Introduction

Most public services are funded through taxation and it seems important for tax-payers to know how well public services are performing. Accountability looms large in representative democracies, which means that measurement for accountability is also important. The Royal Statistical Society review of performance measurement (Bird et al., 2003) identifies this as one of its three main reasons for performance measurement. In this chapter we take a more detailed look at the reasons for publishing performance data and introduce some of the methods that are used in doing so. That is, we look at why performance data should be published, how it should be published and who might be expected to take an interest in its publication. Two of the common presentation modes, scorecards and league tables, are introduced here though they are given more detailed treatment in Chapters 8 and 10 because of their frequent use and relative importance.

We also consider some of the things that can go wrong; the unintended consequences of publication. For example, Wiggins and Tymms (2002) reports a study that examines the effects of performance league tables for primary schools. In English schools at the time, performance data was published and official league tables were a result of this. In Scottish primary schools, the comparable data was not published, so there were no league tables, whether constructed by the press or officially issued. In both countries, the schools were under pressure from above to meet targets based on standardised tests taken by the children. The two school systems are similar, but not identical. For example, children in Scotland may take formal tests when their teacher feels they are ready, whereas English schools take their SATS on set dates. According to Wiggins and Tymms, both English and Scottish schools seemed positive about target-setting and both were under pressure to meet those targets. Hence, the paper examines the effect of publishing league tables rather than the use of standardised tests of attainment or of targets related to those tests. Wiggins and Tymms argue that: ‘The results showed that the English schools are more likely to concentrate on their targets at the expense of other important objectives’. This is a concrete example of one of the dysfunctional effects that can follow the public presentation of performance data identified in Smith (1995).