The spread of coproduction: How the concept reached the northernmost city in the UK

Abstract

Over the last years, engagement with politics in Scotland has increased significantly through involvement in the campaigns or party membership following the post-referendum period and the Leaders Debate in 2015. Recent general elections in the UK have shown that Scotland “voted for change” as they have become the third largest party in the House of Commons. Nevertheless, the cuts in public spending still remain as the major challenges for the Scottish Government. In the aftermath of the Christie Commission, there has been an increasing interest in the concept of coproduction in Scotland to overcome some of those challenges in public services. The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it explores how coproduction has become embedded in the Scottish context. Secondly, it uses Aberdeen as a case study and investigates how Aberdeen City Council has adopted this concept in its approach. The paper argues that coproduction needs a more critical perspective in managerial approaches to public services so that it can be a matter of democracy rather than administration.

Keywords

Aberdeen coproduction local economy public services

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aberdeen City Council (2010) Achieving our potential – Tackling poverty and income inequality in Aberdeen City Report. Minutes from the Council, 25 November 2010. Available at: http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=10515 (accessed 15 November 2015).

Aberdeen City Council (2011) Priority based budgeting: final draft report, Aberdeen, 3 November 2011. Available at: https://aberdeencity.gov.uk/web/files/next_five_years/PBB_final_draft_report_nov2011.pdf (accessed 15 November 2015).

Aberdeen City Council (2013a) Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2013–2014, Policy Document Available at: http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/documents/s43031/CSWO%20Annual%20Report%202013-14.pdf (accessed 15 November 2015).

Aberdeen City Council (2013b) Social Care, Wellbeing and Safety Committee Information Bulletin, Public Document Pack, 7 November 2013. Available at: http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/documents/s33526/SocialCareWellbeingandSafetyCommitteeInformationBulletin071113.pdf (accessed 15 November 2015).

Aberdeen City Council (2013c) “Ageing wi’ Opportunity in Aberdeen City”, A Consultation Document on the Future Joint Commissioning Strategy for Older People 2013–2023, Policy Document. Available at: http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.asp?lID=46468&sID=423 (accessed 15 November 2015).

Aberdeen City Council (2014a) Aberdeen City Strategy for Autism, Policy Document. Available at: http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/documents/s43868/Appendix%202%20Autism%20Strategy%20final%2020%20Jan.pdf (accessed 15 November 2015).

Aberdeen City Council (2014b) Social Care and Wellbeing Service Business Plan for 2014–2017, Policy Document. Available at: http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?Id=1922&txtonly=1 (accessed 15 November 2015).

Aberdeen City Council (2014c) Audit and Risk Committee Information Bulletin, Public Document Pack. Available at: http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/documents/s44712/AuditRiskInformationBulletin270214.pdf (accessed 15 November 2015).

Alford

(2002) Why do public sector clients coproduce? Towards a contingency theory. Administration and Society 34(1): 32–56.

10.

Audit Scotland (2014) Scotland’s Public Finances – A Follow-up Audit: Progress in Meeting the Challenges, Policy Document. Available at: http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/docs/central/2014/nr_140605_public_finances.pdf (accessed 15 November 2015).

11.

Barber

(2003) Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age, London: University of California Press.

12.

Barnes

Knops

Newman

(2004) The micro-politics of deliberation: Case studies in public participation. Contemporary Politics 10(2): 93–110.

13.

Beebeejaun

Durose

Rees

. Public harm or public value? Towards coproduction in research with communities. Environment and Planning C. 2013. DOI: 10.1068/c12116.

14.

Bell

Hindmoor

Mols

(2010) Persuasion as governance: A state-centric relational perspective. Public Administration 88: 851–870.

15.

Burn-Murdoch J (2012) UK multi-millionaires mapped: Where do the wealthy live? The Guardian, 13 September 2012. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2012/sep/13/money-uk-multi-millionaires-regional-breakdown (accessed 15 November 2015).

16.

Cairney

(2009) Implementation and the governance problem. Public Policy and Administration 24(4): 355–377.

17.

Cairney

(2011) The new British policy style: From a British to a Scottish political tradition. Political Studies Review 9(2): 208–220.

18.

Cairney

McGarvey

(2013) Scottish Politics, 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

19.

Cairney

Russell

Denny

. The ‘Scottish approach’ to policy and policymaking: What issues are territorial and what are universal? Policy and Politics. 2015. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/030557315X14353331264538.

20.

Cameron G (2013) Focus on Aberdeen: The oil and gas sector’s effect. Herald Scotland, 24 May 2013. Available at: http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/markets-economy/aberdeenoil-and-gas-sector-effect.21078711 (accessed 15 November 2015).

21.

Connelly

(2011) Constructing legitimacy in the new community governance. Urban Studies 48(5): 929–946.

22.

Craig

Mayo

Popple

(2011) The Community Development Reader: History, Themes and Issues, Bristol: Policy Press.

23.

Dey

(2013) Aberdeen granite association and the limits of capitalist cooperation. Northern Scotland 4: 23–42.

24.

De Souza Briggs

(2008) Democracy as Problem Solving. Civic Capacity in Communities across the Globe, Cambridge, London: The MIT Press.

25.

Dryzek

(2010) Foundations and Frontiers of Deliberative Democracy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

26.

Entwistle

(2010) Organising intergovernmental relations: Insights from cultural theory. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 28: 630–645.

27.

Ersoy

(2014) Service response to Aberdeen’s citizens’ panel. Community Planning in Aberdeen 30: 71–96.

28.

Escobar

Faulkner

Rea

(2014) Building capacity for dialogue facilitation in public engagement around research. Journal of Dialogue Studies 2(1): 87–111.

