ABSTRACT
Note that local government tax revenue is not a valid beneficiaries' performance indicators (BPI), it is an manager’s performance indicator (MPI), an indicator of concern only to the management, not to the beneficiaries and, in any case, it can be manipulated by the government itself as part of a perfectly legitimate funding strategy. The author suspects that, as we have seen for all other organizations, there is only one valid BPI for a national government; aU other indicators are MPIs, valid only for sections, departments and ministries of government. Like many other non-profit making organizations the Prison Service's annual report is redolent with other statistics of every description: numbers of staff, buildings, facilities—and costs. All these reflect the government's concern, obsession almost, with the efficient use of taxpayer's money. Turning to government, both local and national, the author concludes that income per head of the relevant population is their sole criterion.
