Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:37:36.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From Containment To Conflict? Social Planning In The Seventies*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2009

Howard Glennerster
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

During the 1970s a complex range of formal planning procedures were developed by central and local government and other public bodies. By the end of the decade there were well over twenty ‘public planning systems’ in operation, each with its own timetable, procedure and information demands. A number of allocation formulae were evolved to distribute cash and capital allocations between geographical areas, and various procedures to improve service coordination were also introduced. Together these innovations have had an important impact on the allocation of social service resources and the implementation of social policies. The first part of the article describes the growth of such planning activities, while the second part seeks to analyse their purposes both in terms of the official accounts and from a rather more critical perspective. It is possible to see these changes as attempts by government to come to terms with the problem of ‘overload’ – the tendency for demands on government for more and better services to outrun its and the economy's capacity to respond. They may be seen as more explicit and centralized rationing procedures which seek to combine a realistic appreciaation of budgetary constraints with responsiveness to varied individual and community needs. Critics see these procedures as attempts to contain public spending by insulating popular demands for improved services in increasingly technical and centralized procedures. The article ends by considering the impact of the new government's public expenditure policy.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , January 1981 , pp. 31 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Two definitions are: ‘A way of concerting community influence towards achievement of a common goal’, Ecklein, J. L. and Lauffer, A. A., Community Organisers and Social Planners, Wiley, New York, 1972, p. 212Google Scholar; ‘The equipping of disadvantaged groups with the technology and organisation to exert pressure on centres of power for a more favourable distribution of power’, Mayer, R. R., Social Planning and Social Change, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1972, p. 20Google Scholar; see also Perlman, R. and Gurin, A., Community Organisation and Social Planning, Wiley, New York, 1972.Google Scholar

2 Gans, H., People and Plans, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1972, ch. 7Google Scholar; Midgley, J., ‘Developmental Roles for Social Work in the Third World: The Prospect of Social Planning’, Journal of Social Policy, 7:2 (04 1978), 173–88CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed, includes a review of social planning literature from the perspectives of developing countries.

3 Myrdal, G., Beyond the Welfare State, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1960, p. 23Google Scholar; Abel-Smith, B., ‘The Need for Social Planning’ in Townsend, Peter (ed.), Social Services for All, Fabian Society, London, 1978.Google Scholar

4 Donnison, D. V. and Eversley, D., London: Urban Patterns, Problems and Policies, Heinemann, London, 1973Google Scholar; Collingworth, J. B., Problems of an Urban Society, vol. 2, ‘The Social Content of Planning’, Allen and Unwin, London, 1973.Google ScholarWilliams, R., ‘The Idea of Social Planning’, Planning Outlook, 19 (Autumn 1976), 11–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 Social Insurance and Allied Services (Beveridge Report), Cmd 6404, HMSO, London, 1942, para. 17.Google Scholar

6 Quoted in Budd, A., The Politics of Economic Planning, Fontana, London, 1978Google Scholar, who provides an account of the fortunes of economic planning in Britain since the Second World War.

7 von Hayek, F. A., The Road to Serfdom, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1944.Google Scholar

8 Jewkes, J., Ordeal by Planning, Macmillan, London, 1948.Google Scholar

9 Townsend, P., Sociology and Social Policy, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1975.Google Scholar

10 Education Act 1944, section 11, and Secondary Education for All, Ministry of Education, Cmnd 604, HMSO, London, 1958Google Scholar; The Hospital Plan for England and Wales, Cmnd 1604, HMSO, London, 1962Google Scholar; Technical Education, Ministry of Education and Secretary of State for Scotland, Cmd 9703, HMSO, London, 1956Google Scholar; Higher Education, Committee on Higher Education, Cmd 2154, HMSO, London, 1963Google Scholar; The Housing Programme 1965–1970, Ministry of Housing and Local Government, Welsh Office, Cmd 2838, HMSO, London, 1965.Google Scholar

11 Health and Welfare: The Development of Community Care, Ministry of Health, Cmnd 1973, HMSO, London, 1963.Google Scholar

12 The Supply and Demand for Teachers, 1963–1986 (Bullock Report), 9th Report of the National Advisory Council on the Training and Supply of Teachers, Department of Education and Science, HMSO, London, 1965Google Scholar; Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Schools (Chairman Sir William Goodenough), Ministry of Health and Department of Health for Scotland, HMSO, London, 1944Google Scholar; Report of the Committee to Consider the Future Number of Medical Practitioners (Willinck Report), Ministry of Health and Department of Health for Scotland, HMSO, London, 1957Google Scholar; Royal Commission on Medical Education 1965–8, Cmd 3569, HMSO, London, 1968.Google Scholar

