An executive agency is, in the United Kingdom, a part of an executive government portfolio that is managerially and financially separate from the core department and carries out certain of the executive functions of that department. Each of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Northern Ireland Executive use executive agencies in particular policy areas. 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 legal and constitutional separation from ministerial control. The model has been applied in several other countries.
Size and scope
Agencies include well-known organisations such as His Majesty's Prison Service and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. The annual budget for each agency, allocated by HM Treasury, ranges from a few million pounds for the smallest agencies to £700m for the Court Service. Almost all government departments have at least one agency.
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 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. A later review (in 2002, linked below) made two central conclusions (their emphasis):
The latter point is usually made more forcefully by critics of the government, describing agencies as "unaccountable quangos".
List by department
Cabinet Office
Government Commercial Agency Government Property Agency
Department for Business and Trade
Companies House Fair Work Agency Insolvency Service
Department for Education
Standards and Testing Agency Teaching Regulation Agency
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Animal and Plant Health Agency Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Rural Payments Agency Veterinary Medicines Directorate
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Intellectual Property Office Met Office
Department for Transport
Active Travel England Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency Maritime and Coastguard Agency Vehicle Certification Agency
Department for Work and Pensions Skills England
Department of Health and Social Care
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency UK Health Security Agency
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Wilton Park
HM Treasury
Government Internal Audit Agency UK Debt Management Office
Ministry of Defence
Defence Equipment and Support Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Submarine Delivery Agency UK Hydrographic Office
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Planning Inspectorate Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre
Ministry of Justice
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority HM Courts and Tribunals Service HM Prison and Probation Service Legal Aid Agency Office of the Public Guardian
Other countries
Several other countries have an executive agency model.
In the United States, the Clinton administration imported the model under the name "performance-based organizations."Roberts, Alasdair. Performance-Based Organizations: Assessing the Gore Plan. Public Administration Review, Vol. 57, No. 6, pp. 465-478, December 1997.
In Canada, executive agencies were adopted on a limited basis under the name special operating agencies.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 One example is the Translation Bureau under Public Services and Procurement Canada.
Executive agencies were also established in Australia, Jamaica, Japan and Tanzania.
See also Trading fund 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 United States federal executive departments
References
External links Economic Research Council online database of all UK Quangos 1998-2006, archived in 2007 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 (archived in 2008)