Scots finance minister calls for greater control over quangos

15 Mar 07
Ministers and councillors should have more direct control over quangos and arm's-length bodies, Tom McCabe, Scotland's finance minister, has suggested.

16 March 2007

Ministers and councillors should have more direct control over quangos and arm's-length bodies, Tom McCabe, Scotland's finance minister, has suggested.

McCabe, who is carrying out a wide-ranging review of the public sector, was speaking at the annual conference of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities in St Andrews last week.

He said the creation of arm's-length bodies appeared to be based on the concept of breaking out of the traditional civil service structures and creating a 'buffer' between public bodies and ministers.

He added: 'I don't think that works. I came into politics to take decisions… I don't think that's necessarily conducive with continually pushing things away from politicians.'

McCabe said there was a 'very considerable possibility' of looking at functions carried out by arm's-length bodies and bringing these nearer to democratic control, 'be that at either at ministerial level or at local government level'.

He said councillors might get more powers, including a role in scrutinising a wide range of public services. But he warned that, across a range of areas, there would also have to be a 'trade-off'. He added: 'It's about getting the structures in the right place.'

Councillors later voiced fears that councils might in future lose major powers like education. They quoted a recent report by academics at Glasgow University, including senior civil servant Jim Gallagher, which suggested that services such as education could be centralised.

Although McCabe refused to categorically rule out that possibility, he said it would be wrong to 'pick off' one area in isolation.

McCabe told the conference that he believed there was now 'an unanswerable case' for a root and branch review of the public sector.

PFmar2007

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