My letter to the Guardian earlier this year www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

One other thing - ODA tried to export the Agency model to various countries (esp ex colonies) as part of the Good Governance stuff. Another misguided exercise.

Also Exec Agencies etc were subject to quinquennial reviews (often undertaken by consultants) to decide whether the thing should be wound in/wound up/privatised etc. Any Dept worth its salt saw off these exercises. Waste of time and money.

But is it as aggressively French as the "singer's" mother?

One of the things that might happen as a result of the abolition of agencies is that Departmental Civil Servants and Ministers might have to take account of deliverability of policy. That link and feedback loop has always been weak and arguably the Deptal/agency divide contributed to that

Same pub, different view!