22 February 2008
Public service managers are being urged to consider whether their decisions are backed by good information.
An Audit Commission discussion document published on February 21 stressed that good information helped public services to improve.
Two-thirds of three- and four-star councils used information well, but only a tenth of one- and two-star councils did, the commission said. It cited research showing that better monitoring of patient mortality data could have raised the alarm earlier in the cases of both serial killer GP Harold Shipman and the 1990s baby deaths scandal at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.
Improving the use of information is also one of the commission's five strategic objectives and will feed into the new Comprehensive Area Assessments.
'The risk assessment [element of CAA] will include an assessment of the use of information locally to inform national and local targets for improvement,' the commission said.
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