The Public Administration Committee (PAC)
The PAC is essentially the United Kingdom’s learned society for the study of public administration and related subjects. As with the other constituent committees of the JUC, it is not an individual membership body, but representative of institutions in which scholarship in such subjects is undertaken. Although public administration questions had been dealt with by the JUC since its inception in 1918, the PAC itself was formally established in 1935 in consequence of developments inaugurated by T. S. Simey (later Professor Lord Simey of Toxteth), who became its first Chairman. Since that time the PAC has been chaired by some of the most distinguished scholars of public administration, including for example, Norman Chester, William Robson, Andrew Dunsire and Frank Stacey.
The PAC is very active in the promotion of public administration and public policy, both through scholarly activities and as the representative organisation for those universities in which teaching and research in such subjects is undertaken. It does so through various activities, including an annual conference; research seminars; the publication of research work; and advising government, Parliament and other public bodies.
Two international refereed journals are published under the auspices of the PAC, Teaching Public Administration (edited by Michael Hunt at Sheffield Hallam University, m.c.hunt@shu.ac.uk) and Public Policy and Administration (edited by Robert Pyper at Glasgow Caledonian University, r.pyper@gcal.ac.uk).
Examples of the PAC’s work in 2005-06 include the sponsoring of two research projects, with generous assistance from CIPFA, an organisation with which the PAC has close links. The first was on central local relations, which led to a significant workshop held at Durham University in April 2006, convened by Professor Martin Laffin, Professor Paul Carmichael and Dr Josie Kelly. The second was a small research project on the origins of the JUC and PAC conducted by Richard Chapman, the results of which are to be published in Public Policy and Administration, Volume 22 Number 1, under the title ‘The Origins of the Joint University Council and the Background to Public Policy and Administration’. In addition, 2006 saw the publication of a major book emanating from a 2005 research seminar sponsored by the PAC, edited by the seminar’s convenors, Richard Chapman and Michael Hunt, Open Government in a Theoretical and Practical Context (Ashgate).
The PAC’s 2007 Annual Conference will take place in Belfast: more details can be found on our news and events section.
