The Centre for Local and Regional Government Research at Cardiff University is acknowledged internationally as a leading site for research on local government policy and public service improvement.

It conducts rigorous, policy relevant research on the governance and management of local public services.

Its work focuses in particular on strategy; public service improvement; local partnership working; central-local relations; citizen engagement; and the regulation and accountability of public services.

History

Over the last decade the Centre has attracted almost £9 million in external research funding from research councils, charitable foundations, government departments, the European Union and a range of other agencies.

Staff have strong links to senior policy makers in Wales, at UK level and further afield, and their research has had a significant impact on policy and practice. They also have an outstanding record of academic research output and have published more than 150 papers in peer reviewed journals, 50 official reports, and a co-authored book Public Service Improvement; Theories and Evidence published by Oxford University Press in 2010.

Members of the Centre serve as editors and/or members of the editorial boards of leading academic journals in the field including: the British Journal of Management, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, Administration and Society, Public Administration Review, Local Government Studies, and Public Money and Management. They have also held key positions in academic networks including the Advanced Institute of Management, Economic and Social Research Council and the Public Management Research Association.

Staff also serve in a range of high profile advisory roles with the United Nations, National Trust, Council of Europe, HM Treasury, Department for Communities and Local Government, Electoral Commission, Audit Commission, Scottish Executive, Welsh Assembly Government and the Improvement and Development Agency, and they are regularly asked to contribute to official review and enquiries.

The Centre contributes to a range of leadership and development programmes and leads Cardiff University's MPA, a programme which has been designed specifically to meet the needs of senior public service leaders working in the civil service, health service, local government, police, fire and rescue services and voluntary sector.

Projects

The Centre is undertaking a major programme of research on public services and local governance. Current and recently completed research focuses on four main themes.

Collaboration and partnership working

• Partnership Working between the Public, Private, Voluntary Sectors
• Mid-term Review of the Objective 1 Structural Fund Programme
• Mid-term review of the Objective 3 Structural Fund Programme
• Managing Partnership Approaches to Social Inclusion.

Inspection and performance management

• Comparing for Improvement: the Development and Impact of Performance Regimes in England, Scotland and Wales
• Impacts of Inspection on Local Government
• Performance Measurement and Management of Local Public Services: Experience in European Countries
• Independent Review of the Best Value Audit Process
• Performance Management and Effective Local Governance
• Evidence for Accountability: the use of evidence in the audit, inspection and scrutiny of government.

Local governance

• Meta-evaluation of the Local Government Modernisation Agenda
• Perspectives on Place Shaping and Service Delivery
• The Free Communes Experiment
• Decentralising to Neighbourhoods
• Review of the Role and Functions of Elected Members
• The Effectiveness of Local Scrutiny Committees
• The Scrutiny Function of Regional Assemblies
• Practice in Civic Education
• Connecting Communities: improving communications in local government
• Joining up Best Value and Other Initiatives
• Lessons from Community Planning in Norway and Scotland.

Public service improvement

• Learning to Improve: An Independent Evaluation of the Welsh Assembly Government's Policy for Local Government
• How Public Management Matters: Strategy, Networking, and Local Service Performance
• Leadership Change and Public Services: Reinvigorating Performance or Reinforcing Decline
• Competition and Contestability in Local Public Services
• Failure and Turnaround in Public Sector Organisations
• Evaluation of the Impacts of Intervention and Recovery in Poorly Performing Authorities
• Evaluation of the Impacts of Local Public Service Agreements
• Evaluation of Rural Local Public Service Agreements
• The Long-Term Impact of the Best Value Regime
• The Value of Internal Service Providers
• Population Size and Local Authority Performance
• Excellence Wales Programme
• Evaluation of the Wales Best Value Pilot Programme
• Strategy and Performance in Welsh Local Government.