ALB, Arm’s Length Bodies, Public Bodies, Quangos, Public Servants, Civil Servants
There is a long-standing principle that public bodies must be politically impartial, and must ensure the proper use of public money at all times. All public bodies must comply with the rules on lobbying, attendance at party conferences, advertising, marketing and PR.
An ALB should operate openly and transparently, demonstrating clear accountability for its resources and performance. It should also comply with central government requirements on transparency. More information on the principles of accountability can be found in the Public Bodies Handbook. The following section provides an overview of the features of ALBs that contribute to their accountability.
Total budget for ALB chairs
£9.23 M
The largest budgeted remuneration for a chair
£314.5 K in 2023/24
ALBs that underwent independent board reviews in 2023/24
42
Percentage of ALBs under the remit of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
48%
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
The role of an ALB chair is to represent the board. They are tasked with strategic delivery and ensuring that activities of the ALB are in line with expectations of the government, the public and long-term objectives. They also ensure a high-level of governance over the organisation to ensure that the ALB is operating effectively and efficiently.
Chairs also facilitate board meetings which are used to make high level decisions within the organisation and to create a shared understanding of any changes in activity.
This position can be remunerated, and the amount of remuneration varies between ALBs. An analysis of remuneration across ALBs is detailed below. This varies based on organisation function and expenditure. Some chairs can also receive no remuneration.
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Please note that some ALB chairs have different time commitments for their roles, which may also inform their salaries. The current publication does not capture this, but you can find out about chair time commitments by visiting Public Appointments.
Remuneration for the chair position can vary between ALB classifications. The figure below is grouped by classification to allow for comparisons within a single classification and also between classifications. The plot excludes chair positions with no remuneration budget. The median lines indicate the middle value of the remuneration received by chairs in each classification. The highest median was for ALBs classified as Crown NDPBs (£70,000) and the lowest median was for ALBs classified as Advisory NDPBs (£13,475) .
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
An effective board is crucial to the effectiveness of an ALB, and an effective ALB delivers better outcomes for the public. Through regular reviews and appraisal of their boards and non-executive board members, ALBs can develop a number of benefits:
building and maintaining board quality and effectiveness, which is at the centre of an effective ALB
identification of strengths and weaknesses
promoting a culture of continuous improvement and learning throughout the organisation
These boards should experience regular reviews to discern their effectiveness, analysing a series of ALB activities.
Board Effectiveness Reviews (BER) provide a robust review of the board’s effectiveness. These analyse several aspects of the board performance across factors such as: structure, processes and people. The reviews also analyse the board’s interactions with primary stakeholders as it is important to ensure feedback on the board is received from a variety of sources.
The chair is responsible for the initiation of these reviews. Internal reviews must be completed annually by each ALB. Similarly, reviews by independent bodies must also be completed but these occur every three years.
Internal Reviews are conducted by the ALB being reviewed. The chair has oversight of the processes and must see the review to completion. They should aim to gather feedback from key stakeholders and employees. Sponsoring departments will also receive a document proposing the areas of activity to be included in the review. The scope of these reviews often varies due to vast differences in function between ALBs.
Independent reviews help the board self-reflect by eliminating the function of board members in the review. By using external bodies to complete these reviews, it helps increase objectivity and provide key areas of focus for ALB improvement.
Outcomes of both internal and Independent reviews must be shared with the parent department for full transparency.
The internal reviews, intended to be completed annually, are a key part of the board effectiveness review process. The graph above shows the number of ALBs that have completed internal reviews in the years 2015-2024. The number of ALBs that have given N/A responses is shown in the annotation. The highest number of reviews were completed in 2024. Based on guidance, ALBs should not have their most recent internal review listed as having occurred earlier than 2023.
An ALB may have responded with “N/A” for their year of review. The total number of ALBs that have given “N/A” responses is shown in the annotation.
