10 December 2004
A new cull of quangos is on the way in Scotland as part of the Executive's efficiency review, Finance Minister Tom McCabe signalled this week.
He told members of the Scottish Parliament's finance committee that some quango powers could be transferred to councils. However, certain powers might be transferred out of local government. 'It's not just a one-way process,' he said.
McCabe also emphasised the need to merge council tax collection departments and questioned whether it was necessary to have individual directors of education for each local authority.
'In a country of 5 million people it surprises me greatly to see the number of NDPBs [Non-Departmental Public Bodies] we have. There is a great case for looking at rationalising those bodies within local government,' he said.
Asked if he had a 'hit list' of quangos, the minister said it would be wrong to name specific NDPBs at present, but he stressed that an examination of these was being carried out as part of the 'efficient government' process.
While making it clear that he did not believe local government was ready for another boundary upheaval, McCabe said it was a 'bit of a nonsense' to have 32 individual councils and 32 directors of education.
He added: 'Why do we have 32 separate IT departments and 32 council tax collection departments for 5 million people? There is great scope for rationalisation there.'
The plan to review the number of public bodies in Scotland comes just four years after a similar exercise was carried out under Labour's so-called 'bonfire' of quangos.
McCabe clashed with former enterprise minister Wendy Alexander, who called for publication of a detailed table to clear up confusion over comparisons between Executive figures and savings made under the Gershon review in England.
Alexander claimed it was an issue of 'trust'. However, McCabe strongly disagreed and stressed that the Executive intended to do what was right to fit the circumstances in Scotland.
He also rejected criticisms that the Executive had been guilty of double and treble counting in calculating total aggregate cash savings of £1.7bn over a three-year period.
PFdec2004
