Quango

For other uses, see Quango (disambiguation).

A quango (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization) is an organization to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled or financed by government bodies. The acronym was originally derived from quasi-NGO, where NGO is the abbreviation for a non-government organization.

As its original name suggests, a quango is a hybrid form of organization, with elements of both NGOs and public sector bodies. Although originating in the United States, the term is primarily used in the United Kingdom and, to a lesser degree, other countries in the core and middle Anglosphere.

In the UK, quango is not an official term and its usage has been described as "highly emotive", with some using it to condemn "wasteful bureaucracy" and a lack of democratic accountability. It covers different arm's-length bodies (ALBs), including non-departmental public bodies ("semi-autonomous public bodies") (NDPBs), non-ministerial government departments, and executive agencies.

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