Everything in its right place
Work in progress
“Everything in its right place: establishing strong organisations and practices for successful devolution“ is a new Localis research project, undertaken in collaboration with Local Partnerships, that is aimed at understanding how combined authorities have evolved and should be directed to continue evolving in the future.
In this study, Localis will ask how the future of our combined authorities could be led in harmony with local government partners and their regional economic anchors, for the sake of accelerating organisational maturity and governance strength, alongside the development of collaboration that encourages good growth in a context of deep institutional interdependence.
Policy context
With the English Devolution Bill set to become law, the advent of mayoral combined authorities – now redubbed as Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) – is complete. The government’s agenda grants additional powers and more flexible governance arrangements to mayors and MSAs, leading to fewer but more visible local politicians. Their importance in the local governance ecosystem is set to increase further with the devolution of integrated departmental funding settlements, first to the two ‘trailblazer’ combined authorities in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, and then out across the country.
For the devolution agenda to be a success in delivering economic growth and improved living standards across the country, MSAs will need a well-established culture of discipline and ingrained capabilities, including accountability, expert risk management, and objective strategy assessment, built on a strong foundation of scrutiny and overview.
Yet many new strategic authorities are relatively young, lacking established processes, relationships and expectations. For there to be a chance of success, the lessons of the first wave of new authorities must be well institutionalised across the board, both at central and local levels.
Developing institutional maturity and an organisational culture set up for positive change is as important a policy challenge as any of the formal metrics which underline the outcomes framework for the integrated settlements, yet it is not a process that lends itself easily to data snapshots. Qualitative work must be done to trace the process of development, identifying commonalities and shared problems.
Key research questions include:
- How should we work with the spirit of the current agenda for devolution and reorganisation of local government to embed a new breed of capable and dynamic institutions at local and regional level that are to last through multiple electoral cycles?
- What is needed organisationally and structurally at local and regional level:
- To create the greatest public value;
- To demonstrate accountability and strong governance;
- And to ensure the ability to deliver value for money in placemaking and service delivery?
- How can we further accelerate the institutional maturation of emerging strategic authorities in this context and ensure that they remain relevant and fit for public purpose at the level of place and harmoniously interdependent amid the national ecosystem for driving economic growth?
Everything in its right place will, by learning from a wide range of first-hand perspectives on the development of internal processes in MSAs and their constituent local authorities, develop an actionable framework for learning that can be applied across the country to promote good growth.
Project sponsored by:
