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Local Public Service Agreements (LPSAs) are one of a number of policy instruments introduced by New Labor to facilitate service improvement in local government. Situating LPSAs in debates about central-local relationships, this paper examines their impact to date. It compares the expectations of LPSAs amongst central & local stakeholders, delineates the experiences of each in attempting to work in a new way, identifies those aspects of the LPSA process which 'worked' & those which did not, considers evidence of impact & identifies implications for future policy & practice. The paper concludes that LPSAs have led to improvements in the systems & processes of local government, contributed to local partnership working & stimulated limited changes in central-local government relations. Early data indicate that LPSAs have had some impact on service improvement but there remain important questions about sustainability. Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

"This book examines territorial governance in Asia in the context of central-local relations. In an era of attempts to deal with issues such as decentralisation, conflict involving ethnic and religious enclaves, and demands for regional autonomy, it is timely to examine central-local relations from a pan-Asian perspective, assessing the attempts in a range of different systems, federal and unitary, to re-order constitutional structures for territorial governance, including local government. The book looks at the constitutional systems for organising central-local relations of this kind, and attempts to draw conclusions from contemporary experiences."--Bloomsbury Publishing

Provides a critique of the propositions derived from central place theory both in terms of theoretical consistency and empirical model-formulation. Focuses on the divergence between central place theory and conventional approaches and on the generality of the suggested hypothesis. Finally raises the question of whether central place theory represents an alternative or even a competing theoretical model to the analysis of government output. (AM)

The range of pressures which has impacted on local
government in the 1980s has forced the emergence
of dynamic and sophisticated forms of industrial
relations at the workplace level. It is clear, however,
that with conceptual tools forged to analyse
developments in the private manufacturing sector,
very few attempts have been made by academics,
policy‐makers or commentators to discuss the
structures and processes which have emerged.
The character of the changes at authority level are
considered using material from a survey of
personnel officers in over a third of authorities in
England and Wales and within the context of
prevailing analytical and theoretical frameworks. It
is argued that the distinctive development of the
personnel function in local government has resulted
in a managerial process which conforms to key
features of the human resource management
(HRM) model, in particular the devolution of
personnel responsibilities to line managers and the
integration of personnel concerns at the strategic
level. However, other features of this model are
less in evidence. The search for employee
commitment and flexibility remains patchy and
often appears as a practical response to labour
market and competitive pressures. Furthermore,
collectivist features of employee relations remain
well entrenched with the continued encouragement
of both union membership and involvement. This
is not to deny change beyond the HRM model.
Thus, it is clear that established joint machinery
is becoming increasingly unable to deal with
ongoing issues while the trade unions are gradually
being forced into a consultative rather than a
bargaining role.