Devolution and economic growth has been damaged by 'endless tinkering' from Whitehall, a damning study has argued today.
A report by the Institute for Government (IfG) concluded that endless ‘churn’ in sub-regional policy by successive governments has hindered the economy and citizens.
The report, All change, criticised the ‘staggering amount of change’ across regional government and industrial policy.
‘In the space of just over 20 years, the main vehicles for regional governance have included government offices, regional assemblies, regional development agencies and, currently, local enterprise partnerships,’ the authors wrote.
‘The governance of public services has been so continually rearranged that scholars have termed the phenomenon redisorganisation.’
Reasons provided for the churn include disagreement about the purpose of regional government, conflict over the tier of government to which powers should be devolved, people demanding different things from regional government, opposition from incumbent local politicians and Whitehall’s unwillingness to trust local organisations.
IfG programme director, Emma Norris, said: ‘This churn is not simply the result of changes in government.
'It highlights persistent weaknesses in our system of government: the tendency to change and recreate rather than commit to stable, well-evidenced policy.’
