LOGO
UK Local Governments
&
the Management by Central Government
Contents
Survey of UK local government
Relationship between central and local government
Enlightenment to Chinese reform
UK Local Governments &
the Management by Central Government
Survey of UK local government
Survey of UK local government
 Survey of UK local government
Since the Local Government Act （ 1972 ） was
enacted, UK local government has evolved. Especially in
England and Wales, local government system is quite
similar. But there are still a little difference in Scotland
and Northern Ireland.
Survey of UK local government
Type of UK local governments
Type
Quantity
Remarks
County Councils
34
District Councils
238
Belong to county council
English Unitary
Governments
46
Some of local governments
Walsh Unitary
Governments
22
Scottish Unitary
Governments
32
Northern Ireland
Councils
26
Traditional type
two-tier
Unitary Local Authority
Metropolitan Councils
36
London Borough Councils
32
London Corporation Council
1
Total
467
single-tier
Such as Liverpool
Survey of UK local government
Area
England
&
Wales
Quantity
Remarks
47
County Councils
333
District Councils
〉11000
Parish Councils and Town Councils
36
Metropolitan Councils
32
London Borough Councils
1
London Corporation Council
9
Regional Councils
53
District Councils
1350
Town Councils and
3
Islands Councils
26
District Councils
Scotland
Northern Ireland
Survey of UK local government
 Survey of UK local government
The core of UK local government is local
elected council. County Councils or District Councils
are called principal local authorities.
Survey of UK local government
local
elected
council
Survey of UK local government
 Finance of local government
Local government revenue sources
various fee
council tax
National non-domestic rates
rate support grant（RSG）
Survey of UK local government
 Finance of local government
rate support grant
UK
central
government
every
year
distributes
rate
support grant, providing support to carry out the duty of local
government. It can be used for any fields of local government
operation.
Survey of UK local government
 Finance of local government
National non-domestic rate
National
non-domestic
rate
is
based
on
value
of
commerce and industry. Central government determines the
standard rate and levy in whole country and then distribute to
local governments according to their number of people.
Survey of UK local government
 Finance of local government
Council tax
Council tax is the only tax levied by local government.
But before 1998, the upper limit of council tax was decided
by Parliament, and local government has no rights to excess it.
Recently the situation become flexible and local government
still struggle for more rights on council tax.
Survey of UK local government
 Finance of local government
various fee
Local government can also raise money in money market,
but it must be approved by the responsible minister or is
limited in the credit line that decided by central government.
Councils can also raise income through charges – for instance,
charges for some refuse collection services or leisure services.
Survey of UK local government
Most of the money of local government is used for
education, housing, road, social services, police, law and
order, environment, culture and entertainment. All of
expenditure cannot be over 7.9% of GDP. According to
the law local government is not allowed to have budget
deficit.
Survey of UK local government
 Characteristic of local government
（1）Confer and implement in one organization
Basically UK local government is the cabinet that
consists of delegates of majority party in council. The
members of local government are all elected councilors.
So in a certain extent, UK local government can be
regarded
as
an
organization
implements at a local level.
which
confers
and
Survey of UK local government
 Characteristic of local government
（2）Decide by committees
Except some most important issues, almost every
affair in local government is processed and decided by
specialized committees. The issues decided in council
plenary session are also based on reports of specialized
committees. Since the Labor Party reformation, this
characteristic has been changed.
Survey of UK local government
 Characteristic of local government
（3）Autonomous from each other
Local governments on different level are not
belonging to each other. They are just responsible to
local councils. The vassalage relationship only appears in
regional concept, not in political or administrative. Duties
of local governments on higher-level or lower-level are
complement to each other, not against to each other.
Survey of UK local government
 Characteristic of local government
（4）Manage like company
The chief executive in UK local government, as well
as the officers under him, is not civil servant according
to the law. They are just employed by local government.
The relationship between chief executive, local cabinet
and local council is similar to that of the general manager、
board of directors and general meeting of shareholders
in company.
