Local Government VIII: The Process of Reform

One of the biggest tasks when reforming local government would be the re-assignment of staff.

As noted earlier, this wouldn’t matter so much for frontline workers in key public services – by that, I mean workers who have direct contact with the public to deliver services provided by local government.

You would still need the same number of teachers, school estates staff, social workers, social care staff, planning officers and refuse collectors. It’s just that they would either be working for a different authority (social workers and teachers may become employees of a provincial or regional government, for example) or working in a new way (planning officers and refuse collectors being pooled to work across multiple municipalities, for example).

More fundamental changes would likely come at administrative and managerial levels. It needs to be about quality, not quantity.

Internal promotion and fast-tracking – Talented managers and administrators should come from within, ideally. If directly-elected mayors are introduced at the municipal level, we would probably no longer have or need chief executives in the same way we do now.

We should, eventually, expect management-level staff in local government to have some sort of public administration qualification from a Welsh university, or to have gone through a civil service academy. Those with higher levels of experience would be at the front of the queue for promotion to more senior positions.

“One department, one manager” – Local government (perhaps unfairly, but not always) gives the impression of being top-heavy in terms of management-level personnel.

• At the very top, you have the Chief Executive.
• Each local government department is then often headed by a corporate director.
• The corporate directors may oversee two or three service areas – each managed by a Head of Service (or alike).
• That’s further subdivided into specialised areas headed by a more junior tier of assistant directors, managers and officers – all supported by line managers.
• Each of the line managers might have administrative staff and team leaders leading smaller groups.
• Only then do you reach the frontline workers.

If an area of local government is important enough to have a director, then that director should be the sole manager of that department. Management is important, and good management is even more important – but would you choose to employ one executive assistant director on a high five or low six-figure salary, or three or four newly-qualified social workers? Though if you did that, job progression and promotion would probably have to be sacrificed in favour of job security, creating more “dead end roles” as there would be fewer opportunities for advancement.

“Ban the Boss?” – In 2010, BBC Wales produced a documentary where Blaenau Gwent Council’s waste collection and transport teams “got rid” of their managers and became largely self-directed departments. In the case of the transport department, there were 8 managers and administrators overseeing 9 mechanics.

The programme caused some controversy and we probably don’t need to go as far as getting rid of all local government managers and administrators. Some local government services are highly regulated and require proper strategy and oversight – a joint responsibility of the political leadership and officers.

But is it so ridiculous to suggest that frontline workers might know enough about their role to take better day-to-day decisions on the ground than a manager?

It’s ingrained in Welsh culture to want someone else to issue orders. That’s why I would prefer more internal promotion in local government – especially getting front-line staff who show some initiative into management roles or allow a measure of collective decision-making.