Local Government faces major challenges today. These include the management of increasingly scarce resources; the provision of modern services in reponse to public needs; competition for services from outside local government; increasingly complex issues of political control and direction; and the challenge to local government autonomy by central government. Against this background this series aims to form a guide to better management development and training for officers in local authorities. It tackles the broad management issues and strategies which affect all local authorities, and all their departments, and covers all aspects of managing, measuring and monitoring staff performance.