How is allocative efficiency (those activities that offer highest economic and social returns) in local government best promoted?

Background

Further building our evidence and understanding on which public services, delivered at which level of government, deliver greatest public value and what we can learn from different policy approaches taken across the UK.

Next steps

The lead contacts are: Lesley Smith, Senior Principal Research Officer, Analysis, Research and Co-ordination Unit, Analysis and Data Directorate: Lesley.Smith@levellingup.gov.uk and David Hughes, Head of the Chief Scientific Adviser’s office: psChiefScientificAdviser@levellingup.gov.uk.

Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

DLUHC Areas of research interest GOVUK

Related UKRI funded projects

  • De Montfort University And Association for Public Service Excellence

    To develop practical tools and guides to be able to offer specialist services to, and advocacy for, councils addressing the operational challenges of reduced public spending....

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY HIGHER EDUCATION CORPORATION

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project offers practical tools and guides to address the operational challenges of reduced public spending, which is relevant to promoting allocative efficiency in local government.

  • What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth 2023-2025

    The What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth was set up in 2013. The overall aim of What Works Growth is to increase the cost-effectiveness of policies for local economic growth by improving the use of evidence and ev...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: London School of Economics and Political Science

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project is relevant as it aims to improve allocative efficiency in local government by enhancing the use of evidence and evaluation in policy design and delivery, which aligns with the question's focus.

  • Research Facilitator (for Local Government) - Catherine Staite

    Local government plays a substantial role in the wellbeing of economy and society in the United Kingdom. 433 local authorities in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales employ almost 1.7 million people delivering ...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Birmingham

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on encouraging local authority engagement with academic research, which may not directly answer the question about promoting allocative efficiency in local government.

  • What Works Scotland Centre

    What Works Scotland will be a collaborative centre bringing together staff from the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, other academics and key non-academic partners. Its aim is to support the use of evidence to plan ...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Glasgow

  • Accountability, Efficiency, Improvement and Change in UK Local Public Services: The Role of Benchmarking and External Performance Assessment

    The knowledge exchange will facilitate the development of a network of policy makers and practitioners who will work with social science researchers to analyse and respond to the challenges of performance assessment in p...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: Cardiff University

  • Wales Centre for Public Policy

    As a small country with relatively young devolved institutions, Wales needs greater policy capacity. The Wales Centre for Public Policy will help to provide this. It will host the Public Policy Institute for Wales (PPIW)...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: Cardiff University

  • Local Acc Fund 21 - Realising North East Ambition (ReNEA)- Evidence driven insights for policy design

    Award holders will in close collaboration with research organisations and local stakeholders e.g., public sector, public policy organisations, businesses, local innovators and the third sector: a) Identify / diagnose l...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: Newcastle University

  • Participatory Policy Learning and New Municipalism

    I will extend my PhD research on evaluation to open up a new agenda in the field of public policy. The core principle of evaluation is that evidence should be used to identify the impact of an intervention and inform fut...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Birmingham

  • Reframing Citizen Relationships with the Public Sector in a Time of Austerity: Community Empowerment in England and Scotland

    This project will examine the Scottish and UK public sector's approach to community empowerment and its impact on fostering citizen-state relationships in a time of austerity. Launching its 'Big Society Agenda', the UK C...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Lead research organisation: Durham University

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