Quango is an acronym used especially in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Quangos are arms-length bodies funded by government departments but not run by them. They are given power and paid for by government departments.
They were invented because most government departments do two rather different jobs. One is to make policy about how the country should be run, as indicated by laws passed in Parliament. This is called administration. Their other task is to run or operate the policies in action. Examples would be: to run the prison system, to collect taxes, to guard the country's borders, and so on. Quangos were invented to do the second type of task. They are supposed to do some practical job better than a government department could. Of course, if they fail, the fault is theirs, rather than the government department's.
The acronym is spelt out in various ways:
• "quasi non-governmental organisation",
• "quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation",
• "quasi-autonomous national government organisation"
• In the United Kingdom the official term is "non-departmental public body" or NDPB.
The term 'quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization' was created in 1967 by the Carnegie Foundation's Alan Pifer. He wrote an essay on independence and accountability in public-funded bodies. This term was shortened to 'quango' by Anthony Barker, a Briton, during a follow-up conference.
Many quangos were created from the 1980s onwards. The UK government's definition in 1997 of a non-departmental public body or quango was:
According to the Tax Payers Alliance, in the year 2006-07, tax payers funded 1,162 Quangos at a cost of nearly £64bn; equivalent to £2,550 per household. About a thousand still remain.
In 2010 the British Government said it had earmarked (chosen) nearly 200 quangos for closure, and 120 more for merging. This was part of its Whitehall efficiency programme. In August 2012, the government said that 106 quangos had lost their public status since then. Some were axed, some were sold off, and some had their work done elsewhere.
Since Scotland was given devolved self-government in 1999, their government has also set up a number of quangos.
The Republic of Ireland in 2006 had more than 800 quangos, 482 at national and 350 at local level, with a total of 5,784 individual appointees and a combined annual budget of €13 billion.
Depending upon one's point of view, the separation of a quango from government might allow its functions to be more commercially exercised. Or else it might allow an elected minister to evade responsibility for spending public money. Quangos have been criticised as undemocratic, expensive and letting government grow too big.
"The Times" has accused quangos of bureaucratic waste and excess. In 2005 Dan Lewis, author of "The Essential Guide to Quangos", claimed that many quangos were useless and duplicated the work of others. In August 2008 a report by the right-leaning pressure group the Taxpayers' Alliance, claimed that £15 billion was being wasted by the regional development agencies, quangos set up to encourage economic development in their regions.
Casimir I the Restorer
Casimir I the Restorer (; b. Kraków, 25 July 1016 - d. Poznań, 28 November 1058), was a Duke of Poland. He was a part of the Piast dynasty and father of Boleslaw II. He is known as "the Restorer" because he reunited the Polish Kingdom.
Danny Lewicki
Daniel Vladimir Lewicki (March 12, 1931 – September 25, 2018) was a Canadian retired professional ice hockey left winger. He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Black Hawks and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 1950s and early 1960s. Before becoming a professional, Lewicki was at the centre of a dispute over professional hockey signing practices. He was the only player to have won the Allan Cup, Memorial Cup and Stanley Cup while still a junior.
Lewicki was one of eight children in the family of Michael and Anastasia Lewicki. Both Michael and Anastasia were born in Ukraine and emigrated to Canada where they met in Fort William, Ontario. The family lived in the area known as the "Coal Docks", an immigrant enclave near the docks in Fort William. The family shared a home with six boarders. In an abusive marriage, Anastasia left Michael when Daniel was two years of age. Two of the children were sent to Geraldton, Ontario where the eldest sister lived with her husband. Daniel, his mother, a sister and brother and a boarder lived in a two-room shack by .
Lewicki started skating at age five, first with bob skates, then a used pair three sizes too large. Until age twelve, Lewicki learned to play hockey by playing shinny on outdoor rinks. Organized hockey started at age twelve and Lewicki joined the Bantam Elks. This he did in secret, as his mother was strongly opposed to his playing hockey. Lewicki would hide his hockey equipment outside under the backyard stairs. The next season, Lewicki played for the North Star Bantams, moving up to the Midgets at age fourteen a year early, to play against boys sixteen and older.
At age fifteen, Lewicki got his first taste of junior hockey with the Columbus Juniors in their playoffs against the Winnipeg Monarchs. Lewicki would return to the Columbus Juniors the following season. That season, Lewicki would lead the Fort William league in scoring, and started attracting the attention of pro scouts from Toronto, New York and Detroit. Lewicki did not sign with any team, but was placed on the negotiating list of the Providence Reds by his coach, Leo Barbini, who did some scouting for the Reds. Barbini somehow managed to put Lewicki on the Providence list before Toronto and New York, who had filed at 12:01 am on Lewicki's sixteenth birthday.
The following season, Columbus would be defeated by the Port Arthur West End Bruins. After the series, Lewicki was invited to join the Bruins as they continued in junior series playoffs. The Bruins would defeat Winnipeg to advance to the Western title series against Lethbridge, Alberta. Port Arthur and Lethbridge would be tied 3–3 in a best-of-seven series. Lethbridge refused to play the seventh game in Port Arthur and the game was moved to Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens. The large ice surface favoured the Bruins and they defeated Lethbridge 11–1 to advance to the 1948 Memorial Cup final against the Barrie Flyers. The Bruins would defeat the Flyers in four straight to win the Cup and Lewicki would score the series-winning goal. The club had an impressive array of talent. Eight players from the Bruins would go on to play in the NHL. Lewicki was the top scorer in the playoffs, recording 40 points.
After the Cup, the Toronto Maple Leafs bought the rights to Lewicki for a record price of $35,000 and a player. In the fall, Lewicki left Port Arthur to join the Stratford Kroehlers, coached by Barbini, his old coach. Before the regular season started, Lewicki was ordered to join the Toronto Marlboros by the Maple Leafs. Unbeknownst to Lewicki, Barbini had signed Lewicki to a "C" Form, which bound Lewicki at age eighteen, and not simply signed Lewicki to a negotiating list.
Lewicki refused to play for Toronto, but was told that he had to play for the Marlboros, or nowhere else. Lewicki received a telegram from NHL President Clarence Campbell advising him that he was suspended. The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association took up Lewicki's case, but the CAHA stopped backing Lewicki short of any legal action. Stratford did as well, in the face of pressure from the Maple Leafs. Lewicki decided to join the Marlboros. The "C" Form, which Lewicki signed, became an issue in the Canadian Parliament, and was abolished a few years later.