Public bodies
We look at public bodies, their role in government and how they can be made more effective.
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The Office for Students needs support to assert its independence
If ministers are serious about higher education, they should take on board the recommendations of the recent Lords inquiry into the OfS.
IfG response to the Maude review on civil service reform
The Maude review will be an important reference document for whoever lives in No.10.
Public appointments in 2023
There has been some promising progress in improving the public appointments system, but it remains vulnerable to abuse.
Establishing new public bodies – what have we learnt?
Practitioners and experts from economic and trade bodies discuss the lessons from their experience of setting up new public bodies.
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Public appointments
The public appointments process
How the public appointments process is run and who plays a role in it.
The appointment and conduct of departmental NEDs
Gina Coladangelo’s role as a departmental non-executive director has exposed the growing need to clarify rules around appointment and conduct.
Can anyone chair Ofcom?
Public debate concerning the appointment of Ofcom’s chair has raised questions about whether this is a doable job.
Public bodies and their reform
Licence to lead: lessons for public bodies from the pandemic response in health
Government should trust public bodies to lead in crises.
Whitehall Monitor 2022
Major reform is needed for government to respond to crises like the pandemic while simultaneously delivering long-term policy goals.
The government would be wrong to wage another war on ‘quangos’
Government should be more specific about what it wants public bodies to deliver and where it can do without them.
Public bodies
Public bodies deliver a public or government service, though not as a ministerial department.
Public bodies reform
The Declaration on Government Reform published in June 2021 committed the government to “commence a review programme for Arm’s Length Bodies".
Public bodies: governance and funding
How public bodies' objectives are set, and the funding and other constraints within which they must operate.
Public bodies: scrutiny and accountability
How public bodies are scrutinised and held accountable for performance, as well as how they can be directed by ministers.
Chartered public bodies
A royal charter is a document issued by the monarch that gives independent legal standing to an organisation.
Regulation
How government uses regulation to achieve its objectives and how rules can most effectively be designed and implemented through regulators.
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Specific public bodies
Getting Great British Railways on track
The government’s proposed rail reforms lack sufficient detail to guarantee success.
DVLA during the pandemic: hamstrung by competing priorities
The UK and devolved governments must make complex trade-offs more collaboratively or risk a repeat of DVLA’s pandemic troubles elsewhere.
Setting a new direction for the Information Commissioner's Office
This readout summarises a private roundtable organised at the request of DCMS, to support its consultation Data: A new direction.
Ofwat
Ofwat is the economic regulator for the water and sewage sectors in England and Wales. But how does it work?
UK Health Security Agency
What is the UK Health Security Agency (UKSHA)? What does it do? How is it organised?
Financial Reporting Council
What is the Financial Reporting Council? What does it do? What powers does it have?
Earlier IfG work on public bodies
Read Before Burning
Our recommendations for increasing the effectiveness and accountability of arm's-length bodies.
It takes two
Our report looks at what is needed for effective relations between government departments and arm’s-length bodies.
Out of the Ashes
What recommendations the next government should act on to truly reform arm’s-length government in the UK.
The Strange Case of Non-Ministerial Departments
A deeper look at this obscure category of government bodies, which cover organisations from the Royal Mint to the National Crime Agency.
Our public bodies team
Matthew Gill
Programme Director
When should public bodies exist?
Maddy Bishop
Researcher