The Importance of Communication in the Implementation of Government Policy at Local Level

Abstract

This paper examines the nature of policy which government seeks to implement and then focusses on the ways in which central departments communicate a new policy to the local level. Having suggested a theoretical model of the implementation process, the paper goes on to discuss a part of this process within the context of the national policy on equal opportunity, derived mainly from the Race Relations Act of 1976. It draws on research which the author is undertaking on the implementation of equal opportunity policy at central and local government level. This includes a study of different government departments as well as of 2 London boroughs with contrasting characteristics and very different experiences of immigrant and ethnic minority communities.