English Local Authorities Research Articles

Fair funding for pupils with special educational needs and disability in England?

AbstractSchool funding formulas have been applied across a number of countries for at least the last 50 years. A national funding formula (NFF) was introduced in England in 2018 and aims to provide a platform for fair funding across the country. This study explores the variations in the NFF's high needs block (HNB) funding and examines links with the use of specialist provision by English local authorities (LAs) for children with special educational needs and disability. The findings demonstrate significant and continuing differences in HNB funding between demographically similar LAs, notwithstanding a £3.5 billion (75%) HNB increase in real terms in the decade since 2013, which could have supported a shift towards a more equitable position. Published HNB funding for 2023–24 now varies by up to £49m in comparator LAs. Differences are largely the result of the persistent use of a historical factor in the formula and a ceiling on levels of income growth for lower funded LAs. The research also shows a significant link between HNB funding and the use of specialist provision. The discussion investigates how far the UK government's policy commitment to a more equitable system of HNB funding is matched by the reality, and the degree to which funding is based on need rather than demand or history.

Assessment and Qualitative Comparative Analysis of English Local Authority Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies to Improve Health under Austerity Conditions, 2013–2017

Assessment and Qualitative Comparative Analysis of English Local Authority Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies to Improve Health under Austerity Conditions, 2013–2017

Going separate ways: ex-post interdependence and the dissolution of collaborative relations

Interdependence is typically regarded as the cause of inter-organizational collaboration. But it is also a consequence. Collaboration itself creates new interdependence as partners become more entwined in one another’s operations and experience the vetoes, compromises, delays, and risks inherent in joint working. This paradox – mitigating one set of interdependencies by creating another – renders collaborative relations inherently unstable. Dissolution may occur if “ex-post” interdependence becomes more troublesome than the original “ex-ante” trigger for the partnership. We test this proposition through comparative analysis of 13 sustained, aborted, and dissolved inter-municipal cooperations in English local government. Ex-post interdependence was most pronounced in those partnerships that ended in dissolution, and informed the design of replacement arrangements. It was also a contributory factor in the abortive cases. But ex-post interdependence was minimized in the group of sustained collaborations by management actions that streamlined the coordination burden imposed by joint working. These findings have implications for partnership design, the collaborator’s skillset, and theories of collaborative public management.

Party politics and the effectiveness of local climate change policy frameworks: green influence from the sidelines

ABSTRACT Are national-level party political drivers of climate change performance reproduced locally? Here, I explore whether Greens’ ability to influence climate commitment nationally via legislative presence and coalition partnership is translated into English local government, using Climate Emergency gradings of local authority policy frameworks as the focus of comparative analysis. Scholarship on English local authority policy-making and performance suggests that, on balance, we should expect to see Green legislative presence and governing coalition effects translate to this level of government. While the finding of a positive Green legislative presence effect adds weight to the characterisation of local climate governance in England as a relatively collaborative process, the null finding on the coalition effect raises questions over the ability of junior coalition partners to realise preferences rapidly. Given the importance of sub-national politics to successful climate change transformation, it is vital that the factors associated with strengthened local commitment be further explored.

Drivers of reverse corporatization in English local government: A longitudinal analysis

Local governments increasingly create and use corporate forms of organization to provide public services. While there is growing evidence on the factors influencing such corporatization, less is known about what leads some local governments to bring corporatized services back in-house. This paper investigates financial, socioeconomic, political and organizational drivers of reverse corporatization among 62 Arms-Length Management Organizations (ALMOs), wholly owned nonprofit organizations created by local governments in England to provide social housing services. Survival analysis for the period 2003–2019 suggests that reverse corporatization is more likely to occur in left-wing local governments and in those with more financial reserves, but is less likely if ALMOs have operated for a longer time and have a large board of directors. Points for practitioners Understanding of the drivers of reverse corporatization can help local politicians and public managers improve their decisions about the appropriate mode of delivery for local public services. This paper highlights that good fiscal health may be essential for efforts to bring corporatized service back in-house, but that well-established municipal corporations may be better left to continue operating. It is also important for policymakers to recognize the role that political ideology (and socioeconomic circumstances) can play in shaping a commitment to reversing corporatization.

