[1] Part 1 of the Act introduced legal requirements for continuous improvement of services within a Best Value framework, expressed in terms of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

It also introduced a regime of audit and inspection to assure the implementation and operation of Best Value, coupled with new powers of central government intervention in authorities failing to meet Best Value requirements.

Increasing economic uncertainty arising from 1970s oil shocks and stagflation, and concerns about an ageing population, were coupled with a populist Conservative agenda to shrink the size, cost, and activities of government.

[8] By the late 1990s, there was political consensus that there existed a need to reinvigorate local democracy,[9] and from 1997 the incoming Labour administration pursued a Modernising Government agenda based on federalised and devolved principles - including Scottish and Welsh devolution from 1998.

Best Value sought to provide a framework for authorities to develop higher quality and lower cost services meeting the established needs of their communities.