Data

The study employs a variety of methods including desk-top review, textual analysis, interviews, expert groups and participatory events with the general public.

Methods

The Stern Report on the Economics of Climate Change (2006) emphasised the inter-relationship between global warming, carbon emissions and transport policy. The Climate Change Act 2008 identified that the UK’s carbon management framework is acknowledged to have a “complex interplay of reserved and devolved responsibilities” (DEFRA, 2008, p12). It is in this vein that the MLG approach examines the delivery structures of the Department for Transport, the Scottish Government and National Assembly for Wales looking both up (to Europe and global level), across (to each other and to non-state and quasi-state organisations, such as agencies, task forces and partnerships) and down (to regional and local actors and citizens). The focus of the research is on surface transport emissions where there is greatest divergence in competencies.

The territorial dimension of this methodology allows us to identify the effect of different governance arrangements developed since the election of the Labour government in 1997. Despite a number of shared UK policies (such as energy and vehicle taxation) there are already contrasting approaches to climate change policy between administrations with differences emerging in target setting and carbon budgeting. Five case study sites will be selected for study that capture much of the variation in formal institutional structures across the UK. In addition to the cross-territorial comparisons, analysis of different transport modes will allow us both to chart complex and potentially overlapping structures of MLG in relation to CEM and to make comparisons across transport subsectors within and across territories.

The research is organised in four main phases:

Phase 1 Framework and Actor Mapping and Case Study Selection (Months 0-11)

The initial work will be desk-top study (legislation, organisational structure, reports, journal articles) guided by the existing knowledge about transport governance and CEM. The review work begins with the desk-top study producing a time-line of critical documents. The analysis will then proceed to a policy by policy analysis to understand the variation in circumstances across England, Scotland and Wales. The case study selection will then be finalised by identifying interesting comparators across the different administrations. This will be guided by the Local Transport Plan 3 submissions (England), Single Outcome Agreements (Scotland) and Regional Transport Strategies (Wales). The phase will conclude by mapping out the MLG frameworks in relation to each case study in order to ensure that the full range of actors and organisations are investigated within this research. This stage will involve textual analysis of policy documents to crystallise key objectives, interactions, motivations and outcomes of policies for CEM.

Phase 2 Interviews with key actors (Months 11-24)

A series of interviews (approximately 12 for each case study) will be conducted to trace the key elements of:

• Governance (key structures/processes/actors/ relationships)
• Power dependence (distribution and use of key resources – financial, political, informational, constitutional and organisational)
• Governance strategies and mechanisms (regulation, target-setting, steering)
• Legitimacy (accountability, visibility, identity)

Phase 3 Impacts of governance structures on policy selection (Months 22-30)

This stage of the research will bring together groups of experts from the different case study areas to explore the importance and interconnection of barriers identified in the interviews. It will also consider the extent to which these barriers may hinder the adoption of future proposed policy pathways. The expert workshops will generate a series of preferred policy approaches which are deemed to be effective, feasible and consistent with the proposed emission pathways. Desirable but apparently unworkable policy choices may also emerge. The case study areas are selected with sufficient diversity to expose the extent to which different types of area with different governance arrangements produce different outcomes.

The next stage of the work will be to examine the gap between the expert assessment of the framing of the problem and the preferred solution set and that of the general public. Facilitated public participation events will be held with multiple groups in two of the five case study areas to explore the extent to which the governance arrangements in place generate more or less accountable processes and the degree to which this impacts the outcome effectiveness of the strategies that are being or could be adopted.

Phase 4 Synthesis of findings, dissemination and triangulation of findings, production of key outputs. (Months 22-36)

The synthesis of the findings of Phases 1 to 3 will be organised through the following themes which will be developed further as the data collection progresses.

Theme 1 – Policy-Making and Resource-Dependency Frameworks
Theme 2 – Democratic Accountability
Theme 3 – Incentives and Sanctions

Phase 4 will include a synthesis, the dissemination and triangulation of findings as well as the production of key outputs.

Expected Outputs

The project will produce knowledge and policy understanding on the impacts of governance arrangements on the development and delivery of transport policy including but not limited to:

1. The impacts of devolution of competencies to sub-central government and the impacts of delegation to non/quasi-state bodies (e.g. under what conditions do such changes add value to either accountability or efficacy in policy-making?)

2. Power dependencies in government-supplier structures (e.g. the degree to which reforms of public transport management are fundamental to implementation)

3. Power dependencies and networks across adjacent sectors (e.g. do any structures effectively break down policy silos between adjacent policy sectors such as transport and land-use planning or energy?).

4. The design of effective incentives and sanctions to assist in delivery, and

5. The importance of accountability in supporting carbon reducing policies.

The work will also enhance the theoretical basis of studies in multi-level governance.

This knowledge will be disseminated through: UKTRC facilitated events such as the Summer School and debates; contributing to UKTRC policy briefing notes to select committees and government departments; seminars to civil servants at the National School of Government and within the Department for Transport; and the production of a book, journal articles and conference papers.