Regulation inside government: processes and impacts of inspection of local public services

Previous research has highlighted an unprecedented increase in the scale, scope and intensity of regulation inside government in the UK, and growing concerns about its cost and effectiveness. Empirical analysis of ‘Best Value’ inspections of local government suggests that the processes of inspection were transparent and applied in a reasonably consistent manner. However, the direct and indirect costs were high; the fragmented nature of inspection regimes posed significant problems for inspected bodies; the adversarial nature of inspections militated against self-assessment; and there was little meaningful involvement by service users.