Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
cannot readily be understood by the general public and which ultimately hinge on the
legal interpretation of the mass of statutory and contractual documentation.
Whilst the ownership of the passenger transport industries during the 20th century
followed a pattern of transfer first into and then out of the public sector, ownership of the
highway network remained essentially public throughout. For only a short period after
1989 was the possibility of outright private development and ownership of major new
roads seriously contemplated - a phase which led to the construction of the M6 toll road
north of Birmingham. Since that time private sector involvement has been confined
to designing, building, operating and maintaining roads under public contract, some of
which have also been delivered under the Private Finance Initiative (12.4).
10.5 Executive agencies and other public bodies
The function of implementing policies and delivering services which are the
responsibility of Central Government is not confined to the Civil Service. In the
days of nationalised transport industries British Rail, the National Bus Company
and London Transport for example were operated as separate entities with boards of
directors appointed by, and receiving their overall policy remit from, the Secretary
of State. Currently the devolution of functions is to 'executive agencies' and 'non-
departmental public bodies' (NDPBs). These are 'sponsored' (funded) by particular
Government departments and the relevant Secretary of State is ultimately responsible
for their activities.
The creation of executive agencies can be traced back to an early initiative of Mrs
Thatcher to investigate ways of improving efficiency within the civil service. As a
concept they are intended to have the twin benefit of helping overloaded Ministers
and senior civil servants concentrate on policy issues whilst enabling the executive
functions to be 'hived off' to separate agencies each of which could focus in a more
business-like way on managing a particular service. The agencies therefore have
autonomy in how they organise themselves within the policy remit they are given.
Arguably however this reduces ministerial accountability (a key feature of public
services) and there is inevitably a grey area between where policy decisions end and
management discretion begins.
In the field of domestic transport five main executive agencies have been created in
this way (Box 10.1) of which (from our perspective) the Highways Agency responsible
for the planning and management of motorways and trunk roads in England is of
most importance. In Scotland and Wales the equivalent function is undertaken by the
executive agencies Transport Scotland and Transport Wales. The work of the agencies
involved in regulating vehicles, drivers and operators across Britain is discussed in
section 13.2.
The work of 'Non-Departmental Public Bodies' (NDPBs) is not directly related to
the delivery of departmental services. They are divided into executive and advisory
categories. As their name implies, advisory bodies are established to enable the
Government to receive independent advice. Although their membership is approved
by Ministers, selection will have regard to the need to include the main strands of
interest, opinion or expertise in the field in order that their work should carry public
credibility. An important feature of these bodies is publication of the results of their
deliberations - something which the Civil Service is normally constrained not to do.
A particularly interesting example of an advisory body is the Commission for
Integrated Transport (CfIT) which is made up of members prominent within the
 
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