Performance management, evaluation and learning in 'modern' local government

Public sector reforms throughout OECD member states are producing a new mod el of 'public governance' embodying a more modest role for the state and a strong emphasis on performance management, in the UK, the development of pe rformance management in the context of the 'new public management' has been primarily 'top-down' with a dominant concern for enhancing control and 'up wards accountability' rather than promoting learning and improvement. The d evelopment of performance management and evaluation in local government in the UK has been conditioned by external pressures, especially reforms impos ed by central government, which have encouraged an 'instrumental-managerial ' focus on performance measurement. The new Labour government's programme o f 'modernizing local government' places considerable emphasis on performanc e review and evaluation as a driver of continuous improvement in promoting Best Value. However, recent research has indicated that the capacity for ev aluation in local government is uneven and many obstacles to evaluation exi st in organizational cultures. Local authorities need to go beyond the deve lopment of review systems and processes to ensure that the capacity for eva luation and learning is embedded as an attribute of 'culture' in order to a chieve the purpose of Best Value.