Electrical test wire attachment device

Test lead wire attachment quickly and securely engages screw head by expansion against the side walls of the screw head slot. Heat shrinkable tubing is used for the forward and shaft ends to insulate the device from accidental contact

We need better ways of assessing value for money

The abolition of the Audit Commission and the scrapping of centralised performance management systems means there are currently limited institutional arrangements for assessing local value for money

Seeking value in a privatised world

Since the global financial crisis of 2008 there has been an added impetus towards reconsideration of the shape of the British state. The search for a ‘smarter state’ which is smaller and cheaper has particularly affected the field of central-local government relations

Using management control to understand public sector corporate governance changes : localism, public interest, and enabling control in an English local authority.

Purpose: Within the context of recent post-localism developments in English local government the paper shows firstly how management controls have become more enabling in response to changes in rules of public sector corporate governance, and secondly how changes in management control systems gave rise to new corporate governance practices. Design/methodology/approach: Theoretically the paper mobilises the concept of enabling control to reflect on contemporary changes in public sector corporate governance. It draws on the International Federation of Accountants’ (IFAC) and Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) new public sector governance and management control system model and data gathered from a longitudinal qualitative field study of a local authority in north east England. The field study used interviews, observation and documentation review. Findings: This paper suggests specific ways in which the decentralisation of policy making and performance measurement in our case local authority gave rise to enabling corporate governance, and how corporate governance and management control practices went some way to aid in the pursuit of the public interest. In particular it shows that the management control system can be designed at the operational level to be enabling. We notice the significance of global transparency for supporting corporate governance practices around public interest. This paper reaffirms that accountability is but one element of public sector corporate governance. Rather, public sector corporate governance also pursues integrity, openness, defining outcomes, determining interventions, leadership and capacity, and risk and performance management. Practical implications: Insights into uses of such enabling practices in public sector corporate governance are relevant for many countries in which public sector funding has been cut, especially since the 2007/08 global financial crisis. Originality/value: This paper introduces the concept of enabling control into the public sector corporate governance and control debate by fleshing out the categories of public sector corporate governance and management control suggested recently by IFAC and CIPFA drawing on observed practices of a local government entity

WMO-werkplaats Noord:eindrapport implementatie 2014-2015

Eindrapport van het tweejarig project van de Wmo-werkplaats Noord. Het eindrapport omvat de periode jan 2014 - december 2015. Het bevat bijdragen van de betrokken medewerkers over de resultaten van het implementatietraject

WMO-werkplaats Noord:eindrapport innovatie 2012-2015

Eindrapport van het driejarig project van de Wmo-werkplaats Noord, voorheen Wmo-werkplaats Groningen-Drenthe. Het eindrapport omvat de periode november 2012 - november 2015

Hybridizing the institutional logics of performance improvement and budgetary stewardship in English and Welsh local government

This article introduces and applies a three-stage process to show how advocates of the conflicting institutional logics of budgetary stewardship and performance improvement in English and Welsh local authorities created a hybrid logic. Drawing on interviews with officers in 25 councils, it demonstrates how cooperative working environments meant that hybridization proceeded largely 'peacefully', in contrast to previous studies of more competitive contexts that found it occurs on a 'battlefield'. We argue that the nature of conflict within the hybridization process, along with the power dynamics between representatives of different logics, shapes the nature and sustainability of the resulting hybrid