Benchmarking for best value

Although the technique of benchmarking has been used as a business tool by the private sector since the late 1970s, the technique has not hitherto found favour with local authorities. The Government is keen to change this perception and has brought attention to the technique, through its best value initiative, as a means of local authorities comparing their performance with that of others. Benchmarking is a structured approach to finding ways to improve an organization's performance. It is a technique used by organizations to target key areas for improvement in order to increase productivity, quality, customer satisfaction and, in the private sector, competitiveness. It involves comparing financial and operational performances with those of others, either internally between departments or sections, or externally with other organizations. There is little experience of the use of benchmarking within local government, but it has been used with considerable success by the private sector to achieve continual improvement and more recently with similar success by other parts of the public sector. This paper reviews the origins of benchmarking and the background to its introduction into local government technical departments.