29-525: The South West Observatory (SWO) was a regional resource for the South West of England, originally established by the former South West Regional Development Agency , Government Office for the South West, and the South West Regional Assembly (now South West Councils ) as a partnership for use by policy-makers to aid and improve evidence-based decision-making. It operated from 2002 - 2013. SWO
58-757: A form of cronyism . In 2010, there were 2,607 crown entities (including Board of Trustees) with annual expenditure of $ 32billion in 2009/2010. Despite a 1979 "commitment" from the Conservative Party to curb the growth of non-departmental bodies, their numbers grew rapidly throughout that party's time in power during the 1980s. One UK example is the Forestry Commission , which is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in England . The Cabinet Office 2009 report on non-departmental public bodies found that there were 766 NDPBs sponsored by
87-550: A framework that set out the direction that policies in the South West should support. The SWRDA's plans were aligned with three strategic objectives: The SWRDA invested in and supported over 5,800 economic development projects, large and small, across the region during its lifetime. Significant examples include: Figures published in 2010 showed that the SWRDA’s work had: In 2010/11 the SWRDA invested £239 million (its largest spend in
116-634: A property trade show on the French Riviera, £61,000 on its annual staff conference in Wiltshire, plus £28,279 on another staff meeting in Torquay. Further criticism, mostly from Cornwall, said that RDAs were unelected, unrepresentative and unaccountable quangos ; that the area covered by the SWRDA was an artificially-imposed large region and not natural; and called for a Cornish Development Agency to be set up. The South West Science and Industry Council advised
145-477: 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. In this context,
174-954: A single year) in initiatives across South West England from its own funds and from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), in all benefiting over 500 live projects. SWRDA managed delivery of the RDPE grant initiative through extensive partnership working, and the formation of a dedicated network of contracted county based project facilitators and business advisors. The SWRDA had an annual budget of around £160 million and spent almost £2 million opening offices as far away as Australia and China, and had offices or representatives in five international cities. SWRDA admitted in 2008 that it had spent £1,871,829 on international offices and staff since 2005 - these include Boston in
203-418: Is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi NGO", where NGO is the acronym for a non-government organisation . As its original name suggests, a quango is a hybrid form of organization, with elements of both NGOs and public sector bodies. The term is most often applied in
232-757: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). By the broader definition now used in the United Kingdom, there are hundreds of federal agencies that might be classed as quangos. The Indonesian Ulema Council is considered a quango for its status as an independent, mass organization-like public organization but supported and financed by
261-498: The United Kingdom and, to a lesser degree, other countries in the core and middle Anglosphere . In the UK, the term quango covers different "arm's-length" government bodies, including " non-departmental public bodies " (NDPBs), non-ministerial government departments , and executive agencies . In its pejorative use, it has been widely applied to public bodies of various kinds, and a variety of backronyms have been used to make
290-475: The acronym QUANGO (later lowercased quango) by a British participant to the joint project, Anthony Barker, during one of the conferences on the subject. It describes an ostensibly non-governmental organisation performing governmental functions, often in receipt of funding or other support from government, By contrast, traditional NGOs mostly get their donations or funds from the public and other organisations that support their cause. An essential feature of
319-451: The ' Saskatchewan Power Corporation ' a.k.a. SaskPower owned by the province of Saskatchewan and ' Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board ' a.k.a. Manitoba Hydro owned by the province of Manitoba . Saskatchewan is notable for the ubiquity of provincial crown corps with most styled with the prefix Sask - followed by the primary service. The larger Saskatchewan Crown corps have their own Saskatchewan minister with all Saskatchewan Crown corps owned by
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#1732858585658348-489: The American model of boards of education ). Other quangos from 1996 include: "...63 Crown Health Enterprises, 39 tertiary education institutions, 21 Business development boards and 9 Crown Research Institutes. But there were also 71 single crown entities with services ranging from regulatory (e.g. Accounting Standards Review Board, Takeovers Panel) to quasi-judicial (e.g. Police Complaints Authority, Race Relations Conciliator), to
377-587: The Crown Investment Corporation of Saskatchewan which in turn is owned by the provincial government. Some of the most notable Saskatchewan Crown corps are as follows: In 2006, there were 832 quangos in the Republic of Ireland – 482 at national and 350 at local level – with a total of 5,784 individual appointees and a combined annual budget of €13 billion. The Irish majority party, Fine Gael , had promised to eliminate 145 quangos should they be
406-520: The SWO produced a report entitled The State of the South West . Published online annually and as a hard copy every three years, this report detailed the facts and figures behind life in the South West. The last edition was published in March 2012. South West Regional Development Agency The South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) was one of the nine Regional Development Agencies set up by
435-480: The SWRDA on the effective use of science, technology and creativity. The SWRDA provided funding for the South West Observatory , a not-for-profit organisation which produces key data and facts about the region. Regen SW is now an energy consultancy, but began as the renewable energy agency for South West England, mainly funded by SWRDA. Quango A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO )
