Abstract
The abolition of the Audit Commission in England raises questions about how a major reform was achieved with so little controversy, why the agency lacked the institutional stickiness commonly described in the literature on organisational reform and why it did not strategise to survive. In this paper, we apply argumentative discourse analysis to rich empirical data to reveal the pattern and evolution of storylines and discourse coalitions, and the ways in which these interact with and affect the practices of Parliament, the media and the Audit Commission itself. Our analysis shows that the politics of administrative reform are as much about discursive framing and the ability of pro-reformers to gain discursive structuration and institutionalisation as they are about the material resources available to a newly elected government and its ministers. Questions of technical feasibility are unlikely to derail a reform initiative once its promoters gain discursive ascendency.
Highlights
The Audit Commission for Local Authorities and the National Health Service (NHS) in England, a UK government agency operating at arm’s length to ministers, has played a key role in the audit, inspection, performance improvement and regulation of local authorities and other local public service providers in England since its creation in 1983
Our analysis of the abolition of the Audit Commission shows the importance of understanding the way in which the politics of administrative reform is a matter of discursive framing; the expansion of the Commission’s role in the 2000s was framed in terms of the public service improvement imperative, while its demise was constructed in terms of the body being out of control
The ability of one discourse coalition to structure the high politics of reform to their advantage set the context for the low politics of technical debate about the new audit system, which suggests that questions of technical feasibility are unlikely to derail a reform initiative once its promoters gain discursive ascendency
Summary
The Audit Commission for Local Authorities and the National Health Service (NHS) in England, a UK government agency operating at arm’s length to ministers, has played a key role in the audit, inspection, performance improvement and regulation of local authorities and other local public service providers in England since its creation in 1983. It developed a significant role in supporting the local government efficiency agendas of Conservative governments from 1983 to 1997 and was central to the 1997–2010 Labour governments’ ambition to improve the performance of local public services. Debate during the consultation and legislative phases of the policy process focused largely on the feasibility of the new local audit system, rather than the end of the Audit Commission
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