Welcome to the Governance & Sponsorship Guidance

This guidance is for people in:

• existing policy delivery relationships
• the process of establishing, changing or dissolving a policy delivery relationship.

It is a comprehensive source of information, giving you easy access to the rules on governance and financial management of executive non-departmental public bodies, and executive agencies . It cross-references to source documents - and builds on good practice across Defra.

Where possible, we’ve also included guidance relevant to public corporations in the guidance for non-departmental public bodies. Guidance that is mandatory for non-departmental public bodies is often good practice for public corporations. We have highlighted where this is the case.

The following questions will help you if you are unsure of your role or place in the policy delivery relationship.

For more information on the purpose of the guidance and the roles involved in a partnership relationship, see the introduction.

Questions

1. What are the roles and responsibilities in the delivery relationship?
2. How do I deliver policy through an existing delivery body?
3. How do I create a new delivery body to deliver policy?
4. What is the governance, finance, performance management and review framework for the delivery relationship?

If you have any comments or questions about this guidance, please contact us.