Core Articles: Can Public Service Efficiency Measurement be a Useful Tool of Government? The Lesson of the Spottiswoode Report

Abstract

This article critically reviews the Spottiswoode Report on ‘Improving Police Performance’ produced for the Public Services Productivity Panel. The article questions the report’s recommendations that Data Envelopment Analysis (supported by Stochastic Frontier Analysis) be used to measure the efficiency of the 43 police forces in England and Wales and that the technique might be extended to other public services. The article gives, as simply as possible, the basic technical details needed for readers to understand the key issues raised by the report.