Count of ALBs that gave N/A responses: 127
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
The independent reviews, intended to be completed triennially, are also a key part of the board effectiveness review process. The graph above shows the number of ALBs that have completed internal reviews in the years 2014-2024. The number of ALBs that have given N/A responses is shown in the annotation. Highest number of reviews were completed in 2023. There is more variation for previous year of independent review compared to the internal review, this is due to their required frequency of every three years. Based on guidance, ALBs should not have their most recent independent board listed as occurring earlier than 2021.
An ALB may have responded with “N/A” for their year of review. The total number of ALBs that have given “N/A” responses is shown in the annotation.
Count of ALBs that gave N/A responses: 166
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Some ALBs may decide that the body’s meetings should be open to the public (it does not necessarily relate to public access to the body’s board meetings in person).
ALBs may decide to hold public meetings to increase transparency and accountability of their activities. The accessibility of these meetings is determined by the ALB and it’s purpose, along with the sensitivity of the information. However, they are recommended by the Public Bodies Handbook which states:
“An ALB should consult with its service users and stakeholders on a wide range of issues by means of questionnaires, public meetings or other forms of consultation, so that they are responsive to - and meet the needs of - their customers.”
The figure below shows most ALBs do not hold public meetings, with the highest proportion of ALBs that had public meetings being classified as Tribunal NDPBs (75%) and the lowest proportion being classified as Executive Agencys (12.8%).
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
This section refers to public minutes published by the ALB. Public minutes are a record of the decisions made by the board and are made available on the associated website for an ALB. For example, NHS England board meetings minutes can be found here.
The plot below shows the proportion of ALBs that have publicly available minutes by classification. The highest proportion of ALBs that had public minutes were classified as Crown NDPBs (100%) and the lowest proportion were classified as Tribunal NDPBs (0%).
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
It is important that ALBs have clear and concise complaints policies and guidance, ensuring that they adhere to principles set out in the Principle of Good Complaint Handling produced by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
An ALB usually falls into the remit of an ombudsman, the most common entry in the directory is the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman (48%), which combines the two statutory roles of Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (the Parliamentary Ombudsman) and Health Service Commissioner for England (Health Service Ombudsman). In some cases, ALBs either do not fall under the remit of an ombudsman, and are indicated as “N/A” on the plot, or fall into the remit of multiple ombudsmen.
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
An ALB’s Framework document sets out arrangements for departments to monitor and understand their ALB’s strategy, performance and delivery. They are a core constitutional document of the ALB and it is imperative that accounting officers, board members and senior officials are familiar with them, ensure they are kept up to date and use them as a guide to govern the collaborative relationship between the ALB, the sponsor or shareholder department and the rest of government. There is a joint obligation on officials and employees within the ALB and within the sponsor or shareholder department to be familiar with, update and comply with its terms as appropriate. Framework documents are a requirement of Managing Public Money.
The Cabinet Office was able to locate 176 framework documents from the 306 that were active during 2023/24. The bulk of ALBs without an identifiable framework document were Advisory NDPBs (103).
This plot is still a work in progress, and we may update the values within it as and when we can locate ALB framework documents, or their equivalents online.
ALB Framework Document Is Online
ALB Framework Document Is Not Online
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
ALB Framework Document Is Online
ALB Framework Document Is Not Online
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Links to ALBs’ framework documents, and Annual Reports and Accounts for 2023/24, can be found, where available, in our ALB Profile Pages
The graph below shows the comparison between the proportion of ALBs that had public minutes, public meetings and a register of interest in 2014/15 and 2023/24. The graph shows that the proportion of ALBs that had publicly available minutes, meetings available to the public, and a register of interest has increased from 2014/15 to 2023/24. The most significant increase was the proportion of bodies that have Public Meetings, which increased by 32 percentage points.
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
The number of active ALBs has changed since 2014/15, so care must be taken when making direct comparisons. In 2014/15 there were 468 active ALBs, whereas for 2023/24 there were 306 active ALBs.
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