ABSTRACT
Functions are allocated between local authorities principally on the basis of ‘operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness’.68 The provision of certain services, for example education, is clearly a matter for regulation on a large scale, whereas the provision of local libraries and refuse collection may be appropriate for smaller councils to administer. However, there can be no generalisations about the distribution of functions: there are variations throughout. From the point of view of local democracy, and the accountability and responsiveness of local councillors, however, the larger the local government unit, and the more diffuse the provision of services between differing levels of local government, the more difficult it becomes for the individual to apportion responsibility. In Byrne’s analysis, the allocation of responsibilities is made the more complex by the sharing of responsibilities, which of itself takes several forms. Shared responsibilities in this analysis may include concurrent provision, whereby all local authorities provide the same service in their area; or joint provision, where two or more local authorities combine to provide a common service to all within their common area; or shared but divided provision, in which different levels of local authority provide differing aspects of the same service; reserve powers, under which larger authorities reserve the power to provide particular aspects of a service otherwise provided by smaller authorities; claimed powers, through which individual, small authorities assume responsibility for a service or function formally allocated to a larger authority and agency powers, whereby one authority will act as the agent of another authority in the provision of a service or exercise of certain functions.69