464-516: The UK government. The number had been falling: there were 827 in 2007 and 790 in 2008. The number of NDPBs had fallen by over 10% since 1997. Staffing and expenditure of NDPBs had increased. They employed 111,000 people in 2009 and spent £46.5 billion, of which £38.4 billion was directly funded by the government. Use of the term quango is less common in the United States although many US bodies, including Government Sponsored Enterprises , operate in
493-801: The US, Tokyo in Japan, Shenzhen in China, Melbourne in Australia and Mumbai in India. In the 2007–8 financial year, SWRDA also started an operation in Mumbai, which contributed to a total spend of £555,880.43. In March 2008 former Bristol Lord Mayor Peter Abraham criticised the SWRDA for these actions, saying that it should be more publicly accountable. The SWRDA was also criticised in December 2007 for spending more than £60,000 of taxpayers' money at
522-632: The United Kingdom government in 1999. Its purpose was to lead the development of a sustainable economy in South West England , investing to unlock the region's business potential. It was abolished along with all the other RDAs on 31 March 2012, with some of its functions being replaced by local enterprise partnerships . The SWRDA covered the following areas: The head office was in Exeter with other offices in Bristol, Plymouth and Truro. Each of England's RDAs
551-680: The United Kingdom include those engaged in the regulation of various commercial and service sectors, such as the Water Services Regulation Authority . 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 Ministers . The Times has accused quangos of bureaucratic waste and excess. In 2005, Dan Lewis, author of The Essential Guide to Quangos , claimed that
580-523: The arts (e.g. New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, NZ Film Commission), to social welfare (e.g. Housing Corporation of NZ) and to substantial enterprises (e.g. Auckland International Airport Ltd)." By 2003, the number of quangos had increased to an estimated 400 (excluding Board of Trustees), with more than 3,000 people sitting on governance boards that were appointed by successive governments. This appointment of people to governance boards has been widely criticised by political parties and political commentators as
609-599: The centre of the South West Observatory is a Core Unit which coordinates and facilitates network activity. This is based in Taunton , Somerset . The SWO works with a broad range of regional and national partners on many issues. The SWO also worked within a wider network of regional agencies, government departments and academics. This included the Office for National Statistics and the then (ONS) Regional Presence. Every year
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#1732858585658638-555: The governing party in the 2016 election. Since coming to power they have reduced the overall number of quangos by 17. This reduction also included agencies which the former government had already planned to remove. In New Zealand, quangos are referred to as ' Crown Entities ', with the shift occurring in the 1980s during a period of neoliberalisation of the state sector. In 1996, there were an estimated 310 quangos in New Zealand, and an additional 2690 school Board of Trustees (similar to
667-426: The original acronym was often replaced by a backronym spelt out as "quasi-autonomous national government organisation, and often rendered as 'qango' This spawned the related acronym qualgo , a 'quasi-autonomous local government organisation'. The less contentious term non-departmental public body (NDPB) is often employed to identify numerous organisations with devolved governmental responsibilities. Examples in
696-522: The same fashion. Paul Krugman has stated that the US Federal Reserve is, effectively, "what the British call a quango... Its complex structure divides power between the federal government and the private banks that are its members, and in effect gives substantial autonomy to a governing board of long-term appointees." Other U.S.-based organizations that fit the original definition of quangos include
725-545: The state while keeping its status as independent organization outside the Indonesian state organizational system in other side. As a quango, MUI is empowered to issue religious edicts ( fatwas ) comparable to state laws which are binding upon the Indonesian Muslim population and can exert influence upon state policies, politics, and the economy due to its status and prestige. The term "quasi non-governmental organisation"
754-502: The term consistent with this expanded use. The most popular has been "Quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization", often with the acronym modified to "qango" or "QANGO". In Canada, quangos are referred to as ' Crown Corporations ' or simply 'Crown corps'. As of May 2021 there were 45 Crown corps owned by the Canadian federal government, however many more are owned by each of the provincial governments. Notably electricity providers such as
783-532: Was created in 1967 by Alan Pifer of the US-based Carnegie Foundation , in an essay on the independence and accountability of public-funded bodies that are incorporated in the private sector. This essay got the attention of David Howell, a Conservative M.P. in Britain, who then organized an Anglo-American project with Pifer, to examine the pros and cons of such enterprises. The lengthy term was shortened to
812-618: Was one of seven Regional Observatories operating in the English regions. Not all Observatories operated in the same way and are at different stages of development. The SWO was a network of analysts working together at the regional and sub-regional levels to provide timely and accurate information about the region. The SWO network comprised "Thematic Modules" which covered various cross-cutting policy themes and "Local Intelligence Networks" (LINs) which focused on specific geographies. The SWO's structure differed from that of other Regional Observatories. At
841-464: Was required to work with partners in the region to draw together a Regional Economic Strategy. This document set out for the whole region how the RDA's statutory objectives would be met and the region developed. These strategies were owned by the whole region, not just the RDA. They provided the context for other economic development and regeneration activity in the region and provided government departments with
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