Public Services under New Labour: collaborative discourses and local networking

Abstract

A by-product of the fragmentation of services that occurred at local government level under the Conservative Government was the emergence of networks and other forms of joint working. These became formalised particularly through various economic and urban regeneration schemes. But elsewhere they were often an ad hoc response to the changing local governance structures. The election of the Labour Government in 1997 has, this article contends, seen the emergence of a more collaborative discourse in which networking and partnership are the intentional outcomes of many of the central government's policy initiatives, including the Education and Health Action Zones and the Social Exclusion Unit. This collaborative discourse is founded on a perception of the importance of trusting, mutually beneficial relationships, as distinct from adversarial, low trust relationships, to achieving central government aims and objectives. Based on interviews with local authority Leaders and Chief Executives, and other 'elite' actors, the article explores how well local authorities are responding to the challenges and opportunities that these policy initiatives will bring both with regard to internal structures and decision making processes, as well as to the role of the local authority in local governance networks.