For the United Kingdom, there were two
decades (1960 and 1970s) of ad hoc experiments
and dabbling in performance measurement
during which programs were piloted
but were eventually discontinued. The earliest
cases of performance measurement have been
traced to the 1960s and associated with cost
benefit analysis, management by objectives
and output budgeting, but only two remained
significant in the 1970s. The two decades of
discussing and piloting performance measurement
yielded little that was convincing and
durable (Bovaird and Gregory, 1996: 239–40).