Parliament plays a crucial role in holding regulators to account, but MPs and peers struggle to scrutinise them in a systematic way. This report sets out how select committees can perform this important task more effectively, underpinned by a realistic assessment of parliament’s capacity.

Current UK Government guidance states that public bodies should exist only ‘as a last resort’, when three narrow tests are met. This approach means government does not always use the appropriate mechanism to fulfil its objectives. The authors of this paper argue that the tests should be re-written in a more balanced way, so that...

Public bodies are frequently abolished, but there is little public guidance on how to do this. This report sets out ten practical lessons to help ministers and civil servants to decide when abolitions should happen and then to manage them well.

Ministers make appointments to powerful roles across the public sector. These can be controversial, so ensuring a high calibre of appointees is important. This report responds to concerns about the appointments process – and standards in public life generally – by proposing reforms to restore confidence in public appointees.

The COVID-19 crisis threw public bodies to the forefront of the government’s pandemic response. There were notable successes, but politicians, civil servants and public body leaders have much to learn from their experience of working together under pressure. This report offers nine key lessons that will help the United Kingdom prepare for and then manage...