A comparison of Local Authority performance in England and Wales

Local Authority performance in Wales is widely perceived as inferior to that in England. We analyse \nstatistical evidence on current levels of performance and rates of improvement in the two local \ngovernment systems, and find few significant differences between English and Welsh councils. Adverse \njudgements on Welsh local government seem to reflect perceptions of their management processes and \nmethods of service provision rather than their substantive achievements. This may in turn be \nsymptomatic of UK central government’s assumption that public service improvement cannot be \nachieved unless organisations follow the specific model of ‘ managerial modernisation’ that it is currently \npromoting.