Modernising Government: The Way Forward—a comment

Let me start by saying that this is a very welcome publication. While there are (and always have been) certain important limitations on OECD surveys of public management reforms they have nevertheless provided at least a starting point in bringing together the ‘official story’ of reform processes in one place. Even with their officially sanctioned and therefore sometimes less than complete, especially on implementation, accounts of reform policies they have provided valuable material for analysts. The decision in the late 1990s to cease the regular surveys by OECD was a very shortsighted one, as this volume clearly demonstrates. There is still much to be learnt from international comparisons between advanced democracies and, at a minimum, bodies like the OECD should be providing the raw material for such analysis. It is not possible to address all the issues this report raises so I want to concentrate on four issues: