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IMPACT German municipalities have prepared performance budgets for over 10 years. The incorporation of performance information into the budget is, however, still work in progress. Local politicians perceive the usability of non-financial information in the budget as low and do not use such information intensively for budget composition or other purposes. German municipal budgets are usually voluminous because of their highly detailed structure and the large amount of displayed performance data which rarely informs about outcomes. Such information does not meet the needs of councillors, for example in their struggles with political opponents. Some options for improving the usability of budgetary information are presented.
Immense uncertainty and the need for drastic interventions cause politicians to rely heavily on scientific advice for underpinning or legitimating their COVID-19 decision-making. This paper explores the role of scientific advice in this policy field in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK. It shows that scientific advice is based on the disciplinary, mainly medical, backgrounds of advisors but is also influenced by social and economic values, which are core to what politicians find important. During the pandemic a growing gap between scientific advice and political decisions is observed.