Councils are taking a "legalistic and mechanical approach" to meeting a key government audit, according to a leading think tank.

A report released by the Economic and Social Research Council has questioned the approach local authorities take with a key government audit process.

Forum Response: ESRC

Professor Ian Sanderson, the report's co-author, said: "We found two main approaches to evaluation at work.

"In other authorities, however, they proved more effective because the two initiatives were much better linked together, so community planning helped drive the overall corporate policy of the council, while Best Value was seen as a tool for performance improvement, driving change in service delivery in line with goals and targets.

"There are real lessons in our research for both central and local government.

"The importance of evaluation is still not widely recognised in many councils, and even those that use it well often don't give it a very high profile.

"In most cases, council officers try to make sure they comply with legislation, but don't see its potential to change frontline delivery. Local authorities could do more to promote evaluation internally. After all, when it is done well, evaluation should help identify where services can be improved.

"There is a feeling that simply collecting data for the statutory performance indicators which the government requires is enough.

"In fact performance management can be used more imaginatively and pro-actively by councils to monitor progress against their own, as well as the government's, priorities.

"This is most effective where targets genuinely reflect the needs and aspirations of local people and are used to inform decision making processes, including setting budgets'.

"Many councils are now developing more 'joined up' approaches. But some still see service improvement as largely separate from the business of community leadership. More could be done to share best practice in this area."

Forum Response: Local Government Association

Sir Brian Briscoe, chief executive of the LGA, said: "There is a great deal that local government can and must do itself in order to improve the delivery of local services.

"But it is also important that the government delivers on the measures it has promised, to help free up allcouncils by reducing the bureaucratic burden placed on them and to give additional flexibilities to provide scope to innovate and improve further.

"We will continue to press the government for the implementation of these measures."