The Public Bodies Act 2011 was given Royal assent. The Act allowed Ministers, by order, to abolish more than 250 public bodies.

Source: Public Bodies 2011, Cabinet Office, TSO

Links: Act | Explanatory notes | Hansard (Cabinet Office) | Hansard (MOJ) | Cabinet Office press release | Inside Housing report | Telegraph report

Date: 2011-Dec

A think-tank report examined the executive agency model in central government 20 years after its introduction, and at what the government needed to do to make the most of it. Departments needed to establish a clear business case before setting up agencies; a structured framework of accountability needed to be established; departments needed to improve the expertise of their policy divisions; and agency outcomes needed to be clearly defined and periodically revised by departments.

Source: Kate Jenkins with Jennifer Gold, Unfinished Business: Where next for executive agencies?, Institute for Government 

Links: Report

Date: 2011-Jul

A report by a committee of MPs expressed concern that the centre of government was not providing strategic leadership and a governance framework to departments in managing their programmes of structural change.

Source: Good Governance and Civil Service Reform: End of Term report on Whitehall plans for structural reform, Eleventh Report (Session 2010-12), HC 901, House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, TSO

Links: Report

Date: 2011-Jul

The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the planned abolition or merging of large numbers of quangos/arm's-length bodies. It said that the report contained a number of 'misconceptions and inaccuracies', and that reductions in spending on public bodies would total £11 billion per year by 2014-15.

Source: Government Response to the Public Administration Select Committee Report, 'Smaller Government: Shrinking the Quango State', Cm 8044, Cabinet Office, TSO

Links: Response | Hansard | Cabinet Office press release

Notes: MPs report (January 2011)

Date: 2011-Mar

An article examined the role of quangos/arm's-length bodies (ALBs). The government needed to rationalize the 'complex landscape' of ALBs, and put governance on a more robust long-term footing – based on the degree of freedom an ALB needed to command public confidence.

Source: Tom Gash and Jill Rutter, 'The quango conundrum', Political Quarterly, Volume 82 Issue 1

Links: Abstract

Date: 2011-Mar

A briefing paper provided a short history of public bodies, and examined the size and cost of the 'quango state'. It considered why the number and cost of quangos had been hard to control. It then examined the accountability of public bodies and appointments mechanisms. It also set out the main provisions of the Public Bodies Bill, aimed at reducing the number of quangos.

Source: Lucinda Maer, Quangos, Standard Note SN/PC/05609, House of Commons Library

Links: Briefing paper

Date: 2011-Jan

A report by a committee of MPs said that the new government's review of public bodies had been 'poorly managed'. There was no meaningful consultation, the tests that the review used had not been clearly defined, and the government had failed to establish a proper procedure for departments to follow.

Source: Smaller Government: Shrinking the quango state, Fifth Report (Session 2010-11), HC 537, House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, TSO

Links: Report | Institute for Government press release | PCS press release | Unite press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report | BBC report | Public Finance report

Date: 2011-Jan