Within the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland what is a QUANGO?
A quango or QUANGO, less often QuANGO or QANGO is an abbreviation for quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization. Such terms are used most often in the United Kingdom and, to a lesser degree, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United States, and other English-speaking countries. As its name suggests, a quango is a hybrid form of organization, with elements of both non-government organizations (NGOs) and public sector bodies. It is typically an organization to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies.
In the UK, the term quango covers different "arm's-length" government bodies, including "non-departmental public bodies", non-ministerial departments, and executive agencies. One UK example is the Forestry Commission, which is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in England and Scotland.
In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to quangos (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations). NDPBs are not an integral part of any government department and carry out their work at arm's length from ministers, although ministers are ultimately responsible to Parliament for the activities of bodies sponsored by their department.
More Info:
en.wikipedia.org