Executive agency

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.

Size and scope

Agencies 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.

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 forcefully by Government critics, describing agencies as "unaccountable quangos".

List of executive agencies by department

Attorney General’s Office

• National Fraud Authority
• Treasury Solicitor's Department

Business, Innovation and Skills (Department for)

• Companies House
• HM Land Registry
• Insolvency Service
• Intellectual Property Office
• Met Office
• National Measurement Office
• Ordnance Survey
• Skills Funding Agency
• UK Space Agency

Cabinet Office

• Central Office of Information
• Government Procurement Service

Chancellor of the Exchequer

• National Savings and Investments

Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission

• Child Support Agency

Communities and Local Government (Department for)

• Fire Service College
• Planning Inspectorate
• Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre

Culture, Media and Sport (Department for)

• Royal Parks Agency

Defence (Ministry of)

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

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Department for)

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

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

• FCO Services
• Wilton Park

Forestry Commission (a non-ministerial department)

• Forest Enterprise (England)
• Forest Enterprise (Scotland)
• Forest Research

Health (Department of)

• Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency

Home Office

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

Justice (Ministry of)

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

Revenue and Customs (HM)

• Valuation Office Agency

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

Treasury (HM)

• Asset Protection Agency
• Royal Mint
• UK Debt Management Office

UK Statistics Authority (a non-ministerial department)

• Office for National Statistics

Work and Pensions (Department for)

• Jobcentre Plus
• The Pension, Disability and Carers Service (incorporating The Pension Service and the Disability and Carers Service)

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." In Canada, executive agencies were adopted on a limited basis under the name "special operating agencies." Executive agencies were also established in Japan and Jamaica.

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

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