Public service management by numbers: Why does it vary? Where has it come from? What are the gaps and the puzzles?

Abstract

Targets, rankings and intelligence are common forms of public service management by numbers. So what's global and what's distinctively English about this phenomenon? What's new and what's old about the use of targets, rankings and intelligence? And what do we know we don't know about each of these forms of public service management by numbers? The special features of composite ranking systems seem to be a key part of the answer to all these questions © 2007 CIPFA.