Regulators and reform: a quasi-experimental assessment of the effects of training inspectors

Regulators face an array of initiatives designed to boost the effectiveness of policy delivery and cut administrative burdens. A good deal of analytical attention is given to these governance tools, but we know much less about how regulators themselves understand and learn about them. We use a quasi-experiment to assess the effects of training on local government inspectors’ understandings of the Primary Authority (PA) initiative. Established in 2009 by the UK’s Better Regulation Delivery Organisation (BRDO), PA partnerships are legally binding agreements that provide businesses with a single point of regulatory contact and inspectors provide advice and reduce duplication of inspections and paperwork. The scheme is complex, and marks a significant departure from the existing inspection framework. Our findings suggest that, regardless of training, the regulatory innovation is well understood among local authority inspectors. Training may make a difference however in aspects of regulatory reform which are contentious or could be taken as counter-intuitive to professional norms. The article also highlights the value of the quasi-experimental approach for policy-relevant public management research.