This first Executive NDPB Report follows the recommendation of the Efficiency Scrutiny - 'Objective Setting and Monitoring in Executive Non-Departmental Public Bodies':

"Neither Ministers collectively, nor Parliament, currently have the information needed to judge how executive NDPBs overall are performing. We believe this omission must be rectified and consider that an annual report on the larger executive NDPBs should be prepared and published by the Office of Public Service (OPS) taking the Next Steps Review as the model."

The objectives of the Report are to: improve accountability; focus on objectives and performance; deliver evidence of efficiency planning; and show that targets are increasingly challenging from one year to another.

It will cover 'larger' executive NDPBs, which for the purposes of this Report are those bodies with expenditure of over £25 million. This covers 53 bodies. The contributions represent a wide variety of interest and style of operation. They cover education, research, sport, the arts, housing and development, the environment, legal aid and other specific activities and report to 12 different Departments.

The Report introduces each NDPB and its structure of accountability, outlines its size, both expenditure and staffing; sets out recent achievements and plans for 1997/98; and charts the key performance targets. These targets, some perhaps unique to the individual body, relate directly to the specific tasks that contribute most significantly to the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation and which support its overall aims and objectives. They are, therefore, an important means of measuring performance. The Report shows, where possible, a trend in performance. The scrutiny report suggested that "in the first year of publication, the degree of sophistication shown in the 1995 Next Steps Report would not be achievable." However, this edition should be seen as the first of a series of annual reports that will develop in authority and significance.

Most executive NDPBs are set up by Statute. However, some are incorporated under Royal Charter and some through Companies Act companies. The financial position also differs considerably: some rely 100% on Government Grant-in-Aid, others receive no Government funding at all and the rest lie at various points between.

'Public Bodies 1996' lists 309 executive NDPBs and 885 other non-executive NDPBs, the majority of which are advisory bodies. In 1995/96 the 309 executive NDPBs had gross budgets totalling some £21.4 billion, a Government contribution to the gross budget of £18.0 billion (some 84% of the total) and employed 107,000 staff (see table below). The total number of NDPBs has decreased by 500 (29%) since 1983 and executive bodies by 120 (28%) in the same period. The bodies covered in this Report represent (89%) of total expenditure.

GROSS EXPENDITURE 1987-1996

The majority of executive NDPBs produce Annual Reports and Accounts. The Government proposes that, in future, all executive NDPBs should do so. In addition, the scrutiny report ('Objective Setting and Monitoring in Executive NDPBs')* recommended (paragraph 3.52) that "all executive NDPBs should produce a Corporate Plan covering at least a 3 year period". The scrutiny also made recommendations on operational target and objective setting; efficiency planning and the roles of Ministers, Sponsor Departments and the organisation's Board. Implementation of the Scrutiny proposals are underway and a final Implementation Report will be published in May 1998.

Experience with Next Steps Agencies suggests that activity to improve the effectiveness of organisations can benefit significantly from a structured assessment of current performance. This can highlight strengths and areas for improvement, supporting focused deployment of resources. Such a process is provided by assessment of an organisation against the Business Excellence Model, used for the prestigious European and UK Quality Awards. The NDPBs covered by this report are therefore being invited to take part in a pilot project to apply the Model to organisations of this sort. The next Report will comment on the outcome of this project.

The Charter Mark Awards scheme, which is run by the Cabinet Office, plays an important part in encouraging improvements in public services. It is aimed at those organisations which deliver services directly to the public, such as the executive NDPBs featured in this report and 6 of them (see below) have already won Charter Mark. Future editions of this report will give details of other NDPBs which attain this standard.

TABLE

As already noted, this Report is the first of a series of annual publications. Following the Next Steps experience, successive Reports will increase the focus on accountability, evidence of efficiency planning and measurable outturns that are consistent with the bodies' objectives. Guidance for the submission to the 1998 publication will be issued in March 1998 and will develop the Report as an important ingredient in Government's relationship with executive Non-Departmental Public Bodies.

(*) Copies of the scrutiny report 'Objective Setting & Monitoring in Executive NDPBs' are available on request from:
The Efficiency Unit
Cabinet Office
Horse Guards Road
London
SW1P 3AL
(Telephone: 0171 270 0633).