In the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, a
non-departmental public body (
NDPB)—often referred to as a
quangoQuango or qango is an acronym used notably in the United Kingdom, Ireland and elsewhere to label an organisation to which government has devolved power...
—is a classification applied by the
Cabinet OfficeThe Cabinet Office is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet of the United Kingdom....
,
TreasuryHM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy...
,
Scottish GovernmentPublic bodies of the Scottish Government are organisations that are funded by the Scottish Government. It includes executive and advisory non-departmental public bodies ; tribunals; and nationalised industries....
and
Northern Ireland ExecutiveThe Northern Ireland Executive is the executive arm of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the devolved legislature for Northern Ireland. It is answerable to the Assembly and was established according to the terms of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which followed the Good Friday Agreement...
to certain types of public bodies. They are not an integral part of any government department and carry out their work at arm's length from Ministers, although Ministers are ultimately responsible to
ParliamentThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
for the activities of bodies sponsored by their department.
The term includes the four types of NDPB (executive, advisory, tribunal and Independent Monitoring Boards) but excludes public corporations,
National Health ServiceThe National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
(NHS) bodies and public broadcasting authorities (
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and
S4CS4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fifth oldest British television channel .The channel - initially broadcast on...
).
In 2010 the UK's Conservative-Liberal coalition published a review of NDPBs recommending closure or merger of nearly two hundred bodies, and the transfer of others to the private sector. This process is colloquially termed the "bonfire of the quangos".
Advisory NDPBs
These bodies consist of boards which advise ministers on particular policy areas. They are often supported by a small secretariat from the parent department and any expenditure is paid for by that department.
Executive NDPBs
These bodies usually deliver a particular public service and are overseen by a board rather than ministers. Appointments are made by ministers following the Code of Practice of the
Commissioner for Public AppointmentsThe Commissioner for Public Appointments in England and Wales is a British public servant who heads the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in England and Wales. They ensure that Ministerial public appointments in the United Kingdom are made on merit...
. They employ their own staff and are allocated their own budgets.
Tribunal NDPBs
These bodies have jurisdiction in an area of the
lawLaw is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
. They are co-ordinated by the
Tribunals ServiceThe Tribunals Service was an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice in the United Kingdom between April 2006 and March 2011.The Tribunals Service was responsible for:*Adjudicator for HM Land Registry*Asylum and Immigration Tribunal...
, an
executive agencyAn executive agency, also known as a next-step agency, is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate in order to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland...
of the Ministry of Justice, and supervised by the
Administrative Justice and Tribunals CouncilThe Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, responsible for supervising and regulating administrative justice and tribunals...
, itself a NDPB sponsored by the Ministry of Justice.
Independent monitoring boards
These bodies were formerly known as "boards of visitors" and are responsible for the state of prisons, their administration and the treatment of prisoners. The
Home OfficeThe Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
is responsible for their costs, and has to note all expenses.
Contrast with executive agencies, non-ministerial departments and quangos
NDPB differ from
executive agenciesAn executive agency, also known as a next-step agency, is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate in order to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland...
as they are not created to carry out ministerial orders or policy, instead they are more or less self-determining and enjoy greater independence. They are also not directly part of government like a
non-ministerial government departmentA non-ministerial government department is a department or ministry of a government that is not headed by a Government Minister or Government Secretary, and answers directly to a legislature ....
being at a remove from both ministers and any elected assembly or parliament. Typically an NDPB would be established under
statuteA statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...
and be accountable to
ParliamentThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
rather than to Her Majesty's Government. This arrangement allows more financial independence since the government is obliged to provide funding to meet statutory obligations.
NDPBs are commonly referred to as
quangoQuango or qango is an acronym used notably in the United Kingdom, Ireland and elsewhere to label an organisation to which government has devolved power...
s. However, this term originally referred to bodies that are, at least ostensibly, non-government organisations, but nonetheless perform governmental functions.
History, numbers and powers
In March 2008 there were 797 public bodies classified by the UK government. This total included 198 executive NDPBs, 410 advisory bodies, 33 tribunals, 21 public corporations, the
Bank of EnglandThe Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
, 2 public broadcasting authorities and 23 NHS bodies. However, the classification is conservative and does not include bodies that are the responsibility of devolved government, various lower tier boards (including a considerable number within the NHS), and also other boards operating in the public sector (e.g. school governors and police authorities).
These appointed bodies performed a large variety of tasks, for example
health trustHealth trust or HF is a health enterprise owned by one of the four regional health authority in Norway, with responsibility for performing a geographic and/or specialist activities of operations on behalf of the regional health authority. There are 43 HFs in Norway, each led by a board of...
s, or the
Welsh Development AgencyThe Welsh Development Agency was a QUANGO and later an Assembly Sponsored Public Body established in 1976 to encourage business development and investment in Wales, to clear derelict land and to encourage growth of local businesses...
, and by 1992 were responsible for some 25% of all government expenditure in the UK. According to the Cabinet Office their total expenditure for the financial year 2005–06 was £167 billion.
Criticism
Critics argued that the system was open to abuse as most NDPBs had their members directly appointed by government ministers without an election or consultation with the people. The press, critical of what was perceived as the
Conservatives'The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
complacency in power in the 1990s, presented much material interpreted as evidence of questionable government practices.
This concern led to the formation of a
Committee on Standards in Public LifeThe Committee on Standards in Public Life is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom Government.The Committee on Standards in Public Life is constituted as a standing body with its members appointed for up to three years.-History:...
(the Nolan Committee) which first reported in 1995 and recommended the creation of a public appointments commissioner to make sure that appropriate standards were met in the appointment of members of QUANGOs. The Government accepted the recommendation, and the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments was established in November 1995.
The use of NDPBs continued under the
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government in office from 1997 to 2010, though the political controversy associated with NDPBs in the mid-1990s for the most part died away. Before 1997, the incoming
Labour GovernmentThe Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
promised to reduce the number and power of NDPBs.
See also
- Executive Agency
An executive agency, also known as a next-step agency, is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate in order to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland...
- Non-ministerial government department
A non-ministerial government department is a department or ministry of a government that is not headed by a Government Minister or Government Secretary, and answers directly to a legislature ....
- Quango
Quango or qango is an acronym used notably in the United Kingdom, Ireland and elsewhere to label an organisation to which government has devolved power...
- Regulatory agency
- Scottish public bodies
Public bodies of the Scottish Government are organisations that are funded by the Scottish Government. It includes executive and advisory non-departmental public bodies ; tribunals; and nationalised industries....
- Statutory agency
- Welsh Government Sponsored Bodies
External links