13 Glennerster, H., Social Service Budgets and Social Policy, Allen and Unwin, London, 1975.Google Scholar

14 Circular 104/73, Department of the Environment, 1973.Google Scholar

15 Housing Policy: A Consultative Document, Cmnd 6851, HMSO, London, 1977Google Scholar, paras. 6.05 and 6.06.

16 Glennerster, op. cit.; Banks, G. T., ‘Programme Budgeting in the DHSS’, in Booth, T. (ed.), Planning for Welfare, Martin Robertson and Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1979, pp. 150–72.Google Scholar

17 Priorities in the Health and Personal Social Services, Department of Health and Social Security, HMSO, London, 1976Google Scholar; Priorities in the Health and Personal Social Services: The Way Forward, Department of Health and Social Security, HMSO, London, 1977Google Scholar; and the detailed planning instructions in The NHS Planning System, Department of Health and Social Security, 1976, p. 4.Google Scholar

18 Report of the Royal Commission on the National Health Service (Merrison Report), Cmnd 7615, HMSO, London, 1979, p. 56.Google Scholar

19 The Working of the NHS Royal Commission on the National Health Service, (Research Paper No. 1), HMSO, London, 1978Google Scholar; Management of Financial Resources in the National Health Service (Royal Commission on the National Health Service, Research Paper No. 2), HMSO, London, 1978Google Scholar; and the Report of the Royal Commission on the National Health Service, op. cit.

20 Patients First: Consultative Paper on the Structure and Management of the National Health Service in England and Wales, Department of Health and Social Security and Welsh Office, HMSO, London, 1979.Google Scholar

21 See the requests for planning statements: Circular LASSL (77) 13, Department of Health and Social Security, 1977Google Scholar; Circular LASSL (78) 19, Department of Health and Social Security, 1978Google Scholar; and an analysis of the 1977 returns in Local Authority Personal Social Services Summary of Planning Returns 1976–7 and 1979–80, Department of Health and Social Security, 1978.Google Scholar

22 For a more detailed account of these various attempts see Booth, op. cit.

23 The last published example was Higher Education in the 1990s: A Discussion Document, February 1978Google Scholar, but also see the education section in the annual public expenditure white papers. Report of the Committee on Higher Education, (Robbins Report), Department of Education and Science, Cmnd 2154, HMSO, London, 1963.Google Scholar

24 Education: A Framework for Expansion, Department of Education and Science, Cmnd 5174, HMSO, London, 1972.Google Scholar

25 Policy Making in the Department of Education and Science, Tenth Report from the Expenditure Committee, HC 621, Session 1975–76, HMSO, London, 1976Google Scholar; for an account by the Permanent Secretary see: SirPyle, William, ‘Corporate Planning for Education in the D.E.S.’, Public Administration, 52 (Spring 1974), 13–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

26 Townsend, Peter, ‘Social planning and the control of priorities’, in Townsend, P. and Bosanquet, N. (eds), Labour and Inequality, Fabian Society, London, 1972, p. 298.Google Scholar

27 A Joint Framework for Social Policies, Central Policy Review Staff, HMSO, London, 1975Google Scholar; Plowden, W. S. L., ‘Developing a Joint Approach to Social Policy’, in Jones, Kathleen, Brown, Muriel and Baldwin, Sally (eds), The Yearbook of Social Policy in Britain 1976, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1977.Google Scholar

28 Population and the Social Services, Central Policy Review Staff, HMSO, London, 1977Google Scholar; Relations between Central Government and Local Authorities, Central Policy Review Staff, HMSO, London, 1977Google Scholar; Housing and Social Policies, Central Policy Review Staff, HMSO, London, 1978Google Scholar; and Education, Training and Industrial Performance, Central Policy Review Staff, HMSO, London, 1980.Google Scholar

29 For some of the early arguments see: New Local Authorities Management and Structure (Bains Report), Department of the Environment, HMSO, London, 1972Google Scholar; Stewart, J. D., The Responsive Local Authority, Charles Knight, London, 1974Google Scholar; Skitt, J., Practical Corporate Planning in Local Government, Leonard Hill, Leighton Buzzard, 1975Google Scholar; Hambleton, R., Policy Planning and Local Government, Hutchinson, London, 1978Google Scholar; Greenwood, Royston, Hinings, C. R., Ranson, Stuart and Walsh, K., ‘Incremental Budgeting and the Assumption of Growth: The Experience of Local Government’Google Scholar, and Hinings, C. R., Greenwood, Royston, Ranson, Stuart and Walsh, K., ‘The Organisational Consequences of Financial Restraint in Local Government’, in Wright, Maurice (ed.), Public Spending Decisions: Growth and Restraint in the 1970s, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1980, pp. 25–48 and 49–67.Google Scholar For an evaluation of the impact of new budgetary procedures see: Greenwood, R. G., Hinings, C. R. and Ranson, S., ‘The Politics of the Budgetary Process in English Local Government’, Political Studies, 25:1 (03 1977), 24–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

30 Davies, Bleddyn, Social Needs and Resources in Local Services, Michael Joseph, London, 1968.Google Scholar

31 Bebbington, A. C. and Davies, B., ‘Territorial Need Indicators: A New Approach’, Parts 1 and 2, Journal of Social Policy, 9:2 (04 1980), 145–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and 9:4 (October 1980), 433–62.