UK Local Governments &
the Management by Central Government
Relationship
between central and local government
Relationship
between central and local government
duality
Local
established
government
from
is
elected
council,
not
appointed
central
government.
by
It
is
responsible to local voters
firstly
and
has
duty
to
provide local public services.
Central
controls
action
government
the
of
administrative
local
government
strictly. Central government and
its agency maintain strong power
to supervise local government all
the time,
person
and
sent
the
supervise
by
central
government has great power.
Relationship
between central and local government
“Central-local” partnership
was established between
central
and
local
government, its purpose is
to reinforce and support
local government. The
partnership
agreement
made a range of systems
and
both
sides
are
required to discuss over
the issues of common
concern.
The Local Government Act
（2003） is a embodiment
that local government was
given further autonomy
rights
by
central
government.
The
Act
decreased some relevant
indicators and simplified
some
procedures
of
supervising. The purpose is
to help local government
provide better service.
Relationship
between central and local government
During recent years, the Labor Party government pushed
on with decentralization policy, in the same time, the policies of
democratize local government have been reinforced. Some
measures have been made to supervise local government by
social force.
Relationship
between central and local government
According to recent law, decisions of local government
were required to have local people’s opinion as more as possible.
A research found that over 90% of England and Wales local
governments ask for local people’s advice about local financial
report.
The white paper published in 2006 put forward a series of
systems to reinforce the power of social force, including giving
question rights to social organizations, encouraging local
councilors to stickle their opinions and local people to
participate in local affairs.
Relationship
between central and local government
 Audit Commission
Audit Commission is a main implement organ set up
in 1982 to supervise local government. It has legal power
to audit finance and management of local government and
evaluate the effect of policies that central government
carried out to help local government provide public
services.
Relationship
between central and local government
 Audit Commission
The members of Audit Commission are appointed by
central
government.
Duty
and
budget
of
Audit
Commission are determined in law by Parliament, which
ensures the independence of Audit Commission.
Relationship
between central and local government
 Audit Commission
BVPIs
——Best Value Performance Indicators
established in 1999
CPA
——Comprehensive Performance Assessment
established in 2002
two parallel and relative performance indicators systems
Relationship
between central and local government
 Audit Commission
BVPIs
evaluates performance of local government by
static indicators. Its key point is to examine all
public services through administrative intervention,
not just by the market.
CPA
based on the BVPIs to evaluate the strategy
plan, service ability and quality, innovative ability,
efficiency and benefit of local government by more
comprehensive and more embedded dynamical
indicators.
Relationship
between central and local government
 LGA & NALC
LGA —— Local Government Association
NALC —— The National Association of Local Councils
Relationship
between central and local government
 LGA & NALC
LGA is formed on April 1st 1997. It represents all
of England and Wales local governments and other
authorities in Parliament and central government as a
voluntary lobbying organization. The association covers
over 50 million people and aims to promote better local
government.
Relationship
between central and local government
 LGA & NALC
NALC represents around 8,500 town and parish
councils in England. Its duty is to provide expert advices
to
local
government
and
be
involved
in
lobbying
government at a national level to advance and protect the
interests of their councils and communities.
Relationship
between central and local government
 LGA & NALC
Although local union organizations like LGA and
NALC have no executive power, only responsible for
discussing the issues of common concern, they promote
the connection between central and local government and
set up a system to take care of the dispute issues. It is a
great help for resolving the conflict between different
sides.
Relationship
between central and local government
 “Local governance”
After coming into power in 1997, the Labor Party
government encouraged state-private joint program on
local level. From 2001, a range of measures have been run
to improve the quality of local government’s work by
various channels. Till 2002, there have been 5500 joint
state-private programs developed on local level.
Relationship
between central and local government
 “Local governance”
These measures carried out by the Labor Party
government are designed to improve those policies run by
Conservative Party. The measures carried out by Labor
Party government not only focus on saving and efficiency,
but also respond people actively. Various channels were
chosen to improve public services within local government,
market and social organization. These policies appear to
give greater flexibility.
