The Guide to the Executive Agencies

Executive agencies are a recent feature of UK government. The first agency ‐ the Vehicle Inspectorate ‐ was established in 1988, and now there are over 125 of them employing some 75 per cent of Civil Servants. There were 26 new agencies in 1996 (although seven were privatized) and more, we are told, are planned, or were being planned when this book was being prepared. This was before the May 1997 general election and the publishers are doubtless cursing themselves for naming the ministers responsible for the agencies: Douglas Hogg, Michael Howard, Virginia Bottomley et al., seem passé now....