National Evaluation of Local Public Service Agreements: The impact of local public service agreeement targets - Multivariate analysis /Communities and Local Government,21 July 2008

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/25.pdf

"This report summarises research that found that local public service agreements can be effective in driving improvements in services with targeted indicators, especially during and after the final year of the agreement period."