Performance in Government : The Evolving System of Performance and Evaluation Measurement, Monitoring, and Management in the United Kingdom

Talbot, Colin

World Bank

关键词: ACCOUNTABILITY;    ACCOUNTABILITY ARRANGEMENTS;    ACCOUNTABILITY RELATIONSHIPS;    ACCOUNTING;    ACTS OF PARLIAMENT;   

RP-ID  :  65408

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper sets out the recent historyand evolution of the UK governments' performancemeasurement, monitoring and management systems from theperiod since 1997 and the election of the New Laborgovernment, until today. Although, as the paper shows manyof the changes the New Labor government introduced were atleast partially prefigured in changes introduced in theprevious two decades or more. The reason that the periodsince 1997 is so important is because, it represents theperiod in which the UK governments' system becamealmost universal across public activities, includingmeasuring performance at the highest levels of governmentitself. The core of the performance policies developed bygovernment over this period have been the Public ServiceAgreements (PSAs) promulgated since 1998, of which therehave now been five rounds (1998; 2000; 2002; 2004; 2007).Whilst PSAs are not the only performance policies, ormeasurement, monitoring and reporting systems, they havecome to be seen as the pinnacle of the whole system and, inintention at least, driving developments throughout thepublic services. The paper will cover only the UKgovernment. Over the past decade significant constitutionalchanges have devolved some central government powers tofirst the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly, and thenmore recently the Northern Ireland Assembly.