Quangos
Democratic Audit has pioneered research into quangos and their accountability in the UK. The landmark study was the Audit's EGO TRIP: Extra-governmental organisations in the UK and their accountability in 1994 (Democratic Audit Paper No. 2). Copies are still available from the Human Rights Centre, University of Essex.
The Audit developed a check-list for accountability and openness on quangos & other public bodies for the 1994 EGO TRIP report. The checklist criteria have been partially adopted by the Cabinet Office for public assessment of the accountability of public bodies and have twice been used by the Public Administration Select Committee for reports on quangos.
The most up-to-date information on quangos is to be found in two reports by the Public Administration Select Committee (on both of which the Audit director, Stuart Weir, acted as special adviser):-
Mapping the Quango State (vols I and II) (HC 367, March 2001), does just that - maps all known quangos and assesses their accountability on a scale devised by Democratic Audit;
Government by Appointment: Opening up the Patronage State (HC 165, July 2003) assesses the integrity and diversity of appointments to quangos & maps out prime ministerial patronage.
The Audit has also worked on further studies of the quango state:
The first report on advisory quangos, Behind Closed Doors: Advisory Quangos in the Corridors of Power, Stuart Weir and Wendy Hall, 1995 (Democratic Audit Paper No. 4; published with Channel 4 Television) remains relevant today. It was the basis of a Despatches documentary for Channel 4 TV.
In 1999, the Audit published the first definitive account of New Labour's task forces, Ruling By Task Force: Politico's Guide to Labour's New Elite, by Tony Barker et al.
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