Country report : the bureaucrat who fell under a bus: ministerial responsability, executive agencies and the Derek Lewis affair in Britain
By: POLIDANO, Charles
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ArticlePublisher: Malden : Wiley-Blackwell, April 1999Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions 12, 2, p. 201-229Abstract: Various concerns have been raised about the practicability of Next Steps and the adequacy of accountability mechanisms in Britain, particularly after the dismissal of Derek Lewis as chief executive of the Prison Service. This article critically reviews these concerns. It argues that the agency model is viable notwithstanding doubts about the practicability of the policyoperations distinction; that Next Steps is not the cause of defective accountability or the scapegoating of bureaucrats by ministers; and that a commonly proposed solutionmaking agency heads accountable to parliamentary select committeeshas fundamental drawbacks of its own. The "conventional wisdom" that Next Steps cannot work ignores important evidence and badly needs reassessment.
Various concerns have been raised about the practicability of Next Steps and the adequacy of accountability mechanisms in Britain, particularly after the dismissal of Derek Lewis as chief executive of the Prison Service. This article critically reviews these concerns. It argues that the agency model is viable notwithstanding doubts about the practicability of the policyoperations distinction; that Next Steps is not the cause of defective accountability or the scapegoating of bureaucrats by ministers; and that a commonly proposed solutionmaking agency heads accountable to parliamentary select committeeshas fundamental drawbacks of its own. The "conventional wisdom" that Next Steps cannot work ignores important evidence and badly needs reassessment.
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