Performance Failure in the Public Sector
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Transcript Performance Failure in the Public Sector
Local Government and the
Research Community
Steve Martin
LOCAL GOVERNMENT KNOWLEDGE
NAVIGATOR SEMINAR
23rd June 2014
A broken bridge?
Analysis, Advocacy and Advice
Identify local government knowledge needs
Test whether existing research is relevant to these
Find and publicise exemplars of councils that are making
the most of research
Pilot approaches to packaging knowledge - Need 2 Know
reviews
Advise on ways to better connect local government and
research/researchers
Overview of the state of:
Local government capacity and knowledge/evidence
needs
Relevance of existing research base
Links between research and local government
Actions to strengthen evidence use by local government
Evidence
Demand
Reviewed LGA Board papers, LGA/SOLACE policy priorities etc.
Interviewed key individuals and representatives of networks
Supply
Reviewed ESRC funded research and other research centres
Interviewed
Research centres whose work is relevant to local government
Funders that commission or produce relevant work
Organisations that are active in considering evidence needs
(SOLACE Foundation, ESRC, NESTA, Alliance for Useful
Evidence)
Demand - capacity
Research capacity in local government not strong
Variable and dwindling in-house capability
Diminishing resources to commission own research
Lack capability to scan for and make most of existing
research knowledge and evidence
Exemplars – effective because of champions and
in spite of existing structures, processes and
incentives
7
Demand - attitudes
Lack of a research isn’t the most significant issue facing
local politicians or managers
Idea of building local government R&D unfamiliar and
met with some scepticism
But recognition that austerity means we need
knowledge and evidence to find new solutions
Interest in focusing publicly funded research on local
government’s needs
Demand - needs
Accessible, reliable and timely (answer today’s questions)
Co-definition of problems and co-production of solutions
Navigation aids and segmentation – who needs what
knowledge and bringing it to their attention
Translation and transferability - help in understanding
replicability and application in local context
Focus on local government perspective – national policy
needs not necessarily the same as local needs
Research methodologies which support innovation
Demand - topics
Current complex multi-faceted ‘problems’
Cross local services - ‘place based’ issues
Not new, but with austerity twist
Local economic levers
People with learning disabilities
Public health
Local government in a digital age
Local government in an ageing society
Future models of local government
New models of finance
Troubled families
10
Supply: Research councils
ESRC instruments
Knowledge Exchange, KTPs, IAAs
PhD studentship schemes
Venture Partnerships
Existing material and research centres
Over 100 ESRC funded projects in last four years
Institute for Local Governance, Durham University
Centre for Population Change, Southampton and St Andrews
Centre for Market and Public Organisation, Bristol
Centre for Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy, IFS
Spatial Economics Research Unit, LSE
What Works Centres
Plus cross UK Research Council potential
Supply: non RCUK
Kings Fund – health and social care, telehealth and telecare
Nuffield Trust - finance and deliver of quality social care
Centre of Urban and Regional Development Studies, Newcastle
University
INLOGOV at Birmingham, Centre for Local & Regional
Government Research at Cardiff University and LGRU at DMU
Centre for Low Carbon Futures, Leeds University
Joseph Rowntree Foundation - poverty, place and the ageing
society (programmes with Leeds, York and Bradford councils)
National Foundation for Educational Research
Public Policy Institutes – Bath, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff,
Liverpool, LSE, Manchester, Southampton, Strathclyde
Actions
Change cultures in both communities
Improve connectivity between and among the communities
Embed research in local government
Seize some strategic opportunities to harness research