IN 2002, Laura McAllister was invited by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to apply to join the board of UK Sport, a quango that distributes and manages public investment in elite sport.

As a former international footballer and professor of management at Liverpool University, she had a unique mixture of expertise that made her an ideal candidate.

Last year, McAllister left UK Sport and applied to join the board of another quango, the Sports Council for Wales. A formal application was followed by short-listing and then a panel interview with civil servants and an independent adjudicator. She has now begun to apply her knowledge to help reform governance structures and guide the development of sport at all levels in Wales.

Board members receive £260 a day and generally give up one or two days a month for the council. As deputy chairman, though, McAllister gives a day a week to the task, working on everything from staffing issues to meetings with ministers. “For me, it is about putting something back into grass-roots sport,” she said.

McAllister’s boss at Liverpool University is supportive. “Academics should be making a difference,” said Murray Dalziel, director of the university’s management school. “We would expect them to be involved in aspects of community development. We see it as one of the missions of the university.”

He said the experience will make McAllister more aware of the problems facing public-sec-tor executives – the business school’s potential customers.

The growth in the number of quangos – nongovernmental organisations that perform governmental functions – has produced a parallel growth in the number of nonexecutive board members needed to oversee them. Last year there were more than 21,000, including business people, councillors, consultants and former private-sector executives plus many full-time staff.

In many cases, appointments are transparent and logical. But a suspicion of political meddling lingers over quangos. Last month, Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, was drawn into a row over one such appointment to the South West Development Agency. The government was found to have breached the Sex Discrimination Act after Chris-tine Channon was appointed despite the selection panel declaring that banker Malcolm Hanney was the stronger candidate.

The government lists 883 public bodies with, according to the Economic Research Council think tank, total annual spending of £174 billion. Subtract the NHS quangos – mostly hospital and primary-care trusts – and the total is still £41.5 billion. Dan Lewis, research director of the council, complains that while some do a reasonable job, many simply add to bureaucracy. Furthermore, he describes most as “information vacuums” that can pay the executives who run them enormous salaries with little accountability. Last month, the Taxpayers’ Alliance published a public-sector “rich list” of 300 executives receiving at least £150,000 from quangos, government departments and other public bodies.

“There is an über quango class that moves round the top positions,” said Lewis.

For the nonexecutives, the pickings may not be so rich. Edward Wild, a headhunter at the Corporate Consultant Group, insisted that remuneration is not the attraction. “Most quangos pay rather less [per day] than most individuals would earn in a full-time job,” he said.

Furthermore, it can be difficult to persuade employers to give potential quango board members time off to fulfil their duties. Universities and local councils can be supportive but other organisations, such as law and accountancy firms whose employees have exactly the sorts of skills required, can be reluctant.

Denise Jagger, a partner with Eversheds, said the law firm encourages staff to get involved in charities and community groups but that does not extend to quangos unless the nature of the work will be of clear benefit to the firm. “Charitable work and community service improves Eversheds’ profile, makes us more attractive as an employer and will help individuals gain new skills,” she said.

“However, to combine three or four days a month on a quango with a full-time job in accountancy or law would be pretty difficult,” said Jagger. She has turned down invitations to work for three quangos because of the demands on her time.

For those in a position to apply, vacancies are advertised in newspapers like The Sunday Times, as well as on the government website (publicappoint-ments.gov.uk) which last week listed 111 opportunities.

For example, the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform wants two new council members to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, one from the business community “who has been in charge of a major change programme”, the other with “exper-tise in employment law”. They will work for two days a month for £1,576 a year plus a daily rate of £160 and travel and subsistence expenses.

A nonexecutive director who can demonstrate “board level experience” is needed by the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust. They will be paid £5,875 a year plus travel and subsistence expenses for two-and-a-half days a month.

Most appointments are regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments, which applies a code of practice based on the recommendations of the Nolan report into standards in public life.

The application process has to be transparent and fair, said Jan-ice Scanlan, director of appointments with the Appointments Commission, itself a quango that mostly handles senior appointments for NHS and other Department of Health quangos.

Short-listed candidates are then interviewed by a panel that includes an independent assessor. “Everybody who applies goes through the same competitive process,” she said.

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