A new report is calling for groups of councils to be given more power over failing rail services and to ‘recall’ franchises. The New Local Government Network wants clusters of authorities to be able to hold franchises to account, including the right to trigger a review of their contracts. It follows the recent decision temporarily to take the franchise for the East Coast mainline back into public ownership.

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Central government is accused today of having sucked money, decision-making and independence out of local communities. A new report written for the Centre for Policy Studies by Antony Jay, who was the co-author of the BBC’s ‘Yes Minister’, says this has led to “the bureaucratic nightmare of 21st century Britain”.

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By John Tizard

This article was first published in Public Management and Policy and is reproduced by permission of the Association. http://www.cipfa.org.uk/pmpa/index.cfm

Joined –up government has become a key feature of the public sector. Moving the focus of public services away from the provider and on to the user has changed the perspective. Not only is the user disinterested in who provides the service, it is critical that the different providers get their act together and combine their resources, working as an integrated team. The author describes how the University of Birmingham is promoting partnership working.

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