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Research on the effects of organizational autonomy in the NHS was conducted at Royal Holloway between 2006 and 2009, and has informed debates that have contributed to policy and practitioner decision-making. Through qualitative methods, it examined the impact of autonomy (from central government) upon local decision-making in NHS organisations. The work explained why the number of Foundation Trusts (FTs) established had not risen in line with the Department of Health's expectations, which originally sought to make all NHS Trusts become FTs. It also explained why FTs were not willing to exercise their autonomy despite being able to do so. The research has influenced policy debate and decision-making within the Department of Health, Monitor (the FT regulator), and the wider NHS.
The University of Aberdeen's Business School has built a strong programme of research focussing on managing strategic change, particularly in the healthcare sector. Using a conceptual framework which explores the complex interplay between organisational context, content and process, the University has completed a number of studies looking into patient safety, quality and service redesign, four of which are described here. Because the work routinely involves health care stakeholders across the research pipeline, from articulation of the research problem, through to recommendations and the delivery of solutions, impact is wide-ranging, including changes in staff behaviours, improvements to safety, and significant financial savings.
Research by the Oxford Public Policy Group addresses a widespread concern among governments, international organisations, and NGOs that the pervasive use of targets and performance indicators in public service management can have important distortive effects. The group's work clarifies the different effects and shortcomings of performance indicators and develops a pioneering approach to assess their reliability. The research has been influential in generating better informed approaches to the use of indicators and targets in public service management — in the UK and by international institutions — and has shaped the wider policy and public debate.
University of Glasgow research into public sector governance has influenced planning and investment in major transport and infrastructure projects. Transport Scotland's Strategic Transport Projects Review was the first nationwide, multi-modal, evidence based review of Scotland's transport system; as a member of the Board, Professor Iain Docherty contributed to its recommendations, adopted by the Scottish Government in December 2008. His research also shaped the Commission for Integrated Transport's negotiations with the Westminster Government on the White Paper which underpinned the Planning Bill 2008 and subsequent Planning Act 2009; informed the Cabinet Office's 2009 Urban Transport strategy and recommendations; and influenced 2012 investment planning discussions by Edinburgh City Council.
Professor Patrick Dunleavy, as Director of the LSE Public Policy Group (PPG), has led a research programme on digital era governance. The results of this programme, through published research, evidence to Parliament and direct consulting to government agencies (including the National Audit Office), have had a significant impact on the UK government's approach to the delivery of government services online. Specifically, the research has allowed the government to develop policies that have facilitated speedier and more effective digital changes, and increased the breadth and quality of public service delivery online.
Though the individual research agendas have distinctive emphases, the contributions of Aughey, Birrell and Trench have become integral elements in understanding the development of devolution in the United Kingdom (UK). The impact of this work, through engagement with Parliamentary Commissions, Parliamentary and Assembly Committees and policy think tanks, helps define for politicians, administrators, interest groups as well as the general public the relationship between English and British identity, how devolved institutions operate in the context of central government programmes and the options for policy makers in devising financial arrangements which respect devolved autonomy, English interests and UK equity.
Professor Michael Keating has worked on various aspects of public policy-making in Scotland and abroad, supported primarily by the ESRC and Leverhulme Trust. Impact has taken the form of a series of collaborative academic-practitioner engagements, involving civil servants, politicians, and civil society actors. These events have focused on establishing a common vocabulary and core concepts, while exploring difficult issues in public policy and facilitating mutual learning between academics and practitioners. Insights from these encounters have been institutionalised in the Scottish Policy Innovation Forum, as well as ongoing seminars, public lectures, innovative training courses for civil servants, and informal discussions.
Because corruption involves illegal activities of public officials, data about the scale and objects of bribery is not readily available. Without such evidence, policymakers are handicapped in identifying points for effective intervention. Rose's survey research on post-Communist countries developed innovative measures to monitor the payment of bribes by citizens for public services. Transparency International (TI) is the world's leading non-governmental organisation campaigning against corruption, and it has incorporated the survey methodology in its key research tool, the Global Corruption Barometer (GCB). From 2008 to 2013 Transparency International has conducted three major rounds of Global Corruption Barometer surveys that interviewed upwards of 450,000 people in more than 110 countries on every continent. Results have been disseminated worldwide through the 90 national chapters of Transparency International. Rose's expertise in sampling has also been used to improve value-for-money expenditure on GCB surveys in the many developing countries it covers.