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On the 18th November the Solace Foundation published the pamphlet “Benchmarking for Improvement”, in partnership with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Forum of Federations. This collection brings together academics and practitioners from across the globe to tell the story of how public services can and should do better.

Based on analysis from work streams in the UK and Canada, this pamphlet offers a depth of knowledge and best practice on a global scale. The UK branch has focused on the variety and comparison of local/central regimes for assessing the performance of local government and of local services in the emerging ‘natural laboratory’ of post-devolution UK. Meanwhile in Canada, the Forum of Federations developed the performance benchmarking of services between federal and state/provincial levels as a major theme of its work across the world, reflecting the growth of that activity in many federal jurisdictions. Through these work streams the research has sought to identify gaps in the knowledge base and possible avenues for future innovation and learning.

Key discussions with international examples have been staged with reference to global benchmarking and performance evaluation, health and education performance, child welfare and the importance of a political and administrative context. Further, more niche discussions have been held over benchmarking and elections, customer focus in Canadian municipalities and where benchmarking and performance assessment sits within improvement action.

Edited by Clive Grace, Arnold F. Shober, Wendy Thomson, Alan Fenna, Elaine Yiu Lu, Gwyn Bevan, Deborah Wilson, Steve Martin, James Downe, Sandra Nutley, Mark McAteer, David Martin, Michael Coughlin, Juliet Whitworth, Andrew Stephens, Sabine Kuhlmann, Tim Jäkel, Gerhard Hammerschmid, Steven Van de Walle, Vid Štimac, Tony Cutler, Toby James, Nicholas Prychodko, Michal Dziong, Barry Quirk