Janie Percy-Smith (ed.), Needs Assessments in Public Policy, Open University Press, Buckingham, 1996, vii + 149 pp., £40.00 hard, £12.99 paper.

Abstract

In recent years ‘needs assessment’ has become an overused phrase, joining terms such as ‘community care’ in having such a proliferation of meanings and uses as to be meaningless when used without explanation and qualification. It can be used at the policy level to inform resource allocation decisions; in commissioning and planning to guide service development; and to allocate service to individuals. The first two levels are often interlinked.