ABSTRACT
Social policy has come to fill a larger place in political discussion since the Second World War and social service ministries and Departments of State have taken an increasing share of the limelight. Academic research by social scientists has formed one of the most important sources of critical evaluation. Education has been the most researched of all the social services. The sheer wealth of America and the supply of trained social scientists available are reflected in the number of independent research institutes which exist on that side of the Atlantic. The inspectorate form an important independent check on the professionals in both the education service and in the personal social services. Considering the enormous economic and social importance of health, housing, social security and education the departments concerned have, until recently, devoted negligible resources to research, let alone any specific evaluation of the delivery of these services.
