Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom

Non-ministerial departments

Non-ministerial government departments are headed by civil servants and usually have a regulatory or inspection function. A list of all non-ministerial departments is below.

• Charity Commission for England and Wales
• Competition and Markets Authority
• Crown Prosecution Service
• Food Standards Agency
• Forestry Commission
• Government Actuary's Department
• Government Legal Department
• HM Land Registry
• HM Revenue and Customs
• National Savings and Investments
• National Archives
• National Crime Agency
• Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills
• Office of Gas and Electricity Markets
• Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation
• Office of Rail and Road
• Serious Fraud Office
• Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
• UK Statistics Authority
• Water Services Regulation Authority

Agencies and other public bodies

Government departments in this third and final category can generally be split into five types:

• Executive agencies, which usually provide government services rather than decide policy
• Executive non-departmental public bodies, which do work for the government in specific areas
• Advisory non-departmental public bodies, which provide independent and expert advice to ministers
• Tribunal non-departmental public bodies, which are part of the justice system and have jurisdiction over a specific area of the law
• Independent monitoring boards, which are responsible for the running of prisons and the treatment of prisoners