Accountability of public services in Scotland: baseline evidence review and analysis

4. Overview of Accountability

This Section provides a brief overview of what is understood by the term “accountability” in its broadest sense, and in the context of this research. It is based on a review of published sources of information and draws on feedback provided at the signatories’ workshop.

4.1 What is meant by Accountability?

“The fact of being responsible for what you do and able to give a satisfactory reason for it, or the degree to which this happens”.

Cambridge English Dictionary

“If you are accountable to someone for something that you do, you are responsible for it and must be prepared to justify your actions to that person”.

Collins English Dictionary

“The fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility”.

Oxford English Dictionary

“The obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner”.

Business Dictionary

“Accountability is about a relationship between those responsible for something, and those who have a role in passing judgement on how well that responsibility has been discharged”.

“…enables people to know how government is doing and how to gain redress when things go wrong. It ensures ministers and civil servants are acting in the interests of the people they serve. Accountability is a part of good governance and it can increase the trustworthiness and legitimacy of the state in the eyes of the public”.

Institute for Government

There are many different types of accountability – political, legal, administrative, professional, and social accountability.

“Strong accountability provides the foundation of a healthy democracy”^[24].

Accountability is considered an important pillar of good corporate governance. In this respect, accountability provides the necessary levels of assurance that an organisation (or individual e.g. Accountable Officer) will be assessed or evaluated on their performance (or behaviour) related to something for which they are responsible.

In the context of this research, accountability is how answerable organisations involved in the delivery of public services are for its actions to key stakeholders, including people (i.e. public assurance) .

Agencies and organisations delivering public services are ultimately accountable to the level of government within which they sit, are regulated and/or funded by, or operate on behalf of. This could be a local authority, the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament, or the UK Government. The issue of accountability is at the centre of modern democratic government – it defines the relationship between the public and decision makers. In practice, accountability in public services is complex and involves a large number of regulatory bodies, with varying degrees of power.

Accountability centres on how public services are held to account for their decisions, spending, and actions. It can mean an obligation to provide information about performance, to explain decision making, and to justify conduct. It implies the existence of open debate about these issues and public scrutiny and judgement^[25].

There is also the issue of what happen when performance is not up to standard. Here, accountability can often mean a formal system of remedial action – the provision of recommendations or requirements to promote continuous improvement in standards, in performance, etc.

4.2 Feedback from Signatories Workshop

In the context of Commitment 4 of Scotland’s OGP National Action Plan 2018/20, discussions with the original signatories suggests that the focus of this work should be on a narrower interpretation of accountability – one that is “closer to the individual” – around how the public can raise an issue, make a complaint, or put their case forward for a fair hearing, etc.

It was felt that the focus should be on administrative accountability. In practice this means the systems in place that uphold that accountability and performance of services. The discussion with original signatories highlighted the importance of focusing on the system in place to deliver a public service effectively – the “public function” of a public service, including the ethics, codes of practice, and performance standards that inform quality of output.

Under Commitment 4 it was felt that it may be most relevant to consider the “what and why” of decision making, as this can encourage continuous improvement and learning (i.e. accountability is not a fixed state, it is something that evolves and develops through engagement between actors, and can act as the catalyst for change to improve outcomes). It is not a means for punitive action or punishment.

At its heart, accountability is about power dynamics. Accountability of public services is about redressing the power balance between State and civic society, to ensure people who use public services feel confident and are able to influence how those services are delivered to best meet their needs.

Partners also identified a need to ask people/public what they understand by the term accountability – as well as their views on how to improve access to the accountability mechanisms of public services, about what the barriers are, how to break down such barriers, etc.

4.3 Summary Overview

As is highlighted in Section 3.1 and Section 3.2 accountability can take many different forms. From the perspective of Commitment 4 of Scotland’s OGP National Action Plan 2018/20, it is important that the public know how government/service providers are doing, but importantly that they are clear on why decisions are made and the likely impact of those decisions on them personally, their family, and other people.

Essentially, accountability in the context of public services, among other things, relates to the following terms (Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1: Accountability

Accountability of public services is important for a whole host of reasons. It provides a mechanism to monitor conduct and to hold organisations to account, and provides people with information to assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of an organisation’s conduct and a means to raise concerns. It helps prevent the abuse of power and provides a mechanism to learn from failure and from past experience.

Accountability incentivises those delivering public services to act in the public interest, promotes improvement, and – through a system of transparent decision making and clear responsibility – promotes trust and allows appropriate risks to be taken ^[26].

Strengthening accountability in public services is a key policy priority at all levels. This is likely in response to a potential perceived lack of trust and confidence among people, alongside a desire to transfer more power to people and communities, and to encourage greater public participation and engagement in the design, delivery and management of public services. This is at the heart of the Open Government agenda, and forms part of a larger, long-term culture change across government and other public bodies .

Accountability of public services often centres on being transparent with regards to the arrangements in place to evidence how decisions are made, what actions are taken, and performance.

Availability and accessibility of this information helps people better understand:

• who is accountable for what;
• how well organisations are doing;
• how well public services are being delivered;
• how public money is allocated and spent, including best value;
• what has been achieved, including delivery of outcomes for people;
• that any poor performance will be dealt with effectively;
• how to access information; and
• how to make a complaint or raise an issue.

A recent survey by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) – The Scottish Charity Survey (2018) - however, found that public trust and confidence in Scottish charities (key providers of public services) remains strong^[27]. The same survey commonly reported ways to increase trust as:

• knowing that a charity is well run;
• seeing evidence of what a charity has achieved;
• knowing how much of a donation goes to the cause; and
• knowing that a charity is independently regulated.