Practices and Challenges of Government Public Accountability During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Response of the British Government

Abstract

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, government response and accountability have been widely discussed by researchers. This research explores and evaluates the government’s response to the crisis and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on accountability. This is achieved by discussing the concept of accountability from the perspective of institutional theory. This study uses unstructured literature review methods and a single case study designed with qualitative research methods. The data comes from secondary data (such as British public sector social media, websites, and published reports). It analyses the dynamics of public accountability in the UK during the pandemic. This research shows that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional public accountability system will be challenged, and the government has made some failed responses. At the same time, national audit institutions and researchers should consider exploring a new accountability system to improve accountability efficiency, which will help increase public participation and government transparency, and combat corruption in prolonged crises. Through the reflection on the crisis period, this study strengthens the understanding of accountability in the crisis period, and puts forward some suggestions to improve accountability, which can enlighten decision-makers on how to arrange public accountability in the future.