Performance management and accountability: the role of intergovernmental information systems

Abstract

The chapter studies performance management as an integral part of local/central government relations, including the role this practice has in benchmarking, strategic planning, evaluation, policy making, and, not least, the controlling relationship between central and local government authorities. A case study of Norway’s mandatory system of local to central government reporting illustrates how local governments can measure and report comparative information about activities and performance, thus enabling openness and transparency, as well as accountability in relation to internal and external stakeholders. The chapter compares the Norwegian system with similar intergovernmental information systems in the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK; discusses the background for the adoption of such systems and consequences of their use; and provides suggestions for possible and likely future developments in the transition from new public management to new public governance.