<title>Abstract</title> The use of performance auditing and inspection as tools of public services reform is a key feature of contemporary public management. In the UK, external assessments of organizational capacity and performance play a pivotal role in attempts to drive public service improvement. However...

A framework for the explication of the theoretical basis of public management reforms is developed. The framework is applied to the Best Value regime in UK local government. The implicit assumptions of policy makers are that the Best Value regime will generate service improvements through...

Since 1997 UK central government has launched a bewildering array of new initiatives known collectively as the 'local government modernizing agenda' which represent an ambitious attempt to transform the performance and the politics of local authorities in the UK. The aim is to improve local...