Public Bodies Act 2011
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| Long title | An Act to confer powers on Ministers of the Crown in relation to certain public bodies and offices; to confer powers on Welsh Ministers in relation to environmental and other public bodies; to make provision about delegation and shared services in relation to persons exercising environmental functions; to abolish regional development agencies; to make provision about the funding of Sianel Pedwar Cymru; to make provision about the powers of bodies established under the National Heritage Act 1983 to form companies; to repeal provisions of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 relating to appeals to the Chief Coroner; to make provision about amendment of Schedule 1 to the Superannuation Act 1972; and for connected purposes. |
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| Citation | 2011 c 24 |
| Territorial extent | United Kingdom |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 14 December 2011 |
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Status: Amended
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The Public Bodies Act 2011 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It has 39 sections and six schedules, and is concerned with the management of public bodies within the UK.
The long title of an Act (shown in the infobox opposite) is of significance because it forms part of the Act, and is the 'first of the elements of an Act... that can be used to find the meaning of the Act, and generally its scope.' in future legal decisions.
The Act extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, except in the case of amendments and repeals made by the Act which have the same extent as the legislation which is being amended or repealed. An order made under the Act which repeals, revokes or amends an enactment extending to any other jurisdiction may also extend there. Sections one to five of the Act could, in principle, affect devolved matters – that is, matters which are the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament,Welsh Assembly, or Northern Ireland Assembly. As a result of this, the consent of these bodies for the provisions in the Act was obtained as part of the legislative process.
In the lead up to the UK General Election, 2010, all three major parties had made reference in their manifestos to a commitment to what had been referred to as ‘the quango state’; a situation where ‘in the UK, many [government] departments can…be characterised as hubs in which the vast majority of…budgets are channelled to and from arms’ length bodies.’ For example, in March 2013, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs employed less than a quarter of the number of staff as one of the non-departmental public bodies which it parented, and NHS England had a budget of three-quarters of its parent, the Department of Health (United Kingdom). This had, to some commentators, created a number of problems of governance, accountability, and effectiveness, including lack of clarity of the respective roles of departments as opposed to the arms-length bodies, and insufficient capacity in the Cabinet Office to sponsor and monitor the bodies correctly.
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