Bewitched or Bewildered? 'Facts' and 'Values' in Audit Commission Texts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6301715 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jill C Humphrey (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 19-43 |
| Publication date | 2001-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Local Government Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0300-3930 • E-ISSN: 1743-9388 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/714004098 |
| OpenAlex | W2032915878 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 11 |
The Audit Commission undertakes audits and inspections in relation to local government, housing, social services, education and the health service, and in effect presides over the local governance of welfare. It legitimates its work by reference to a peculiar fact-value nexus which has bewitched many proponents of welfare economics and evidence-based practice and bewildered many councillors and professionals, suggesting that the nexus itself needs to be dissected and deciphered. The focus of this article is on the Commission's work in the sphere of local government in general and social services in particular. A critical appraisal of 'facts' is undertaken in relation to costs, charges, outcomes and performances, whilst a critical appraisal of 'values' is undertaken in relation to economics, politics, ethics and evaluations. It is suggested that there are good reasons for being bewitched and bewildered by the work of the Audit Commission, since it combines quasi-scientific researches with socio-political reforms and operates in the name of both upward accountability to the government and downward accountability to the people, offering a synthesis of virtues and values which is simultaneously irresistible and impossible
Accountability · Audit · Commission · Corporate governance · Economics · Government (linguistics · Local government · Management · Nexus (standard · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Welfare · Work (physics · Healthcare innovation and challenges · Law · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Social Work · Accounting
Rationalism and public policy
New Labour and the regulatory reform of social care
Central Regulation of English Local Authorities
Relational distance, neoliberalism and the regulation of animal health
Evaluating local government equalities work
Myths, Measures and Modernisation
Contemporary Public Library Provision in England
Four Toward a Deliberative Model of Democratic Legitimacy
Representing People at Work
Six Communication and the Other
Disabled People, Service Users, User Involvement and Representation
Implementing Care Management
The Ideology of New Labour
Auditing Social Needs
Trading work
Audit Culture and Anthropology
Markets and Motives Trust and Egoism in Welfare Markets
Work and the New Public Service Class
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,3 |
| Citation span | 2003 - 2014 (12) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |