Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
High Profile ALBs
Keywords
ALB, Arm’s Length Bodies, Public Bodies, Quangos, Public Servants, Civil Servants
The 10 largest ALBs
While there were 306 ALBs in 2023/24, the way that ALBs are funded varies considerably across the landscape. The UK government allocated £369.78 Bn to ALBs, yet the 10 largest ALBs within the landscape received the vast majority of this funding, £339.8 Bn, representing 91.9% of all government funding. Accordingly, these bodies also represented the vast majority all ALBs’ Total Managed Expenditure, at £333.77 Bn (91.3%). As employers, these bodies also represented around half (50.4%) of the entire ALB workforce, employing 200,029 FTE. Collectively, this represents how the ALB landscape is skewed towards 10 large ALBs, which are profiled below.
Network Rail and Great British Railways
Whilst Network Rail represents 2 bodies within the data, as both Network Rail and Great British Railways, as they share the same resources we have counted them as 1 ALB for the purposes of this section of the analysis.
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Summary Profiles: 10 largest ALBs
NHS England
NHS England was established by Parliament in 2012 as an independent statutory body. Its role is to lead the NHS in England to deliver high quality services for all. NHS England shares with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the legal duty to promote a comprehensive health service in England, in accordance with the National Health Service Act 2006 (as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and most recently the Health and Care Act 2022). We set the national direction, allocate resources, ensure accountability, define the national strategy for supporting and developing people, mobilise expert networks, give support to drive improvement, deliver essential services including national procurement and digital services, and lead the national agenda for transformation.
The UK Government recently announced plans to abolish NHS England as an ALB, and plans to move their functions into the Department of Health and Social Care.
NHS England
Sponsored By:
Department of Health and Social Care
CEO/Accounts Officer:
Amanda Pritchard
Headquarters:
London - England
Staff Employed:
14,599 (FTE)
Consultancy Spending
£17.15 M
Allocated Government Budget:
£175 Bn
Expenditure:
£174.2 Bn
Grants Issued:
£177 Bn
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Visit our detailed profile for: NHS England
Education and Skills Funding Agency
ESFA’s purpose is to ensure that every pound spent on education and skills has the greatest possible impact on ensuring all learners realise their potential. We do this by providing certainty on funding to the education sector so they can plan effectively, providing high quality support and guidance to help them protect against financial difficulty, and assurance work to ensure taxpayers’ money is used for its intended purpose. We work with education and skills providers across the sector.
Education and Skills Funding Agency will be closed in March 2025, with its functions moved into Department for Education..
ESFA
Sponsored By:
Department for Education
CEO/Accounts Officer:
David Withey
Headquarters:
West Midlands - England
Staff Employed:
715 (FTE)
Consultancy Spending
£1.56 M
Allocated Government Budget:
£72.37 Bn
Expenditure:
£72.24 Bn
Grants Issued:
£72.06 Bn
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Visit our detailed profile for: Education and Skills Funding Agency
HM Revenue & Customs
UK’s tax, payments and customs authority. HMRC collects the money that pays for the UK’s public services and help families and individuals with targeted financial support
HM Revenue & Customs
Sponsored By:
HM Revenue and Customs
CEO/Accounts Officer:
Jim Harra - Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary of HM Revenue and Customs
Headquarters:
London - England
Staff Employed:
61,185 (FTE)
Consultancy Spending
£7.47 M
Allocated Government Budget:
£40.76 Bn
Expenditure:
£39.65 Bn
Grants Issued:
£1.94 M
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Visit our detailed profile for: HM Revenue & Customs
Network Rail
Network Rail Limited’s role is to run a safe, reliable and efficient railway, providing a service for passengers and freight users. NR work closely with Train Operating Companies and Freight Operating Companies. While Network Rail and Great British Railways are currently independent, Network Rail is expected to be eventually absorbed into Great British Railways, as laid out in the The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail.
Network Rail
Sponsored By:
Department for Transport
CEO/Accounts Officer:
Andrew Haines (Chief Executive)
Headquarters:
London - England
Staff Employed:
40,026 (FTE)
Consultancy Spending
£67.23 M
Allocated Government Budget:
£17.64 Bn
Expenditure:
£13.59 Bn
Grants Issued:
£0
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Visit our detailed profile for: Network Rail
UK Research and Innovation
UKRI works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish. It’s primary role is to deliver grants and loans to support research and innovation. It also runs a range of institutes, national research facilities and national scientific capability. Some of this capability, such as the British Antarctic Survey has an advisory or diplomatic role for HMG.
UK Research and Innovation
Sponsored By:
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
CEO/Accounts Officer:
Dame Ottoline Leyser
Headquarters:
South West - England
Staff Employed:
8,063 (FTE)
Consultancy Spending
£53.36 K
Allocated Government Budget:
£10.27 Bn
Expenditure:
£9.33 Bn
Grants Issued:
£8.47 Bn
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Visit our detailed profile for: UK Research and Innovation
High Speed Two (HS2) Limited
High Speed Two (HS2) Limited is the company responsible for developing, promoting and delivering the UK’s new high speed rail network.
High Speed Two (HS2) Limited
Sponsored By:
Department for Transport
CEO/Accounts Officer:
Sir Jon Thompson
Headquarters:
West Midlands - England
Staff Employed:
1,933 (FTE)
Consultancy Spending
£16.63 M
Allocated Government Budget:
£7.28 Bn
Expenditure:
£8.56 Bn
Grants Issued:
£4.71 M
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Visit our detailed profile for: High Speed Two (HS2) Limited
HM Prison and Probation Service
HMPPS is responsible for: Managing public sector prisons; Managing the national Probation service; Managing public sector youth custody; Managing electronic monitoring for individuals on court bail, offenders subject to community orders or licence conditions, and, on behalf of the Home Office, subjects on immigration bail.; Liaising with the Welsh government on devolved matters (especially health and education) to ensure the effective delivery of services in Wales; Performance managing private/third sector providers of offender management services; Delivering and managing central system-wide operational support services (such as incident management, prison industries, and improving safety and security practice).
HM Prison and Probation Service
Sponsored By:
Ministry of Justice
CEO/Accounts Officer:
Amy Rees
Headquarters:
London - England
Staff Employed:
64,920 (FTE)
Consultancy Spending
£4.1 M
Allocated Government Budget:
£5.56 Bn
Expenditure:
£6.26 Bn
Grants Issued:
£0
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Visit our detailed profile for: HM Prison and Probation Service
National Highways
The company’s purpose and remit is to carry out the functions of a strategic highways authority, through the delivery of Government’s requirements as contained within the Road Investment Strategy. The company operates as the highway authority, traffic authority and street authority for the strategic road network (SRN) to give road users (and the communities that sit along side the SRN) the best possible quality of service, whilst supporting Government’s broader economic, environmental and safety goals.
National Highways
Sponsored By:
Department for Transport
CEO/Accounts Officer:
Nick Harris
Headquarters:
South East - England
Staff Employed:
6,865 (FTE)
Consultancy Spending
£2.46 M
Allocated Government Budget:
£5.01 Bn
Expenditure:
£4.79 Bn
Grants Issued:
£30.18 M
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Visit our detailed profile for: National Highways
Homes England
Homes England deliver Government’s housing and regeneration programmes across England, except London where this is devolved to the Mayor. They: deliver land and infrastructure objectives by assembling, marketing and master planning across a land portfolio; provide loan finance to private sector house builders; they commission and grant fund delivery of affordable homes by Registered providers; act as a delivery partner for building remediation; and manage the consumer loand book of the Help to Buy scheme.
Homes England
Sponsored By:
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
CEO/Accounts Officer:
Peter Denton
Headquarters:
West Midlands - England
Staff Employed:
1,367 (FTE)
Consultancy Spending
£9.33 M
Allocated Government Budget:
£2.91 Bn
Expenditure:
£2.62 Bn
Grants Issued:
£2.59 Bn
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Visit our detailed profile for: Homes England
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