In season three, episode four of our Reimagining Government podcast, co-hosts Adrian Brown and Carina Gormley discuss regulation in government. They highlight:
- How regulation functions in government
- Embracing regulation as a route to innovation in public service
- Why regulation has a poor public image
- How government regulation shows up in the climate space
- What it takes to get something done through policy or regulatory change
- And more
The episode features Connie Binkowtiz (MD at the Center for Transforming Communities) and Thomas Johnson (from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority) to talk about their experiences with government regulation.
In this article, we’ll summarise six key insights from the episode.
Here’s six things we learned about government regulation from season three episode four of Reimagining Government.
Government regulation ensures the public has access to safe resources
One of the early points the episode covers is how government regulation ensures the public has access to safe resources. Carina commented:
“Regulation is basically a set of rules, right? It’s the point of governance. In many ways, regulations play this really important role of ensuring the public can have access to safe resources. So, making sure the water is clean and the environment is safe, for example. There’s a certain general rule around what’s fair or not fair, and regulation can play this role in ensuring those things happen in a way that aligns with what we believe is just general access to human rights for all people.”
People often take issue with government regulation
There’s no denying that government-issued rules tend not to be met with a great deal of enthusiasm from the public. But why? Carina suggested:
“Regulation is not always met with enthusiasm, in part because governments are trying to define how people should act and what they should or should not be able to do. Some people don’t think that regulations are the best way of managing different issues.”
She continued:
“I think there are lots of high-level values, perspectives, and challenges with how folks relate to government. And then when it comes to regulations, governments are capacity-constrained and responsible for ensuring they actually get put into practice in a way that suits people on the ground. We’ll see that even within cities, where governments are responsible for, say, making sure the sidewalks are clear. That might be a fraction of one person’s job. And it can often mean that even when a regulation exists in the law, people aren’t actually seeing it being abided by on the ground because there simply isn’t capacity to ensure it’s there. So, I think those are really easy ways we see how regulation is something people take issue with.”
Part of regulation’s infamy is also down to past experiences with marginalised areas. Connie added:
“There’s probably not a good understanding about what it takes to get something done through policy and regulatory change. Especially with communities of colour. There’s a cloud that comes with the past, for some regulatory work has been nothing but inimical to their health and wellbeing.”
Governments can use regulation to tackle the climate crisis
The episode also discusses how governments can use regulation to improve the state of our climate. Carina explains:
“Governments have this incredibly potent position where they can outlaw bad actors in the climate space. They can say, ‘You can’t do X, Y, and Z because it’s detrimental to the health of our communities’. Governments have the tools through regulation to ensure we all abide by a set of rules that allow us to remain within what’s considered healthy planetary bounds. Nobody else has that power over everybody in society on an issue that is fundamentally a collective-action challenge. Regulation and government have this capacity to bridge the gap in a way that’s also so fast.”
The timing of new regulations is important
The importance of timing is evident when governments introduce new regulations. This is because haphazard approaches can end up creating new problems and more confusion. Connie said:
“We all feel that sense of urgency. But we also understand that whilst business can be fast, the policy landscape can be slow. And that’s the conflict we find ourselves in. We’ve got community residents that are blood-burdened, and we’re saying, ‘How do we deal with something like that?’, ‘What do we do?’. This is when it’s tempting to address and pull all the levers in the system. And then what happens is we have so many people tinkering with the system that we actually end up not being able to identify the impacts we’re making.”
She added:
“There’s a time and a place to be the centrepiece. And there’s a time and a place to be the one to go and beat the drum, and hit the symbols. But if you do it before, it’s just not the right thing to do. I don’t really know whether the people working in the systems understand the importance of waiting, understanding, and trusting that the right time will come when the time comes.”
Carina added:
“Regulation has a timing component that’s so important. You need to wait to be a part of a series of moving parts. I think that’s really real when it comes to regulation, because you need to come in at the right time, when people really need it, and when people are ready for it.”
Regulation is interlinked with accountability
When it comes to public services, regulation is as much about the people working in the system as it is about the systemic levers they pull. Actions affect communities, so it’s important to understand what people’s needs are so that certain regulations can fit and accountability can be taken. Thomas explains:
“I think first of all, well actually, why bother talking about accountability and regulation? I use those two words in tandem because they’re slightly different things, but they come together. Accountability is saying who is responsible for something in terms of the public service system, or which organisation or leader is accountable. Regulation is a mechanism of achieving accountability, but not all accountability is about regulation.”
He added:
“Accountability and regulation can be a really good thing. It’s important for keeping people safe. It’s important for improving public services. And there’s an element of it which is about creating the space for innovation and learning. I think there’s a really important role for accountability and regulation. Take local authorities as an example. In one respect, they’re accountable to their residents through the local electoral system, but their major services are subject to regulation from regulators. Public service delivery needs to be mirrored in the accountability world and in the regulatory world.”
A bad relationship between government and communities is detrimental to regulation
We also spoke to Thomas about how governments and communities need to have a good relationship in order for regulations to work. Carina started:
“It’s critical for a regulation or a regulating body to build trust with the community at hand. They have to be taken seriously, right? We’re seeing a crisis around this relationship because communities don’t necessarily trust that governments understand where things are coming from. And I think that becomes a detriment to regulation.”
Thomas added:
“If you want to change the public service system, you can only go so far with campaigning. And you can only go so far with trying to change the culture, mindsets, and relationships with citizens. But sooner or later, you end up with these barriers in the system, which act as blockages you just can’t get past. And it’s almost like having this kind of tug of war with systemic issues.”
The full conversation about government regulation is available now on all major podcast listening platforms.