What are the mechanisms driving the early stages of embedded researcher interventions? A qualitative process evaluation in English local government

Improved collaboration and communication between public health practitioners and academia could enhance the flow of research evidence into policy and practice. Embedded researchers present one type of intervention with the potential to bridge the research-implementation gap through their dual affiliations with decision makers and academia. Although embedded researcher posts are garnering increasing attention in public health, there remains a need to understand the mechanisms through which they may promote the translation of evidence into practice. To address this gap, we conducted a processes evaluation incorporating data from seventeen semi-structured interviews with embedded researchers in local government public health teams across England. We aimed to expand theoretical understandings of embedded researchers in public health through providing a detailed conceptualisation of the mechanisms shaping the early stages of their roles. Interviews with embedded researchers were conducted from late 2021 to spring 2022. Our results suggest that the initial months of embedded researcher roles are defined by a lengthy embedding phase centred on building trust and gathering contextual knowledge. This phase forms the foundation on which these interventions are built. We identified seven categories of outputs delivered by embedded researchers which primarily revolved around building research capacity and addressed many of the primary barriers limiting research activity in public health. Improvements in research awareness, interest, and involvement reflected early changes in local research cultures. However, our results align with previous work suggesting that changing an organisational research culture is a long-term process. Expectations for embedded researchers should thus be proportionate to the seniority and scale of the post and we add our voice to calls for sustained investment in these valuable interventions. Further examination of how embedded researcher roles evolve over time in public health is necessary to broaden understandings of the concept of embeddedness in these settings.

Debate: Can audit reduce information asymmetry? The case of English local government

Debate: Can audit reduce information asymmetry? The case of English local government

Exploring community level multi-agency communication and collaboration during the emergency response to the covid-19 pandemic

ObjectivesThis study assesses multi-agency communication and collaboration during the community emergency response to the covid-19 pandemic. Study designQualitative case-study research. MethodsSemi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with ten officers from organisations involved in the community response to the pandemic, at strategic or tactical level, within an English local authority (LA) area. Interviews were thematically analysed. ResultsHorizontal (local/regional) communication and collaboration between the multi-agencies was found to be effective. Participants felt multi-agency groups had a sense of shared identity, partly from pre-existing relationships and a sense of shared common fate. The unified command model, with incident management co-chaired by the local authority, fire and police was found to support joint working, bolstering response effectiveness. There was frustration with vertical (national) communication and collaboration. Messages to local responders were often delivered via daily Government briefings to the public, meaning local responders had little time to consider and implement appropriate actions. ConclusionsThe study provides new and impactful insights into the community response in an English MBC area during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, findings apply to any high-or-low-income country if their emergency planning/response considers community level integration with multiple-agencies to improve the public health emergency response. Set against existing international literature, show good command-and-control structures, including leadership, training and positive local culture were important for successful communication and collaboration between the multi-agencies. This study highlights some beneficial practices which support recovery and preparedness for future emergencies.

Review: The Winding Stair by Sir Rodney Brooke

In this autobiography Sir Rodney Brooke provides a variously funny, thoughtful, inciteful and depressing read as he takes us through his illustrious career of over 40 years in English local government. Alongside Brooke’s own climb up the stairway, he chronicles the decline of local government as an institution in Britain, sprinkled with anecdotes that show the diversity and idiosyncrasies which make local government so fascinating, and at times entertaining.

A Randomised Control Trial Investigating the Efficacy of the MapMe Intervention on Parental Ability to Correctly Categorise Overweight in Their Child and the Impact on Child BMI Z-Score Change at 1 Year.

Research suggests parental ability to recognise when their child has overweight is limited. It is hypothesised that recognition of child overweight/obesity is fundamental to its prevention, acting as a potential barrier to parental action to improve their child's health-related behaviours and/or help seeking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of an intervention (MapMe) to improve parental ability to correctly categorise their child as having overweight one-month post-intervention, and reduce child body mass index (BMI) z-score 12 months post-intervention. MapMe consists of body image scales of known child BMI and information on the consequences of childhood overweight, associated health-related behaviours and sources of support. We conducted a three-arm (paper-based MapMe, web-based MapMe and control) randomised control trial in fifteen English local authority areas with parents/guardians of 4-5- and 10-11-year-old children. Parental categorisation of child weight status was assessed using the question 'How would you describe your child's weight at the moment?' Response options were: underweight, healthy weight, overweight, and very overweight. Child weight status and BMI z-scores were calculated using objectively measured height and weight data and UK90 clinical thresholds. There was no difference in the percentage of parents correctly categorising their child as having overweight/very overweight (n = 264: 41% control, 48% web-based, and 43% paper-based, p = 0.646). BMI z-scores were significantly reduced for the intervention group at 12 months post-intervention compared to controls (n = 338, mean difference in BMI z-score change -0.11 (95% CI -0.202 to -0.020, p = 0.017). MapMe was associated with a decrease in BMI z-score 12 months post-intervention, although there was no direct evidence of improved parental ability to correctly categorise child overweight status. Further work is needed to replicate these findings in a larger sample of children, investigate mechanisms of action, and determine the use of MapMe as a public health initiative.

