Arm’s length’s management and accountability in the public sector are nothing new,
particularly in the UK. Successive government reports, White Papers and academic
literature wrestled with this problem in nationalized industries (NEDO, 1976; HMSO,
1978; Kay et al., 1986). Privatization did not resolve this problem, in particular, for the
natural monopolies like utilities. Problems of management and accountability became
absorbed in the rise of the audit or regulatory state, through pricing and behavioural
constraints set by manifold regulatory agencies.