The impact of the Code of Good Practice: Building partnerships between government departments and public bodies

The Code of Good Practice for partnerships between government departments and public (arm's-length) bodies was published by the Cabinet Office in February 2017. The Code was a response to the findings of a National Audit Office review of, and subsequent Public Accounts Committee hearing into, the oversight of public bodies, which highlighted a lack of consistency across government departments.

To encourage better relationships and in support of the Code, the Public Chairs’ Forum, the Association of Chief Executives and the Institute for Government sent a survey to chairs and chief executives of public bodies, to assess their current relationships with Whitehall. The results were published in July 2017.

In March 2018, the survey was re-sent to public bodies in order to assess the level of the Code’s impact. This report, also co-published by the three organisations, summarises the findings from the second survey.