Shaping the Bargaining Agenda? The Audit Commission and Local Government Industrial Relations

摘要

This paper examines the role of the Audit Commission (AC) on the bargaining agenda in local government. The AC's remit has expanded with the introduction of Best Value (B V) in recent years to add the role of acting for users of public services in addition to promoting the interests of the taxpayer. The paper considers these issues with reference to (1) an empirical investigation of the AC's inspection of personnel functions and (2) case study research conducted in two local authority union branches' experiences of the BV inspection process.