What we did
In 2000 we began carrying out inspections of local government services under the Local Government Act 1999. Between 2000 and 2011, we carried out and published 2014 inspections and it is widely accepted that local government services improved significantly during this period.
Our inspections proved to be a powerful catalyst for the improvement of local public services.
We highlighted:
- strengths in service outcomes and what was working well;
- weaknesses in services outcomes and what needed to be improved; and
- what could be done to bring about the improvements needed.
Our reports provided clear information for the public on how well they were served. For services that have a major impact on the quality of life for people who need them most, inspection provided assurance and evidence to support further improvement. It also gave a voice to those who were least able to speak up for themselves. Our inspections also helped to identify ways of providing better value for money and improving services while reducing costs.
Our inspectors:
- championed the interests of service users, citizens and taxpayers by assessing performance from the public's perspective;
- supported and encouraged improvement and good practice while challenging inefficiency and poor practice;
- encouraged learning by sharing examples of innovation and best practice;
- published their findings to ensure openness and transparency;
- were impartial and spoke without fear or favour; and
- reported honestly and fairly, and reached judgements based on sound evidence.
Above all, our role was to help councils to provide high-quality services, within their available resources, in response to the needs and aspirations of their service users and local communities.
On very rare occasions an inspection could result in the Audit Commission recommending intervention by the Secretary of State. This was called a 'referral' and the Commission's policy and procedure for making such referrals is set out in the document below:
Inspection referrals: Policy and procedure updated February 2010
We are not planning to carry out any further local government inspections. However, we may carry out an inspection if requested to do so by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government under section 10 of the Local Government Act 1999.
How we did it
We had a common framework for all our inspections and provided extensive training and quality assurance.
The inspection team made two judgements:
- How good was the service?
- What were the prospects for improvement?
We then published a report which generally included a score for each of these judgements. Our reports also included recommendations to help organisations improve their performance. We had a robust quality assurance process and organisations could request a review if they disagreed with our judgements.
We tailored our methodology and guidance for some types of inspection. We also changed our approach over time to reflect:
- changing legislative and national policy frameworks;
- feedback from the organisations we assessed and inspected; and
- our own learning about what worked and what didn't work.
For further information see:
Inspection results
All inspection reports for councils published between 2000 and 2011 are available.
Our inspection spreadsheet (XLS, 757kb) enables you to search for reports by council, inspection category or date.
What we learnt
Many of our approaches to inspection were independently evaluated. We also carried out our own reviews and national studies and listened to feedback from the organisations we inspected.
We changed our approach to:
- focus our work on organisations and areas that needed the most help;
- carry out our work in a more efficient and flexible way;
- co-ordinate our work with that of other inspectorates; and
- address concerns that assessments and inspections were placing unnecessary burdens on local public services.
Through our inspections we identified examples of innovation, good practice and case studies. This encouraged learning across local government and helped practitioners to drive up the quality and efficiency of local services.