Plans, performance information and accountability: the case of Best Value

The current UK government emphasizes the importance of mechanisms of accountability that involve the planning and public reporting of performance. One example of this is the Best Value performance plan. However, there has been little evaluation of the quality of the information provided in this type of document. This paper draws on literature on stakeholding and user needs to identify the data required for accountability. It then assesses whether the plans produced by Best Value pilot authorities in Wales provide appropriate information. The analysis shows that very few of the plans contained the relevant material. Interviews in the pilot authorities highlighted two key reasons for the poor level of data: a lack of performance indicators prior to Best Value and limited staff expertise in performance measurement. The evidence suggests that documents such as performance plans currently make little contribution to the accountability of public organizations.     

Corporate responsibility or core competence?

Although the concept that corporations are responsible not only to their shareholders but also for the social and environmental impacts of their activities has now entered the mainstream, pressure is still required to ensure that companies honour their public commitments. This article describes the work of the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility in harnessing the power of individual shareholders and ethical investors in order to hold companies to account, with particular reference to the activities of Shell in Nigeria and the Republic of Ireland. It is argued that companies do not exist to carry out community development, and so should be judged not on these grounds but rather on the impact of how they conduct their core business.     

The NGO sector as an alternative delivery system for agricultural public services

In many less developed countries (LDCs) that are undergoing economic adjustment, the promotion of the agricultural sector is constrained by limitations on resources that include finance, and human and institutional capacity. The inability of the state to provide essential agricultural services (for example, agricultural extension and research) leaves a void that could be filled by specialised organisations within the non-governmental sector (NGOs). NGOs as a whole need not fear the loss of other advantages, but rather welcome the contracting out to specialist agencies of those activities that hitherto have been the domain of inefficient and ineffective government services.     

FROM RIGHTS TO RESPONSIBILITIES FOR PARENTS

Few pieces of legislation in recent years have been heralded with such enthusiasm as the Children Act 1989, in force in England and Wales as of October 14, 1991. This article looks at the philosophy and principles underpinning this radical landmark in family law, outlines the new provisions in both public and private child care issues, and considers some of the implications and dilemmas for social workers, lawyers, and the courts.