Public Policy and Administration

This article draws attention to the increasing importance of the politico-economic context within which public expenditure decisions are taken; briefly outlines the main changes in the system for planning and controlling public expenditure since 1976; and discusses why Heclo and Wildavsky's model of the policy processes stands in need of revision.

This paper suggests that the accepted textbook views on minister and civil servant relations rest on vague references in the traditional sources. These gaps have not been filled by the recent Parliamentary Report and Government statements. Civil Servants may have some duty to serve the public interest. This duty may be distinguishable from their service to a particular department. This public interest defence might be relevant to the Spy Catcher case.

This paper analyses fiscal stress in local authorities in England and Wales since 1981. Part I identifies the extent of fiscal stress and shows that in many local authorities it has been high. Part II analyses the consequences of fiscal stress for social and economic conditions in local areas. The empirical analysis shows that fiscal stress tends to be more severe in areas which are already deprived. Such areas may therefore be prone toa 'fiscal stress syndrome'in which community deprivation and budgetary stress produce a mutually reinforcing spiral of local decline. The prospects for policies which might alleviate fiscal stress are evaluated.

Sir Richard Clarke, known always as Otto, was a highly unusual and controversial Treasury civil servant responsible for a wide range of new initiatives in Whitehall between 1945 and 1970. A Cambridge Wrangler, a pre-war chess champion and originator of the Financial Times Index he entered Whitehall in war time more literate and numerate than most of his contemporaries. He regarded Keynes with whom he worked as his model. He was one of a new breed of post-war forceful civil servants, and one of the few capable of original thought.

This biographical article tries to assess Otto's contribution, especially in the period 1945-52, compared with that of his contemporaries, in working out the new economic and financial strategy needed for post-war recovery. It also glances at his later career as the main architect of the P.E.S.C. system for controlling public expenditure.

This study finds further evidence of discrepancies between theory and practice in the evaluation of capital schemes in the public sector. This is a common pheno menon in the private sector too, despite its apparently greater incentive to use the formal approach recommended by the Treasury.

Proposals by the Controller and Auditor General - that the public sector should alter its practice to conform to the Treasury's guidelines - may be less appropriate than fresh thinking about what these guidelines should be, especially the uses of discounting (DCF) to represent the opportunity cost of capital, and of sensitivity analysis and probability theory to cope with risk and uncertainty. In other respects there is evidence of much more conformity of practice with theory than a study by the Controller and Auditor General would suggest.

This article is based on a lecture given to a seminar at the Asian Development Bank in Manila in July 1987 and a version also appears in the Asian Development Review.

Central Government refuses to accept the need for freedom of information or open government laws affecting its administration. In 1985, however, the Local Government (Access to Information) Act was passed which constitutes a freedom Of information law for local government. What has been the impact of this statute on local government administration? What problems or difficulties has the legis lation caused and what lessons for good government might the law and its operation hold?

The editors describe this as a collection of papers, presented to a research workshop on "Open Government" held in April 1986 at the University of Leicester under the auspices of the Public Administration Committee of the Joint University Council. The papers as published were revised in the light of the discussion.