Even before Michael Gove officially launched the Office for Local Government, otherwise known as Oflog or Not the Audit Commission, at the recent Local Government Association (LGA) conference in Bournemouth, there's been speculation about what this might mean.

It's clear one of the purposes of collecting and comparing local authority performance data is to more quickly identify – and intervene in – potentially failing councils. But is this really the best way of spotting problems, which even the local government minister admitted Oflog may miss, and helping councils address them?