The Views of Practitioners on Care Act Easements during the Covid-19 Pandemic

The easements of the Care Act 2014, permitted by the Coronavirus Act 2020, were in place in very few English local authorities and then only for a short time, but they still rippled across the wider social care workforce. This paper reports findings from interviews with social workers in ten non-easement authorities and with other professionals in easement and non-easement authorities to explore their understandings of easements and their reflections on their use and impact on practice. The interview data are set in the context of a wider study that explored decision-making about the adoption of easements in local authorities. Frontline practitioners (N = 30) confirmed confusion about easements and suspicion that they were a retrograde step in people’s entitlements to care and support. These views were also set in a context of lack of pandemic preparedness in social care and reflections that the care system was already fragile after a sustained period of reductions to local authority budgets and rising need. Both a robust care infrastructure was needed, as well as better crisis or disaster preparedness and planning.

Forecasting local COVID-19/Respiratory Disease mortality via national longitudinal shopping data: the case for integrating digital footprint data into early warning systems

Introduction & BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic led to unparalleled pressure on healthcare services, highlighting the need for improved healthcare planning for respiratory disease outbreaks. With rapid virus diversification, and correspondingly rapid shifts in symptom expression, there is often a complete lack of representative clinical testing data available to modellers. This is especially true at the onset in outbreaks, where traditional epidemiological and statistical approaches that utilise case data ‘ground truths’ are extremely challenging to apply. In this abstract we preview the results of two novel studies that investigate how the use of digital footprint data - in the form of over-the-counter medication sales - might serve as a predictive proxy for underlying and often hidden disease incidence, and the extent to which such data might improve mortality rate forecasting at local area levels.
 Objectives & ApproachOver 2 billion transactions logged by a UK high-street health retailer were collated across English local authorities (n=314), generating weekly variables corresponding to a range of health purchase behaviours (e.g cough mixture / pain-relief sales) in each authority. These purchase data were additionally linked to a set of independent variables describing each local authority’s 1. weekly environment (e.g. weather, temperature, pollution), 2. socio-demographics (e.g. age distributions, deprivation levels, population densities) and 3. available local test case data. Machine learning regression models were then deployed to investigate the ability of each of these variable sets to underpin predictions of weekly registered deaths in the 314 authorities that were due to: COVID-19 between Apr 2020 - Dec 2021 (Study 1) or general respiratory disease between March 2016 - Mar 2020 (Study 2). All models were rigorously tested out-of-sample via walk forward cross-validation, and across a range of forecast windows.
 Relevance to Digital FootprintsEpidemics such as COVID-19 are recognised as being driven as much by behavioural factors as they are by clinical ones. Indicators of infection rates may be revealed in purchasing and self-medication logs, where there exists rich data: in 2022 UK citizens were reported to generate >1 billion prescriptions; consume ~6,300 tonnes of paracetamol; and spend £572m on cough, cold and sore throat treatments. Application of the digital footprint data logs generated by such activities may hold potential to reveal hidden disease incidence and risk to vulnerable communities, without reliance on prohibitively expensive testing infrastructures.
 ResultsEvidence was found that models incorporating digital footprint sales data were able to significantly out-perform models that used variables traditionally associated with respiratory disease alone (e.g. sociodemographics, weather, or case data). In Study 1, XGBoost models were able to optimally predict the number of COVID deaths 21 days in advance (R2=0.71***), significantly outperforming models based on official COVID case data alone at local-area levels (R2=0.44**). For the pre-COVID period, where registered deaths express a far greater seasonal pattern, models optimally predicted registered respiratory deaths 17 days in advance (R2=0.78***), with highest accuracy gains over models without digital footprint data (increases in R2 between 0.09 to 0.11) occurring in periods of maximum risk to the general public (winter periods).
 Conclusions & ImplicationsOver-the-counter medication purchases related to management of respiratory illness are correlated with registered deaths at a 17-21 day window. Results demonstrate the potential for sales data to support early warning population health mechanisms at local area levels, and the need for ongoing research into their application to support health planning.

The association between social care expenditure and multiple-long term conditions: A population-based area-level analysis.

