Delivering Welfare

by Butcher, Tony

• ISBN13: 9780335210176
• ISBN10: 0335210171
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-12-01
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Summary

Acclaim for the first edition of Delivering Welfare: "...well exceeds its brief to provide an authoritative guide and essential work of reference." (Political Studies) "The important thing about this book is that it brings together, in a careful and scholarly way, information on the changing delivery system for welfare in Britain." (Public Administration) "...a very useful introductory text which should win the gratitude of many students." (Teaching Public Administration) "...a clear and comprehensive description of the new organizational structure of British social welfare, and an even-handed appraisal of its achievements and shortcomings." (Community Care) "...a useful and timely summary of changing arrangements for the delivery of health, housing, education, social security and the personal social services." (Health Service Journal) Since the early 1980s, there has been a series of radical changes in the arrangements for the delivery of the major social services. Under the Thatcher and Major Governments, the traditional role of local authorities as front line delivery agencies of the welfare state was challenged. Privatization, the search for efficiency, and the customer orientation became important features of the system of welfare delivery. The Blair Government has continued many of these initiatives, as well as putting its own stamp on the arrangements for the delivery of welfare. Delivering Welfare provides an up-to-date and critical survey of the role of central government, local authorities, the NHS and other agencies responsible for delivering the social services, and the directions that welfare delivery has taken since the early 1980s. This new edition has been completely revised and updated to take full account of the impact of the Blair Government. At a time when the issues of welfare delivery and the quality of public services are so high on the political agenda, it provides a timely study of an important subject.

Author Biography

Tony Butcher is Senior Lecturer in Government in the Department of Politics at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Table of Contents

Figures and tables	viii
Preface	ix
Abbreviations	xi
Introduction	1	(18)
The public administration model of welfare delivery	3	(5)
The public administration model under challenge	8	(8)
Plan of the book	16	(2)
Further reading	18	(1)
Part I The public face of welfare	19	(78)
Central government and welfare	21	(19)
Central government's social service departments	22	(4)
A federation of departments	26	(3)
The changing face of the Department for Work and Pensions	29	(3)
The role of government departments	32	(1)
Controlling the delivery agencies	33	(2)
The instruments of central intervention	35	(3)
Further reading	38	(2)
The government of welfare outside Whitehall	40	(20)
The local government welfare state: from the cradle to the grave	40	(4)
The development of the local government welfare state	44	(2)
The structure of the local government welfare state	46	(1)
Managing the local government welfare state	47	(2)
Delivering health care	49	(2)
The new National Health Service	51	(2)
The arm's-length administration of welfare	53	(3)
The sub-central government of welfare delivery	56	(3)
Further reading	59	(1)
The coordination and planning of welfare	60	(18)
Agency fragmentation and welfare delivery	61	(2)
The fragmentation of welfare delivery at the local level	63	(3)
The Treasury and social planning	66	(3)
The search for joined-up government	69	(2)
Coordinating welfare delivery at the local level	71	(3)
Collaboration between local authorities and the NHS	74	(3)
Further reading	77	(1)
Accountability and the public	78	(19)
Holding welfare delivery agencies accountable	79	(4)
Complaining if things go wrong	83	(1)
Challenging the delivery agencies: the tribunals of the welfare state	84	(2)
Welfare delivery and maladministration: the role of ombudsmen	86	(4)
User participation in welfare delivery	90	(2)
User participation in the NHS	92	(2)
Further reading	94	(3)
Part II New directions in the delivery of welfare	97	(96)
The rolling back of the local welfare state	99	(19)
Central-local relations before 1979: partnership and consultation	100	(4)
Central-local relations 1979--97: trying to put the cap on spending by local authorities	104	(2)
The changing role of local education authorities	106	(3)
The decline of local authority housing	109	(2)
Community care: the contract culture	111	(1)
Losing a welfare empire, finding a role: from providing to enabling	112	(2)
The Blair government and the local welfare state	114	(3)
Further reading	117	(1)
The privatization of welfare delivery	118	(19)
Approaches to the privatization of welfare delivery	119	(1)
Selling the welfare state: the case of council house sales	120	(2)
Contracting out welfare provision	122	(3)
Encouraging the private provision of welfare	125	(2)
The marketization of welfare delivery: quasi-markets	127	(3)
Privatization and the voluntary sector	130	(3)
Partnerships between the public and private sectors	133	(3)
Further reading	136	(1)
The search for efficiency and value for money	137	(20)
Central government social service departments and the search for efficiency	139	(4)
The search for efficiency in local government	143	(3)
Towards a more efficient National Health Service	146	(5)
Performance indicators and welfare delivery	151	(4)
From welfare administration to welfare management	155	(1)
Further reading	156	(1)
The customer orientation	157	(21)
Consumerism in local government: the public service orientation	159	(2)
Going local: the decentralization of welfare delivery	161	(3)
Consumerism in the National Health Service: rhetoric and reality	164	(2)
Consumerism in central government	166	(3)
The Citizen's Charter: focusing on the customer	169	(6)
Consumerism or citizenship?	175	(2)
Further reading	177	(1)
Conclusion: the new governance of welfare	178	(15)
The Thatcher and Major governments: the public administration model reassessed	179	(4)
The impact of the Blair government	183	(7)
Conclusions	190	(3)
References	193	(25)
Index	218