32 Sharing Resources for Health in England: Report of the Resource Allocation Working Party, Department of Health and Social Security, HMSO, London, 1976.Google Scholar

33 Allocating Health Resources: a commentary on the report of the Resource Allocation Working Party (Royal Commission on the National Health Service, Research Paper No. 3), HMSO, London, 1978.Google Scholar

34 Little, Alan and Mabey, Christine, ‘An Index for Designation of Educational Priority Areas’, in Shonfield, A. and Shaw, S. (ed), Social Indicators and Social Policy, Heinemann, London, 1972, pp. 67–93.Google Scholar

35 Hambleton, op. cit.

36 The NHS Planning System, op. cit. p. 4.

37 Ibid. figure 3, p. 9.

38 Letter to Regional Administrators, Department of Health and Social Security, 11 January 1978.Google Scholar

39 A Sandberg, The Limits to Democratic Planning, Liberforlag, Stockholm, 1977.Google Scholar

40 The case is argued by Rosenhead, J., ‘Operational Research in Health Service Planning’, European Journal of Operational Research, 2, (1978), 75–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Also see: Parston, G., Planners, Politics and Health Services, Croora Helm, London, 1980.Google Scholar

41 Dearlove, J., The Reorganisation of British Local Government: Old Orthodoxies and a Political Perspective, Cambridge University Press, London, 1979.Google Scholar

42 Cockburn, C., The Local State, Pluto Press, London, 1977.Google Scholar

43 Dearlove, J., The Politics of Policy in Local Government, Cambridge University Press, London, 1973.Google Scholar

44 Castells, M., City, Class and Power, Macmillan, London, 1978, p. 87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

45 Niskanen, W. A., Bureaucracy and Representative Government, Aldine Atherton, Chicago, 1971Google Scholar; Mueller, D. C., Public Choice, Cambridge University Press, London, 1979.Google Scholar

46 Report of the Royal Commission on Medical Education, Cmnd 3569, HMSO, London, 1968Google Scholar; Medical Manpower – the next twenty years, Department of Health and Social Security, HMSO, London, 1978Google Scholar; Maynard, A. and Walker, A., ‘Medical Manpower Planning in Britain – a critical appraisal’, in Culyer, A. J. and Wright, K. G., Economic Aspects of Health Services, Martin Robertson, London, 1978, pp. 165–90Google ScholarPubMed; see also the same authors' evidence to the Royal Commission, Doctor Manpower 1975–2000: alternative forecasts and their resource implications (Royal Commission on the National Health Service, Research Paper No. 4), HMSO, London, 1978.Google Scholar

47 Priorities for Health ad Personal Social Services in England, op. cit. p. 78.

48 See Rose, R. and Peters, G., Can Government Go Bankrupt? Macmillan, Basingstoke, 1978.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

49 O'Connor, J., The Fiscal Crisis of the State, St. Martin's Press, London, 1973.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

50 The NHS Planning System, op. cit. p. 4.

51 Radical Statistics Group, Whose Priorities?, London, 1978.Google Scholar

52 Lindblom, C., The Intelligence of Democracy, The Free Press, New York, 1965.Google Scholar

53 A Joint Framework for Social Policies, op. cit. p. 6.

54 Dearlove, The Reorganisation of British Local Government, op. cit.

55 Booth, op. cit.

56 Friend, J. K., Power, J. M. and Yewlett, C. J. L., Public Planning in the Inter-Corporate Dimension, Tavistock, London, 1974.Google Scholar

57 Healey, P., ‘Networking as a Normative Principle with Particular Reference to Local Government and Land Use Planning’, Local Government Studies, 5:1 (01 1979), 55–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

58 For more on this theme see Glennerster, H., ‘Prime Cuts: Public Expenditure and Social Service Planning in a Hostile Environment’, Policy and Politics, 8:4 (10 1980).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

59 The Government's Expenditure Plans 1980–1 to 1983–4, Cmnd 7841, HMSO, London, 1980.Google Scholar