Central government responses to governance change in the English regions

S Ayres, G Pearce

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The consequence of recent devolution is that territories in the UK are now governed in different ways. Elected government has yet to be extended to the English regions but they, too, have experienced institutional change in the form of administrative decentralization. Regional governance should provide the opportunity for increased co-ordination of regional strategies but it is frustrated by lack of policy co-ordination within central government. Drawing upon recent interviews with Whitehall civil servants the article examines how government is responding to this challenge. It suggests that responses among central government departments to 'regional working' are far more diverse than had previously been realized and that there are considerable obstacles to more 'joined up' approaches to policies with a regional dimension. We conclude that while the government has made some progress in responding to the need to build a territorial dimension into its activities, the prospect of regional government will give rise to pressures for new government machinery to manage intergovernmental relations.
Translated title of the contributionCentral government responses to governance change in the English regions
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)255 - 280
Number of pages26
JournalRegional and Federal Studies
Volume14 (2)
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2004

Bibliographical note

Publisher: Routledge

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Central government responses to governance change in the English regions'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this