Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government which Arms Length Bodies have been shut down as a result of the ALB Review launched in April 2025.

The Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB) review, launched in April 2025, is an ongoing, multi-phase programme designed to ensure public bodies provide value for money, eliminate duplication, and remain directly accountable to Ministers and Parliament.

Since the announcement of the review on 7 April 2025, the following bodies have been abolished or merged, with their essential functions either absorbed into other ALBs, repatriated to parent departments, or ceased where no longer required:

• Valuation Office Agency (HM Revenue and Customs) – Dissolved as a standalone executive agency in April 2025 (functions integrated into HMRC)

• Infrastructure and Projects Authority (Cabinet Office/HM Treasury) – Closed and replaced by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, also incorporating the functions of the National Infrastructure Commission, in April 2025

• Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Department for Education) – Closed June 2025

• Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Cabinet Office) – Closed October 2025

• Committee on Standards in Public Life (Cabinet Office) – Merged into the Ethics and Integrity Commission in October 2025

• Scientific Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons (Ministry of Defence) – Closed November 2025

• Building Digital UK (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) – Repatriated into the former DSIT in November 2025

• Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero) – Reclassified as an expert committee in November 2025

• Committee on Fuel Poverty (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero) – Reclassified as an expert committee in November 2025.

• Independent Medical Expert Group (Ministry of Defence) – Reclassified as Expert Committee in December 2025

• LocatED (Department for Education) – Repatriated into DfE in April 2026

• UK Space Agency (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) – Repatriated to the former DSIT in April 2026

• Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (Home Office) – Abolished, functions transferred to the Fair Work Agency in April 2026