The Local Government Act 1999 requires 'best value authorities' (including councils, police, fire and rescue and national park authorities) to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way their functions are exercised, focusing on economy, efficiency and effectiveness. As part of their best value duties, councils were required to carry out best value reviews of all their services over a five year period from 2000 to 2005. The reviews were expected to help councils identify how they could improve their services.
In 2000 the Audit Commission was given responsibility for carrying out inspections of best value reviews. We carried out 1,664 inspections in the period April 2000 to November 2003. Most of these inspections followed a best value review but some were carried out for other purposes. Following each inspection, we published a report scoring the quality of the service and the prospects for improvement.
Our approach
Our approach to best value inspections was set out in Seeing is Believing (PDF, 752kb) published in February 2000.
Inspection reports
The inspection reports for councils published between 2000 and 2011 are in date order starting with the most recent.
Our inspection spreadsheet (XLS, 757kb) enables you to search for reports by council, inspection category or date.
What we learnt
Our report 'Changing Gear', published in September 2001, reviewed progress with the implementation of best value and the Audit Commission's role. It found that inspection and audit of best value had provided an important external challenge to councils. But it identified the need for a more integrated audit and inspection regime which better differentiated between the needs of different councils.