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United Kingdom

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United Kingdom

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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 Executive. Executive agencies are "machinery of government" devices distinct both from non-ministerial government departments and non-departmental public bodies (or "quangos"), each of which enjoy a real legal and constitutional separation from ministerial control. The model was also applied in several other countries.

Contents 1 Size and scope 2 Issues and reports 3 List of executive agencies by department 3.1 Attorney General’s Office 3.2 Business, Innovation and Skills (Department for) 3.3 Cabinet Office 3.4 Communities and Local Government (Department for) 3.5 Culture, Media and Sport (Department for) 3.6 Defence (Ministry of) 3.7 Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Department for) 3.8 Foreign and Commonwealth Office 3.9 Health (Department of) 3.10 Home Department (Home Office) 3.11 Justice (Ministry of) 3.12 Northern Ireland Office 3.13 Transport (Department for) 3.14 Treasury (HM) 3.15 Work and Pensions (Department for) 4 Other countries 5 See also 6 External references 7 References

[edit] Size and scope

Agencies^[1] range from Her Majesty's Prison Service to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. The largest agency in terms of staff numbers is Jobcentre Plus, employing 100,000 people. The annual budget for each agency, allocated by Her Majesty's Treasury ranges from a few million pounds for the smallest agencies to £700m for the Court Service to £4bn for Jobcentre Plus. Virtually all government departments have at least one agency. The Ministry of Defence has 9, the most of any department.

[edit] Issues and reports

The initial success or otherwise of executive agencies was examined in the Sir Angus Fraser's Fraser Report of 1991. Its main goal was to identify what good practices had emerged from the new model and spread them to other agencies and departments. The report also recommended further powers be devolved from ministers to chief executives.

A whole series of reports and white papers examining governmental delivery were published throughout the 1990s, under both Conservative and Labour governments. During these the agency model became the standard model for delivering public services in the United Kingdom. By 1997 76% of civil servants were employed by an agency. The new Labour government in its first such report – the 1998 Next Steps Report endorsed the model introduced by its predecessor. The most recent review (in 2002, linked below) made two central conclusions (their emphasis):

"The agency model has been a success. Since 1988 agencies have transformed the landscape of government and the responsive and effectives of services delivered by Government."

"Some agencies have, however, become disconnected from their departments ... The gulf between policy and delivery is considered by most to have widened."

The latter point, is usually made more forcibly by Government critics, describing agencies as "unaccountable quangos".

[edit] List of executive agencies by department

[edit] Attorney General’s Office

• Treasury Solicitor's Department
• National Fraud Authority

[edit] Business, Innovation and Skills (Department for)

• Companies House
• Export Credits Guarantee Department
• Insolvency Service
• National Measurements Office
• UK Intellectual Property Office

[edit] Cabinet Office

• Central Office of Information

[edit] Communities and Local Government (Department for)

• The Fire Service College
• Ordnance Survey
• Planning Inspectorate
• Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre

[edit] Culture, Media and Sport (Department for)

• Royal Parks Agency

[edit] Defence (Ministry of)

• Defence Science and Technology Laboratory
• Defence Storage and Distribution Agency
• Defence Support Group
• Defence Vetting Agency
• Met Office
• Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency
• People, Pay and Pensions Agency
• Service Children's Education
• Service Personnel and Veterans Agency
• UK Hydrographic Office

[edit] Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Department for)

• Animal Health
• Food and Environment Research Agency
• Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science
• Marine and Fisheries Agency
• Rural Payments Agency
• Veterinary Laboratories Agency
• Veterinary Medicines Directorate

[edit] Foreign and Commonwealth Office

• FCO Services
• Wilton Park

[edit] Health (Department of)

• Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency^[2]
• NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency^[2]

[edit] Home Department (Home Office)

• Criminal Records Bureau
• Identity and Passport Service
• UK Border Agency

[edit] Justice (Ministry of)

• HM Courts Service
• HM Land Registry
• The National Archives
• Office of the Public Guardian
• National Offender Management Service
• Tribunals Service

[edit] Northern Ireland Office

• Compensation Agency
• Forensic Science Agency Northern Ireland
• Northern Ireland Prison Service
• Youth Justice Agency

[edit] Transport (Department for)

• Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
• Driving Standards Agency
• Government Car and Despatch Agency
• Highways Agency
• Maritime and Coastguard Agency
• Vehicle and Operator Services Agency
• Vehicle Certification Agency

[edit] Treasury (HM)

• Buying Solutions
• National Savings and Investments
• Royal Mint
• UK Debt Management Office
• Valuation Office Agency

[edit] Work and Pensions (Department for)

• Child Support Agency
• JobCentre Plus
• The Pension, Disability and Carers Service incorporating The Pension Service and the Disability and Carers Service

[edit] Other countries

Several other countries experimented with the executive agency model, often with mixed results. In the United States, the Clinton administration imported the model, but with a modification of the name to "performance-based organizations."^[3] In Canada, executive agencies were adopted on a limited basis under the name "special operating agencies."^[4] Executive agencies were also established in Japan and Jamaica.

[edit] See also

• Agency of the European Union
• Government-owned corporation
• Departments of the United Kingdom Government
• Non-departmental public body
• Independent agencies of the United States government

[edit] External references

• Economic Research Council online database of all UK Quangos 1998-2006
• 2002 Government report into the agencies model entitled "Better Government Services – Executive agencies in the 21st century" published by The Prime Minister's Office of Public Services Reform. Contains a list of agencies. (PDF)
• Civil Service

[edit] References

1. ^ Cabinet Office - UK Government executive agencies
2. ^ ^{a b} Department of Health - Executive agencies
3. ^ Roberts, Alasdair. Performance-Based Organizations: Assessing the Gore Plan. Public Administration Review, Vol. 57, No. 6, pp. 465-478, December 1997.
4. ^ Roberts, Alasdair. Public Works and Government Services: Beautiful Theory Meets Ugly Reality. HOW OTTAWA SPENDS, G. Swimmer, ed., pp. 171-203 Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1996