The institutions that hold Britain together — and how vulnerable they really are
From the Met Office to the UK Health Security Agency to the Office for National Statistics, the UK relies on independent expert bodies to generate evidence, regulate complex industries, and hold government to account. This reference guide maps how 44 of those bodies are constituted and how their independence could be eroded by a determined government.
Produced in collaboration with the UCL Policy Lab, building on the 2025 report Strengthening the institutions: ensuring their effectiveness and independence.
At a glance
Scientific & evidence-generating Public Bodies
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Scientific government Advisory Committees
Profiles of 44 scientific & evidence-generating bodies
Each body is rated for its overall vulnerability to potential political interference and assessed across six independence domains: statutory basis, freedom to publish, funding, priority-setting, accountability, and leadership appointments. Click any row to expand.
Domain ratings come from the authors’ coding in the [Reference Guide]. Each domain is coded separately: it is marked vulnerable if a clear route to political interference by a determined actor could be identified, even a partial one. Funding is counted as vulnerable where at least half of a body’s income comes from its sponsoring department. Funding is not assessed for advisory committees, which generally hold little budget of their own. The overall High/Medium/Low vulnerability rating reflects potential mechanisms for interference, not the likelihood of interference, which depends on the government of the day.