A new report from the National Audit Office examines the British governments attempts to reorganise “arms-length bodies” in the UK. One of the central conclusions is that the reorganisation is dragging many of the functions of these bodies back to the ‘centre’ and closer to political control – in other words a big shift from quasi-autonomy back to hierarchical control. This is being achieved by either abolishing bodies and absorbing functions back into Ministries, or changing the status of the bodies. I reprint below the NAO’s own short summary of their findings, but the whole report is worth reading.

One final note: the Report contains nothing about the abolition of the NAO’s “sister” body the Audit Commission (as David Walker has pointed out). A very curious omission. Continue reading “Re-Centering the State? Pulling Arms-Length Bodies back into the Centre” →