29.

Fischer

(2000) Citizens, Experts, and the Environment: the Politics of Local Knowledge, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

30.

Freeman

(2009) What is ‘translation’? Evidence and Policy 5(4): 429–447.

31.

Fung

Wright

(2003) Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance, London: Verso.

32.

Harris

(2010) Third sector organisations in a contradictory policy environment. In: Billis

(ed.) Hybrid Organisations and the Third Sector, New York, NY: Pelgrave MacMillan, pp. 25–45.

33.

Keating

(2010) The Government of Scotland, 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

34.

Laffin

(2009) Central-local relations in an era of governance: Towards a new research agenda. Local Government Studies 35(1): 21–37.

35.

Laffin

Mawson

Ormston

(2014) Public services in a ‘postdemocratic age’: An alternative framework to network governance. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 32: 762–776.

36.

Lawless

Pearson

(2012) Outcomes from community engagement in urban regeneration: Evidence from England’s New Deal for Communities programme. Planning Theory and Practice 13(4): 509–527.

37.

Lee N, Sissons P and Jones K (2013) Wage inequalities and employment polarisation in British cities, The Work Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Available at: http://www.theworkfoundation.com/DownloadPublication/Report/334_Wage%20inequality%20and%20employment%20polarisation%20in%20British%20cities%20FINAL.pdf (accessed 15 November 2015).

38.

Liddell G (2014) Scottish North Sea oil and gas industry, Financial Scrutiny Unit Briefing, SPICe Information Centre. Available at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefingsAndFactsheets/S4/SB_14-28.pdf (accessed 15 November 2015).

39.

Lloyd

Newlands

(1989) Aberdeen: Planning for economic change and uncertainty. Scottish Geographical Magazine 105(2): 94–100.

40.

MacKay

(1975) The Political Economy of North Sea Oil, Oxford: Martin Robertson.

41.

McGeachie M and Power G (2015) Co-production in Scotland – A policy overview, Scottish Co-production Network. Available at: http://www.coproductionscotland.org.uk/resources/co-production-in-scotland-a-policy-overview/ (accessed 15 November 2015).

42.

Newman

(2001) Modernising Governance: New Labour, Policy and Society, London: Sage.

43.

News Scotland (2014) First Minister – Programme for Government, Scottish Government. Available at: http://news.scotland.gov.uk/Speeches-Briefings/First-Minister-Programme-for-Government-12b1.aspx (accessed 15 November 2015).

44.

NHS Tayside (2010) Health Equity Strategy 2010: Communities in Control, National Health Service. Available at: http://www.nhstaysidecdn.scot.nhs.uk/NHSTaysideWeb/idcplg?IdcService=GET_SECURE_FILE&Rendition=web&RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased&noSaveAs=1&dDocName=prod_217621 (accessed 15 November 2015).

45.

Ostrom

(1975) The Delivery of Urban Services: Outcomes of Change, Beverly Hills: Sage.

46.

Ostrom

(1996) Crossing the great divide: Coproduction, synergy, and development. World Development 24(6): 1073–1087.

47.

Pateman

(1970) Participation and Democratic Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

48.

Power

(2013) Co-production in Scotland – A policy update. In: Loeffler

Power

Bovaird

(eds) Co-production of Health and Wellbeing in Scotland, Birmingham: Governance International, pp. 34–43. Available at: http://www.jitscotland.org.uk/action-areas/co-production-community-capacity-building/ (accessed 15 November 2015).

49.

Pestoff

Bransen

(2006) Coproduction: The third sector and the delivery of public services. Public Management Review 8(4): 493–501.

50.

Pestoff

(2009) A Democratic Architecture for the Welfare State, London: Routledge.

51.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) (2013) Aberdeen City Council Internal Audit Risk Assessment and Plan 2012/2013, Draft Internal Audit Plan for Discussion. Available at: http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/documents/s18989/Draft%20ACC%2012-13%20IA%20Plan%202012-13.pdf (accessed 15 November 2015).

52.

Rhodes

(1996) The new governance: governing without government. Political Studies 44: 652–667.

53.

Scottish Government (2011) The Scottish Economic Recovery Plan: Update February 2011, Scottish Government. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/02/24095442/2 (accessed 15 November 2015).

54.

Scottish Government (2014) Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Parliament. Available at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_Bills/Community%20Empowerment%20(Scotland)%20Bill/b52s4-introd-pm.pdf (accessed 15 November 2015).

55.

Scottish Government and ESRC (2013) What Works Scotland (WWS). Available at: www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/WWS%20Call%20spec%20FINAL%2006%20Jan%202014_tcm8-29575.pdf (accessed 15 November 2015).

56.

Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) (2012) Local authority summary – SIMD 2012: Aberdeen city, Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, Scottish Government. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0041/00410715.pdf (accessed 15 November 2015).

57.

Sirianni

(2009) Investing in Democracy: Engaging Citizens in Collaborative Governance, Washington: Brookings Institution Press.

58.

Smith Commission (2014) Report of the Smith Commission for further devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament, Policy Document. Available at: https://www.smith-commission.scot/ (accessed 15 November 2015).

59.

Steele F (2014) Aberdeen, the city outpacing even London’s property boom. Financial Times, 18 April. Available at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/af5b2cc8-bfdd-11e3-b6e8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3EKrdX6e8 (accessed 15 November 2015).

60.

Tiesdell

Allmendinger

(2004) City profile Aberdeen. Cities 21(2): 167–179.

61.

Vamstad

(2007) Governing Welfare: The Third Sector and the Challenges to the Swedish Welfare State, Ostersund: Mid-Sweden University.