1. Multi-level drivers and civil society: The case of Scottish local government Dr Michael Pugh* Michael.Pugh@uws.ac.uk 2. Endogenous and Exogenous Drivers; financial crisis and the hollowed-out state Marked for demolition or regeneration? Perth City Hall as Symbol of Scottish Local Government Structures 3. Endogenous and Exogenous Drivers; financial crisis and the hollowed-out state Hollowing-out of the local state? Partick Burgh Hall as Symbol of Scottish Local Government Structures 4. Overview Combining public policy and historical approaches. See Pugh 2014 Scoping 4 routes or drivers converging in the present crisis of Scottish local government: Driver 1) austerity political economy post-2007/8 global financial crisis Driver 2) convoluted and contested central/local/third sector relations in a multilevel governance hollow state context a morass? Driver 3) long-term historical developments leading to the silent crisis of democratic legitimacy and accountability at local state level. Driver 4) the 2014 crisis of Scottish local governments representative body (COSLA), which we argue is symptomatic of and connected to the above 3 drivers. New research directions? 5. Introduction The last significant review of Scottish local government undertaken by McConnell (2004a) and its clear the political context has shifted dramatically since. At national/devolved level, the Labour-Liberal Democrat governing coalition fell to an SNP minority (2007-11) and majority (2011-?) administration. At Westminster, Labour were replaced in government by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition (2010-?). But the changes / challenges go deeper than political personnel, with global financial crisis accompanied by public spending cuts, a widespread acknowledgement that Scottish local democracy is failing, and an associated crisis of representation of Scottish local government through COSLAs threatened disintegration in recent months. 6. Recognising the problem and the key paradox? The problem: The Silent Crisis: Bort et al, 2012. The emerging answer? Both the Scottish Parliaments Local Government and Regeneration Committee, and COSLA itself, held enquiries into the flexibility and autonomy of local government (2013) and Strengthening local democracy (2012) respectively. The (main) paradox: centralisation versus decentralisation in the context of public sector reform make for a confusing / confounding picture. E.g. the creation of Police Scotland (2012). But under the National-local government Concordats (2007, 2011), the SNP government set out a National Performance Framework (NPP). This emphasises local government accountability for policy outcomes as enabler working within Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) to formulate Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs) tailored to local communities but contributing to national priorities in health, justice, environment, economy and education. 7. The two over-riding questions for explaining institutional crises 1) How and why an institutional field of actors, rules and practices slides into crisis: which factors within or outside the sector bring about these developments? 2) What happens in a sector / setting once a crisis has arisen? Adapted from Alink et al, 2001: 287). 8. Driver 1: Local effects of the global financial crisis: the era of austerity The credit crunch was met in the UK with a number of government responses including quantitative easing and banking bailouts amounting to an estimated 850 billion. Under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, the emphasis shifted to strict fiscal consolidation (cuts / austerity). A neo-liberal political project? (Mooney, 2014) In the Scottish context, this entails a 4.5 billion cut to welfare benefits from 2010-15, equivalent to 480 per year for every working-age adult (Scottish Government, 2013:v & 3). A broad and collective sense of disempowerment at a national and local level. (Collins & McCartney, 2011). Unless macro-economic levers are fully-devolved, it is almost impossible for Scotland to distance itself from a neo-liberal agenda in favour of public policies in pursuit of sustainable growth, fairness and social justice. 9. Driver 2: The Paradoxes of Partnership: an organisational morass? The impact of multi-level policy responses to financial crisis are not the only contributor to Scottish local governments critical juncture. The institutional operating environment of local government is itself a key factor in the crisis, implying a need to refocus / rebalance the working relationship between local and central governance. Concordats, CPPS and SOAs: Mutual respect and partnership between central and local government? (Scottish Government, 2007) OR a recipe for overcomplexity, confusion and muddle? Danger / reality of institutional drift and inertia (Connolly, 2014a; Streek and Thelen, 2005: 24-5). While it seems almost commonsensical that partnership working in dense policy networks will result in efficiencies and synergies, there are opportunity costs arising from ambiguity and tensions between local needs and central prescriptions / steers. Reform is required to prevent further drift from a lack of strategic direction in light of a confused relationship between local and central government, entailing significant ramifications for local democracy and community engagement. 