Auditing governable space - A Study of Place-Based Accountability in England

Ferry, L.; Midgley, H.; Murphie, A.; Sandford, M.

doi:10.1111/faam.12321

Auditing governable space - A Study of Place-Based Accountability in England

Ferry, L.; Midgley, H.; Murphie, A.; Sandford, M.

Authors

Professor Laurence Ferry laurence.ferry@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Dr Henry Midgley henry.c.midgley@durham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor

A. Murphie

M. Sandford

Abstract

The governance of territories has become increasingly fragmented and complex, challenging the accountability arrangements for ‘governable spaces’. Tension between central and local governments is a perennial feature of their relationship, but few analyses have explored the implications of this tension for accountability relationships. This article assesses policy initiatives within England aimed at increasing accountability in localities, by establishing governable spaces that include territorialising, mediating, adjudicating and subjectivising (Miller & Power, 2013). During the 2010s, the UK government sought to introduce a form of place-based accountability within the context of reduced central government funding to English local authorities. This meant that local government faced new forms of accountability whilst adapting to considerable financial shocks. Accounting methods – assessing what phenomena can and should be governed – underpin audit and orthodox concepts of accountability in the UK. These have driven a narrow finance-focussed narrative of local audit and local accountability. However, we also argue that developments in England in the 2010s have undermined political accountability in the localities, because they have worked against critical components within it for making governable space auditable: interpretation of data, judgements on service quality and the impact of cross-public sector relationships on local authorities’ ‘decision space’.

Citation

Ferry, L., Midgley, H., Murphie, A., & Sandford, M. (2023). Auditing governable space - A Study of Place-Based Accountability in England. Financial Accountability and Management, 39(4), 772-789. https://doi.org/10.1111/faam.12321

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jan 26, 2022
Online Publication Date	Mar 1, 2022
Publication Date	2023-11
Deposit Date	Feb 9, 2022
Publicly Available Date	Mar 17, 2022
Journal	Financial Accountability and Management
Print ISSN	0267-4424
Electronic ISSN	1468-0408
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	39
Issue	4
Pages	772-789
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/faam.12321
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1214162

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© 2022 The Authors. Financial Accountability & Management published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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