Multiple long-term health conditions (MLTCs) are common and increasing among older people, yet there is limited understanding of their prevalence and association with social care expenditure. To estimate the prevalence of MTLCs and association with English social care expenditure. Our study population included those aged ≥ 65 who died in England in the year 2018 with any of the following long-term conditions recorded on their death certificate: diabetes; cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) including hypertension; dementia; stroke; respiratory; and chronic kidney diseases (CKDs). Prevalence was based on the proportion of death reported for older people with MTLCs (≥ 2) in each of the 152 English Local Authorities (LAs). Ordinary least square regression (OLS) was used to assess the relationship between prevalence of MTLCs and adult social care expenditure, adjusting for LA characteristics. Of the 409551 deaths reported, 19.9% (n = 81395) had ≥ 2 MTLCs, of which the combination of CVDs-diabetes was the most prevalent. Hospitals were the leading place of death for those with MTLCs. Results from the OLS regression model showed that an increased prevalence of MLTCs is associated with higher LA social care expenditure. A percentage point increase in prevalence of MLTCs is associated with an increase of about £8.13 in per capita LA social care expenditure. Our findings suggest that the increased prevalence of MTLCs is associated with increased LA social care expenditure. It is important for future studies to further explore the mechanisms or link between LA social care expenditure and the prevalence of MTLCs.

Mechanisms for Support: A Realist Evaluation of Peer Parental Advocacy in England

Abstract International research shows that although parents perceive the child protection system to be stigmatising and authoritarian, peer parental advocacy (PPA) programmes have a positive impact on improving complex relationships between parents and professionals. PPA programmes enable parents with lived experience of child protection processes to support other parents to navigate the system. As an emerging area of policy interest, research investigating the role of PPA in empowering parents to participate meaningfully in decision-making is crucial to developing collaborative approaches within child protection social work. This realist-informed study considered how a newly implemented PPA programme supported parents in two English Local Authorities. Our findings highlight the unique role peer advocates can play as a resource to influence decision-making, power relations and working relationships between professionals and parents. This article presents our final programme theory, which identifies four key mechanisms that support perceived effectiveness in PPA implementation: active engagement, effective communication, facilitating trust and adequate support for advocates. These findings highlight how PPA programmes in these Local Authorities were valued and begin to build a picture of how further advocacy programmes can be explored throughout the UK.

Characterizing restrictions on commercial advertising and sponsorship of harmful commodities in local government policies: a nationwide study in England.

Commercial advertising and sponsorship drive the consumption of harmful commodities. Local authorities (LAs) have considerable powers to reduce such exposures. This study aimed to characterize local commercial policies across all English LAs. We conducted a census of all English LAs (n=333) to identify local commercial policies concerning advertising and sponsorship of tobacco, alcohol, less healthy foods and gambling, through online searches and Freedom of Information requests. We explored policy presence, commodity frequency and type, and associations with LA characteristics (region, urban/rural and deprivation). Only a third (106) of LAs in England had a relevant policy (32%). These included restrictions on tobacco (91%), gambling (79%), alcohol (74%) and/or less healthy foods (24%). Policy prevalence was lowest in the East of England (22%), North East (25%) and North West (27%), higher in urban areas (36%) than rural areas (28%) and lower in the least (27%) compared with the most (38%) deprived areas. Definitions in policies varied, particularly for alcohol and less healthy foods. English LAs currently underutilize their levers to reduce the negative impacts of harmful commodity industry marketing, particularly concerning less healthy foods. Standardized guidance, including clarity on definitions and application, could inform local policy development.

Hybridity, institutional logics and value creation mechanisms in the corporatisation of social care

Hybridisation of public services has increased under neoliberalism and New Public Management policies, over the past four decades since the 1980s. Hybrid arrangements for service provision blend public, private and nonprofit approaches to organising in ways imbued with a range of institutional logics impinging on their value creation mechanisms. Within this context, the corporatisation of public services represents a striking manifestation of hybridisation. However, comparatively little research has considered how hybrid organising through corporatisation shapes the mechanisms through which value is created in corporatized public services. To address this gap, through a field level study, this paper examines hybridity, institutional logics and value creation mechanisms in the corporatisation of adult social care in English local government. The study found that the use of different hybrid corporate forms – blended, segregated, segmented and blocked - to provide services to elderly and vulnerable citizens had important implications for the mechanisms through which financial and social values were created. Nevertheless, it was also apparent that different forms of hybrid organising could co-exist within the same organization along with multiple value creation mechanisms, underlining the unique dynamics of hybridisation pertaining to the corporatisation of public services.

