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RUNNING COSTS CONTROL IN UK CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
Author(s) -
Thain Colin,
Wright Maurice
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
financial accountability and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.661
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1468-0408
pISSN - 0267-4424
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0408.1990.tb00428.x
Subject(s) - control (management) , business , government (linguistics) , public administration , political science , economics , management , linguistics , philosophy
This article assesses a recent and significant addition to the UK Treasury's public spending control system – running costs control on central government departments’administrative expenditure and the associated indicative manpower plans. The background to its introduction is briefly assessed, followed by a discussion of the public arguments put forward by the Treasury for the introduction of the control regime and the less formally articulated rationale for it. A fourteen‐point checklist of the salient elements of the system as it has evolved to date is presented. The article then draws some conclusions about the effects of the system. Although running costs may in some respects give departments greater autonomy, this is more than outweighed by the constraints governing the administration of the system and the 'strings’which the Treasury attaches to the elements of flexibility built into it. It is clear, however, that running costs controls are at an evolutionary stage and recent developments, such as three year‘firm deals’, may have far‐reaching consequences for relationships between the departments and the Treasury, and for the efficiency and effectiveness of public policies.