The Audit Commission has had significant involvement in specifying, collecting and publishing performance information about local public services over a number of years.
The Citizen's Charter initiative in the early 1990s gave the Audit Commission an important role in designing and overseeing the audit and publication of local authority performance indicators through the Audit Commission Performance indicators – ACPIs. These aimed to improve the quality of public services by equipping citizens with objective, comparable data on quality and costs.
In 2000 the new government brought in a new approach to performance management - best value. The government specified best value performance indicators (BVPIs) mainly relating to individual services in local government.
The government introduced the National Indicator Set (NIS) from 2008 following the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review. These were specified by government, and included indicators collected through a resident based Place Survey.
The Audit Commission has worked with other bodies to facilitate better collection and sharing of information, for example through co-ordinating the annual school survey.
The Commission has produced management papers, guidance, discussion papers and tools to further understanding in this area and to make information more available for others to use and to encourage improvement in the analysis and presentation of performance information.