Quango or qango is an acronym (variously spelt out as quasi non-governmental organisation, quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation, and quasi-autonomous national government organisation) used notably in the United Kingdom, Ireland and elsewhere to label an organisation to which government has devolved power. In the United Kingdom the official term is "non-departmental public body" or NDPB.
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The term 'quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation' was created in 1967 by the Carnegie Foundation's Alan Pifer in an essay on independence and accountability in public-funded bodies incorporated in the private sector. This term was shortened to 'quango' by Anthony Barker, a British participant during a follow-up conference on the subject.[1] It describes an ostensibly non-governmental organisation performing governmental functions, often in receipt of funding or other support from government,[2] while mainstream NGOs mostly get their donations or funds from the public and other organizations that support their cause. Numerous quangos were created from the 1980s onwards. Examples in the United Kingdom include those engaged in the regulation of various commercial and service sectors, such as the Water Services Regulation Authority.
An essential feature of a quango in the original definition was that it should not be a formal part of the state structure. The term was then extended to apply to a range of organisations, such as executive agencies providing (from 1988) health, education and other services. Particularly in the UK, this occurred in a polemical atmosphere in which it was alleged that proliferation of such bodies was undesirable and should be reversed (see below).[3] This spawned the related acronym qualgo, a 'quasi-autonomous local government organisation'.[4]
The less contentious term non-departmental public body (NDPB) is often employed to identify numerous organisations with devolved governmental responsibilities. The UK government's definition in 1997 of a non-departmental public body or quango was:
The use in the UK of executive agencies charged with service delivery functions has arisen alongside so-called non-departmental public bodies. These agencies do not usually have a legal identity separate from that of their parent department; and, unless they have trading fund status, their accounts form part of the accounts of the parent department. The National Health Service also has bodies called special health authorities, technically neither NDPBs nor executive agencies. The Department of Health chooses to designate all three types as "arm's length bodies".
Network Rail, responsible for the UK's railway infrastructure, may be regarded as a quango, subject, however, to the question of whether the entity is, as its formal structure might suggest, a non-governmental private company, or a state-owned enterprise.
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.[6] Since the coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats was formed in May 2010, over 80 of such public bodies funded by government have been abolished under Conservative plans to reduce the size of the public sector, as a route to reducing the overall budget deficit. However about a thousand still remain.[7]
A recent document from the coalition government suggests that another 177 public bodies could also face abolition. As of July 2010[update], the focus has been on bodies that facilitate arts, health, business, education, policing and the environment.[7]
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.[8]
Depending upon one's point of view, the separation of a quango from government might be either to allow its specified functions to be more commercially exercised, independently of politics and changeable government priorities, and unencumbered by civil service practices and bureaucracy; or else to allow an elected minister to exercise patronage, and extend their influence beyond their term of office, while evading responsibility for the expenditure of public money and the exercise of legal powers. Quangos have also been criticised by the right wing as inherently undemocratic, expensive and conducive to over-extending government.
The Times has accused quangos of bureaucratic waste and excess.[9] In 2005 Dan Lewis, author of The Essential Guide to Quangos, for example, claimed that the UK had 529 quangos, many of which 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 with the stated goal of encouraging economic development in their respective English regions.[10]
Britpop band Blur released a song called "Mr. Robinson's Quango" on their 1995 album The Great Escape. The lyrics allude to Mr. Robinson being a "dirty dealer" and a Mason, as well as not doing very much, amongst other things.
Quangos were mentioned in several episodes of the popular British sitcom Yes Minister, which satirised political life. In particular, the chairmanship of a quango played a central role in the episode "Jobs for the Boys" from the first series of the sitcom.