Editing Quango (section)

{{Short description|Type of public authority}}
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A '''quango''' ('''quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization'''<ref name=cole>Cole Andrew (20 November 2000). [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2000/nov/20/policy.health1 "All you ever wanted to know about quangos... but were afraid to ask".] ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 8 March 2025. </ref>) is an organization to which a government has [[devolution|devolved]] power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The [[acronym]] is derived from the shortening of "quasi NGO", where NGO is the abbreviation for a [[non-government organization]].<ref>{{cite book|title= The Quasi-Non-Governmental Organisation|last= Pifer|first=Alan|publisher= Appendix to D. C. Hague, W. J. M. Mackenzie and A. Barker, Public Policy and Private Interests: The Institutions of Compromise, London, Macmillan, 1975, p. 381}}</ref>

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,<ref name=cole/> the term is frequently applied in the [[United Kingdom]] and, to a lesser degree, other countries in the [[Anglosphere|core and middle Anglosphere]].

In the UK, the term quango covers different "arm's-length" government bodies, including "[[non-departmental public bodies]]" (NDPBs), [[non-ministerial government departments]], and [[executive agencies]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations |title=Departments, agencies & public bodies – Inside Government |publisher=Gov.UK |access-date=2013-06-13}}</ref>