and funded by the University of Essex internal Policy Support Fund programme. The programme is a University’s strategic initiative to increase and speed up the beneficial social, economic, policy, and environmental impacts of our research at home and abroad
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Financial resilience in English local authorities: delivering cultural and related services (CRS) during the era of austerity
Local Authorities (LAs) have been exposed to increasing financial and service demand pressures from the occurrence of disruptive events, particularly austerity. These pressures make it challenging for LAs to continue delivering services that are essential to their residents (users). In England, cultural services are essential services to residents, although English LAs struggle to consistently provide cultural and related services to their residents. This paper adopted a mixed method comprising secondary data (through data visualisation) and evidence from primary research to explore the impacts of austerity and how English LAs withstood these pressures by continuing to provide cultural and related services. The findings of this paper contribute to knowledge in the public service management literature and also provides some recommendations towards policy formulation, which is expected to enhance the financial resilience of English LAs to enable them to withstand pressures from future disruptive events