Project summary
Evaluating Local Governance: New Constitutions and Ethics is a five year evaluation of changes to local government arising from the Local Government Act 2000. The evaluation - funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government (formerly The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) - will look at the working of new council constitutions and the integral new ethical frameworks. It is part of a group of evaluations of the local government modernization agenda.
The early years of the project will explore how the new arrangements have been implemented before moving on to assess the outcomes and impact of the changes on key criteria such as efficiency, transparency and accountability, and in improving trust, consistency and clarity in conduct. A variety of approaches will be used over the five years including postal surveys, visits and interviews.
The evaluation aims to offer a 360 degree assessment of change reflecting the variety of stakeholders involved. It will examine the outcomes and impacts from a top-down perspective looking at whether the legislation fulfilled the ambitions of policy makers. It will also engage with the local government community and explore a bottom up perspective on how well the new arrangements meet the locally identified needs of councillors, officials and citizens.
Opening a dialogue with those charged with making the new arrangements work is a key aim of the evaluation team. We hope to do this through this web-site, regular bulletins and the opportunity for interaction. We will hold consultation meetings at key points in the evaluation to garner views and feedback and to help us develop our evaluation criteria. Throughout the project we will produce issue papers on emerging areas of debate and interest. Finally we will feedback our findings in a series of road-shows towards the end of the research.
If you want to contact us with a query about the project in general or about our questionnaire please email ipeg@manchester.ac.uk and we will respond to your enquiry as soon as possible.
Statement of approach
The aim of this research proposal is to meet the various research objectives identified in the tender in a full and systematic manner. We have addressed the overarching concerns of the tender by first making it clear how, throughout various stages of the research, material will be fed back to the Department and policy-makers and practitioners to enable them to benefit from the research findings and so support the development of policy in this area.
For each research objective we have included a section on feedback. Our proposed methods for feedback include major research reports, research papers, 'findings' style issue documents, seminars, conferences and an interactive web site.
Secondly, we have indicated a general willingness to be flexible in the development of the research proposal, and towards the end of the document, provide a general indication of the approach to call-off demands.
Thirdly, we are convinced that the systematic nature of our research design, our use of a range of methods and our commitment to working within a evaluation frame that takes on board the need for a theory of change approach will be compatible with, and supportive of, the wider LGMA evaluation.
The full text of our Statement of Approach is available in PDF format via the link below:
Project investigators
Relevant links
- Project timeline
- Department for Communities and Local Government
- Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA)
- Centre for Public Scrutiny
Publications
Publications and reports relating to this project are available via the link below.