Quango
Quango is an acronym used especially in the United Kingdom and the Ireland. It means an organisation which the government has given devolved power (that is, hived off).
The acronym is spelt out in various ways:
• quasi non-governmental organisation,
• quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation,
• quasi-autonomous national government organisation
• In the United Kingdom the official term is non-departmental public body or NDPB.
History
The term 'quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization' was created in 1967 by the Carnegie Foundation's Alan Pifer. He wrote an essay on independence and accountability in public-funded bodies. This term was shortened to 'quango' by Anthony Barker, a Briton, during a follow-up conference.[1]
Many quangos were created from the 1980s onwards. The UK government's definition in 1997 of a non-departmental public body or quango was:
- "A body which has a role in the processes of national government, but is not a government department or part of one, and which accordingly operates to a greater or lesser extent at arm's length from government Ministers".[2]
UK
According to the Tax Payers Alliance, in the year 2006-07, tax payers funded 1,162 Quangos at a cost of nearly £64bn; equivalent to £2,550 per household.[3] About a thousand still remain.[4]
Scotland
Since Scotland was given devolved self-government in 1999, their government has also set up a number of quangos.[5]
Republic of Ireland
The Republic of Ireland in 2006 had more than 800 quangos, 482 at national and 350 at local level, with a total of 5,784 individual appointees and a combined annual budget of €13 billion.[6]
Issues
Depending upon one's point of view, the separation of a quango from government might allow its functions to be more commercially exercised. Or else it might allow an elected minister to evade responsibility for spending public money. Quangos have been criticised as undemocratic, expensive and letting government grow too big.
The Times has accused quangos of bureaucratic waste and excess.[7] In 2005 Dan Lewis, author of The Essential Guide to Quangos, claimed that many quangos were useless and duplicated the work of others. In August 2008 a report by the right-leaning pressure group the Taxpayers' Alliance, claimed that £15 billion was being wasted by the regional development agencies, quangos set up to encourage economic development in their regions.[8]
Other websites
- Defining 'Quango': article from political site Governing Dynamo
- Economic Research Council - online database of all UK quangos 1998-2006
- Cabinet Office - Agencies and Public Bodies
- The Sunday Times Article on Quangos - Sept 2006
References
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/05/opinion/l-letter-on-quasi-public-organizations-whence-came-the-quango-and-why-969587.html?pagewanted=1 Letter: On Quasi-Public Organizations; whence came the Quango, and why - New York Times Opinion page by Alan Pifer
- ↑ Public Bodies 1997, "Introduction"
- ↑ Focus: THE UNSEEN GOVERNMENT OF THE UK
- ↑ One by one, the quangos are abolished. But at what cost?, N Morris, The Independent, 2010-07-27, accessed 2010-08-15.
- ↑ Scottish Government Scottish Government public bodies site
- ↑ According to a survey carried out by the think-tank Tasc in 2006. Focus: What's wrong with quangos? — The Sunday Times newspaper article, 29 October 2006
- ↑ Waste mounts as £100 billion web of quangos duplicates work
- ↑ "Agencies branded 'waste of money'". bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
Quangos set up to improve the fortunes of the English regions have been branded a costly and ineffectual waste of money by a pressure group.