Local government modernisation in England : a critical review of the LGMA evaluation studies.

New Labour has subjected English local government to an unparalleled period of reform. This article reviews the Local Government Modernisation Agenda evaluation studies commissioned by central government. The review identifies valuable insights from the studies into the contemporary state of English local government, central government and central-local relations. However, the studies also illustrate the need for research on public service reform to include analyses of the political origins of reform policies and the political-bureaucratic issues involved in their implementation. It is also argued that future research needs to rediscover the value of studying local politics 'in the round', the impact of socio-economic and non-local factors on local policy outcomes and the role of new sources of policy influence in the channels of central-local relations