ABSTRACT
The general picture is that local government has been successful in making improvements in service delivery. The ODPM’s preferred measures of cost-effectiveness suggest that overall there was a 10 per cent improvement in the quality of local government services between 2000-1 and 2003-4. But this figure masks some disparities. There is strong evidence that current policies have helped lead to improvements in the quality and effectiveness of services, but there has been much less impact on efficiency, access to services and public satisfaction. But it seems that some of this improvement may be due to additional funding rather than more efficient service delivery. In the case of public satisfaction current policies may even have had a detrimental effect because of the way in which they have raised public expectations whilst highlighting poor performance. There is also evidence to suggest that council tax increases have dented public satisfaction with local government.
