Machinery of government in the context of "Ministry (government department)"

A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administration. There is a notable variety of agency types. Although usage differs, a government agency is normally distinct both from a department or ministry, and other types of public body established by government. The functions of an agency are normally executive in character since different types of organizations (such as commissions) are most often constituted in an advisory role — this distinction is often blurred in practice however, it is not allowed.

A government agency may be established by either a national government or a state government within a federal system. Agencies can be established by legislation or by executive powers. The autonomy, independence, and accountability of government agencies also vary widely.

The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) was a ministerial department of the United Kingdom Government, from July 2016 to February 2023.

The department was formed during a machinery of government change on 14 July 2016, following Theresa May's appointment as Prime Minister. It was created by a merger between the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills and the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Cities was an Australian Public Service department of the Government of Australia that existed between December 2017 and May 2019, charged with the responsibility for infrastructure and major projects, transport, local government, external territories administration, rural and regional development, population policy, and cities.

When created on 20 December 2017, the department replaced the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development. It was dissolved and remade as the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development by Administrative Arrangements Orders made on 29 May 2019.

The five pillars (Vietnamese: bộ ngũ, pronounced [tɨ˧˦ t͡ɕu˧˨ʔ]; or ngũ trụ), previously the four pillars (tứ trụ), is an informal term for the five most important party-state leaders in the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Government of Vietnam. In modern usage, the five pillars refer to the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, President of Vietnam, Prime Minister of Vietnam, Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam, and the Permanent Member of the Secretariat. Together, they are officially designated as the "Key Leaders of the Party and the State" (Vietnamese: Lãnh đạo chủ chốt của Đảng và Nhà nước) and can be considered as the de facto highest state leaders. Similar to China, there does not exist an official order of precedence for political leaders and rather they are inferred in a de facto fashion. However, since the chairmanship of the Communist Party was abolished, the General Secretary has been the highest ranking official in Vietnam. This division of power is formed to prevent dictatorial rule and preserve consensus-based leadership, which is officially called by the Vietnamese Communist Party as "democratic centralism". In 2025, the seat of Permanent Member of the Secretariat of CPV was designated as the fifth "key leader", virtually becoming the fifth pillar of the Vietnamese politics.

Unlike other communist states, the General Secretary of the party (or its predecessor) and the President of the state are largely occupied not by the same person, demonstrating the collective leadership in Vietnam. The only exceptions are: Hồ Chí Minh (1951–69), Trường Chinh (briefly in 1986), Nguyễn Phú Trọng (2018–21), and Tô Lâm (briefly in 2024), and except Hồ Chí Minh, all of those exceptions were practically elected to fulfill their successors' uncompleted terms of party general secretaryship or state presidency. Thus, the Party General Secretaries rarely hold offices that are nominally within the Vietnamese state apparatus and government except their parliament memberships, however is still managed to be the practical highest leader in the politics of Vietnam and is ideologically the highest commander of the People's Army of Vietnam, due to the ex officio occupation of the Secretaryship of the Party Central Military Commission.