Framing the wider determinants of health: Reflections and learning from a knowledge mobilisation exercise with an English local authority

BackgroundHealth inequalities remain a persistent problem in the UK. One contributing factor may be how health inequalities are framed in professional and public debate. Dominant understandings of health focus on the individual, personal choice, lifestyle and (un)healthy behaviour. This project sought to reframe health inequalities as a ‘systemic’ or structural problem using extant guidance. This was intended to support the work of a local authority in England working to address health inequalities. Project designAn academic-practitioner participatory knowledge mobilisation exercise with a local authority public health team using recent guidance and reflective feedback and the iterative development of actionable tools. There were four discrete stages to the exercise. MethodsTwo on-line and one face-to-face participatory, deliberative workshops designed to co-create reframed public health challenges and solutions based on team portfolios. Iterative feedback provided by the researcher to support the development of actionable tools. ResultsSix topic areas were developed with a systemic framing: 1. Food insecurity, 2. Obesity, 3. Prostate cancer among Black men, 4. Cost of living, 5. Mental health, suicide prevention and Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities, 6. Healthy streets. Reflections from the process revealed some perceived advantages of engaging in a systemic framing of the wider determinants of health, some limitations and issues to consider in a local setting. Benefits included: Clarity in a complex field; structured thinking about what to communicate and how; eliminated jargon; could be made locally relevant. Challenges included: Sustaining a consistent framing; maintaining the technique; knowing if was making a difference; slipping back into dominant (individualised) framings, especially in free-flowing discussion. ConclusionsThe process of reframing the wider determinants of health using recent guidance in a local authority setting was broadly helpful in developing coherence and consistency across the public health team. There were challenges to adopting the approach and evaluation of its impact locally would be beneficial.

Engaging the public: English local government organisations’ social media communications during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Communication has played a critical role during the initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and communicators have had a particularly difficult task in persuading different types of audience to comply with ever-changing regulations. Local government organisations play a crucial role in recontextualising the national messaging for a local audience and encouraging the public to comply with regulations.This paper investigates local government organisations’ (henceforth LGOs) engagement strategies in COVID-related posts on social media. In collaboration with LGOs in England, we examined their communication strategies on Twitter and Facebook during the second UK national lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in November-December 2020. Using methods from corpus-assisted discourse studies, the paper analyses the occurrence and functions of selected interactive engagement markers, in this case personal pronouns, questions and hashtags. We find that such linguistic features function to encourage engagement by (a) helping to foster relatedness through ambiguity; (b) creating autonomy-supporting communication; and (c) making messages ‘stand out’.Based on our corpus analysis, we discuss the initial response of the participating councils to our findings and outline future directions including the integration of multimodal approaches to studying the role of localised social media in national crisis management. We argue for more attention to be paid to the many local communicators who play an invaluable role in encouraging the public to comply with national measures in times of crisis.

How has the idea of prevention been conceptualised and progressed in adult social care in England?

Abstract Over recent years, a preventative approach has been promoted within adult social care policy and practice in England. However, progress has been somewhat inconsistent, in part due to issues around conceptualising what exactly prevention means within this context. Particularly since the financial crisis, there have emerged tensions between seeing prevention as a positive strategy to build assets and capability; as part of a neo-liberal project to roll back expectations for state support; or simply as a technocratic strategy to increase efficiency by deploying resources ‘upstream’ where they might have greater impact. This paper provides a critical perspective on how policy has unfolded over the last 15 years, which provides the context for an analysis of findings from a national survey of English local authorities and interviews with key stakeholders. These findings demonstrate a substantial commitment to preventative activity, but also some serious confusions and contradictions in how this agenda may be taken forward in the current policy environment.

Reasons for Not Adopting COVID-19 Permitted Changes to Legal Duties: Accounts from English Local Authorities

In England, “easements,” introduced via the Coronavirus Act 2020, were brought in at the start of the pandemic to support English local authority adult social care services. They enabled local authorities to suspend some of their mandatory duties under the Care Act 2014. Easements were only adopted by eight local authorities and for short periods, and the provision was rescinded in late 2021. This article examines why a sample of 16 local authorities, some of which were statistically close to the eight local authorities that did decide to use easements, decided not to do so. It draws on data from interviews undertaken in 2021 with Directors of Adult Services and Principal Social Workers that explored their decision-making about using easements. It also outlines their preparations prior to the pandemic reaching England, how they had operated using “flexibilities” within the Care Act thus not needing to adopt easements, and their views on those authorities that had adopted them.