ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the recommended approaches to performance review which are in the public domain. Throughout the 1980s, the Audit Commission produced a series of publications, Performance review in local government – a handbook for auditors and local authorities, which were updated and refined in the light of accumulated experience and the changing circumstances of local government. In December 1989, The Commission published Managing services effectively – performance review, which was a refined and modified version of the approach espoused in the earlier handbooks. Given the profile and standing which the Commission has, it is highly probable that its recommended approach to performance review will significantly influence how local authorities embark on reviewing their performance. The Commission proposes that: No matter what a service costs, or how generously it is provided, the most critical indicator of its performance is the value or benefit that it confers on its users.