10. Driver 3: Problems of local democracy: a long perspective Questions about the nature and extent of local democracy, and its least-worst institutional embodiment have long been asked but seldom adequately answered in Scotland. The present crisis has deep roots in a series of local government reorganisations stretching back to c19th, when recognisably modern council (burgh) units emerged in varying locally-determined shapes, sizes and populations, under enabling legislation (the General Police Acts iterating c.1833-1890) representing an extreme concession to the Liberal ideal of local self-government. In the c20th, the pendulum swung too far in the direction of centralisation through reorganisations in the 1920s, 1970s and 1990s, as the Scottish Office sought to exert control over policy delivery. Devolutions arrival in 1999 did not improve this, given the centralising impulse was shared by Labour, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems* and, perhaps most ironically, the SNP. Indeed, from then on local government was relegated to a Cinderella role in national life (MacDonald, 2009: 199). While McConnell (2004b) noted that radical reforms are normally difficult to achieve in the context we have described, the post-referendum context represents an opportunity for real, thought-through structural change, even institutional redesign whether as part of an independent Scottish constitution or within a reformed union-state. * The Lib Dems and their coalition partners can take credit for the introduction of STV for council elections, which was arguably a democratic gain. 11. Driver 4: Crisis of the Representation of Scottish Local Government (COSLA) The LGRC has invited evidence from COSLA for its inquiry into the flexibility and autonomy of local government. This reflects both the organisations standing as a key player in the Scottish policy domain, and the long- recognised (back at least to the c16th!) need for a representative forum for Scotlands local state institutions. In 1975 COSLA was formed to replace the Convention of the Royal Burghs in this representative role, and today represents 32 unitary authorities who together spend 12 billion p.a. on local services, employing 260,000 people working for over 5 million. Before devolution, and especially during the Thatcher and Major years (1979-97) of Conservative rule without a Scottish mandate, COSLA , alongside local government more generally, fronted a surrogate expression of [Scotlands] distinct political identity or even nationhood (McIvor, 2014). From 1999 onwards, the perception that COSLA had become an insider at Holyrood led to a minor disaffiliation crisis in 2003-4. Thereafter, McConnell remarked that COSLA looked here to stay (2004a: 37). However, since the beginning of this year, 7 councils have given 12 months notice to disaffiliate over the terms of their collectively-negotiated settlement with national government, and the composition and balance of the organisations internal structures. COSLAs president David ONeill has urged the importance of a united voice for Scottish local government; however, it is questionable whether unity need imply uniformity. Therefore the post-referendum context offers a chance to rethink the representative mechanisms for Scottish local government, perhaps on federal or even quasi- parliamentary lines. 12. Conclusions and future directions? Scottish local government has been subject to a range of inextricably-linked drivers which have reached a point of critical juncture. Driver 1: austerity political economy post-2007/8 global financial crisis, has had severely constraining effects on local government. Driver 2: the morass resulting from convoluted and contested central/local/third sector relations in a multilevel governance hollow state context has led to a blurring of the boundaries confounding transparent, accountable and democratic local governance. Driver 3: long-term historical developments have contributed to the silent crisis of democratic legitimacy and accountability at local state level: in particular the creeping party- political consensus around over-centralisation. Driver 4: the 2014 crisis of Scottish local governments representative body (COSLA), is symptomatic of and connected to the above 3 drivers insofar as it arises from tensions over funding from central government and questions about the balance between indirectly- elected council leaders / political parties and directly-elected councillors in formulating the organisations external voice. 13. Conclusions and future directions? Future directions include: analysing post-referendum Scotlands local government arrangements in the context of public sector reform, democracy, accountability and community control, representation of local government institutions, and the long-term impact of welfare on Scottish communities. More immediate next steps are to elaborate and contextualise the ongoing work by the Scottish Parliaments LGRC and COSLA into the roles and functions of local government. This would aid in progressing the Council of Europes (2014) recommendation that a right to local self-government becomes enshrined and entrenched in statute. 14. Discussion / Reflection Questions How helpful is the concept of silent crisis(Bort et al, 2012) in understanding the present context of Scottish local governance? What are the key factors in this crisis? How do they rank in importance? Do you agree with Connolly and Pughs ranking? What opportunities and challenges do these issues present for practitioners in local government or interacting policy areas? Is there a way out of the morass? If so what might this be?