Relationship
between central and local government
 “Local governance”
According to them, some parts of public services
provided by local government have been turned over to
semi-government organizations and private companies.
Local government decreases its management of human
services and is no longer a unique provider of public
services.
Relationship
between central and local government
 “Local governance”
It plays a role to guide different
NGO
semi-government organizations and private
companies
now.
Local
government
is
converting to “local governance” gradually.
local
government
private
companies
semigovernment
organizations
Relationship
between central and local government
 “Local governance”
That means if there are any other measures and
techniques to manage public affairs better, the local
government should make the best use of them. Besides
local government, private or public organization can be
allowed to manage public affairs.
It involves power going up to down and interacting
with private business.
UK Local Governments &
the Management by Central Government
Enlightenment to Chinese reform
Enlightenment to Chinese reform
There are a lot of difference in political and social
system, ideology and culture between China and UK, but
the structure and the function of UK local government
and improvement on the relationship between central and
local government are helpful to Chinese reform in
administrative system.
Enlightenment to Chinese reform
Foster citizen’s political consciousness to participate in local affairs
Due to thousands of years’ political tradition,
centralized system such as be responsible to superiors
level is inevitable in China. It is difficult to change in a
short period. But we have to realize the negative effect.
If the democracy on basic-level develops slowly, the
citizen will rely too much on the government. And they
will lack enthusiasm to participate in local affairs.
Enlightenment to Chinese reform
Foster citizen’s political consciousness to participate in local affairs
We can learn a lot from experience that local
governments in UK are required to consider local people’s
opinion while they are making decision. As the reform
penetrates deeply in China, we should train the citizen to
take part in democratic involvement, therefore tamp the
foundation of democracy on basic-level.
Enlightenment to Chinese reform
Strengthening various kinds of cooperation between governments
Since reforming and opening, the extent and
intensity
of
competition
between
Chinese
local
governments have become stronger and stronger. On one
hand this situation encouraged local governments to
improve the executive efficiency and reduce the
business cost. On the other hand it caused regional
protectionism,
redundant
project
and
environment
pollution, which also discouraged the development of
whole area’s economy.
Enlightenment to Chinese reform
Strengthening various kinds of cooperation between governments
We also need to learn the successful experience of
UK, such as the organization of LGA and other
interregional
cooperation
organizations.
These
between
organizations
can
government
encourage
optimum competition between different regions and
strengthen communication with central government.
Enlightenment to Chinese reform
Establishing logical government performance evaluation system
Performance management and evaluation is a system
that administration power could use to supervise itself.
The experience of UK Audit Commission carrying out
BVPIs and CPA indicated that logical government
performance evaluation system could be a good guide for
the
government,
help
to
establish
an
equitable,
transparent, honest and efficient administrative system.
Enlightenment to Chinese reform
Establishing logical government performance evaluation system.
Chinese government performance evaluation system
is not mature. We can refer to the UK similar system, so
that we can improve quality of government’s work, reduce
the executive cost and raise the efficiency on the basis
of our own country situation.
Enlightenment to Chinese reform
Introducing the company structure into administration system moderately
There are many disadvantages in Chinese local
government, such as enormous size of organ, extensive
operation and high executive cost. It is mainly because
the administration system has no cost- profit concept.
Enlightenment to Chinese reform
Introducing the company structure into administration system moderately
Therefore, the experience of UK local government
managed like a company is really a good model to study. A
company-structured
adapted
to
the
administration
development
of
system
market
can
be
economy,
distinguish duty and rights and clear the flow of work.
Enlightenment to Chinese reform
Introducing the company structure into administration system moderately
Certainly the cultures of administrative in China and
in UK are different, and the concept of “companystructured government” is controversial in developed
country too. So when we introduce the company
structure into administration system, we should improve
social performance as well as economic performance,
instead of simply pursuing maximum of economic profit.
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