Latest thinking from the Government suggests that council taxpayers should make judgements on their local authorities, based on their own self-assessments. It is extremely important that local people have a say on how their councils are performing, since it is they who are on the ‘receiving end' of services.

But does self-assessment work? It is common acceptance that self-regulation is notoriously unreliable. When conducting corporate assessments, service inspections and performance audits, I have had the pleasure of reading many self-assessment reports. Indeed, in my current role as a secondee at Castle Point BC, I have written several.