Improving Local Government Performance: One Step Forward not Two Steps Back

This article discusses the various inititatives that have been introduced to measure and improve local government performance in the UK over the past decade. It explains why the Local Government Improvement Programme (LGIP) is the most aligned to the modernization and performance improvement agendas. The author uses a new outcome-based measurement model to assess how the six local authorities which piloted the LGIP responded to the 'areas of concern' identified by review teams. The analysis suggests that there are a number of organizational determinants that underpin successful performance improvement and which could have wider currency for both the UK and European local government sectors.