By Helen Mooney
19 November 2009
The Human Rights and Equalities Commission and Passenger Focus are the country’s worst performing quangos, according to a damning report by the Local Government Association.
The LGA rated the performance of 11 non-governmental organisations on their value for money, openness and accountability, awarding green (best), amber and red (worst) ratings.
The HREC and Passenger Focus were given red ratings for both value for money and accountability. The report also gave the Learning & Skills Council and regional development agencies a red rating for value for money.
The Arts Council England, the Homes & Communities Agency, the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council and Sport England were given red ratings for accountability.
LGA chair Margaret Eaton said: ‘There are a huge number of quangos spending a vast amount of public money and running large numbers of public services. Only a tiny proportion of public money spent in each area is under the control of locally elected people... We think the time is right for a thorough look at the way the public sector is organised to make sure every penny of public money is working as hard as possible.’
Initial findings from the study, published on November 13, suggested that unelected quangos give local people little say over what they do. It warned that many quangos are closed to the public, have responsibilities that overlap with other public bodies, yet spend billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money each year.
The study found that all the non-departmental public bodies included in the study had a higher proportion of staff on salaries over £100,000 than local government.
An HREC spokeswoman told Public Finance that, despite the LGA’s findings, the commission had made ‘significant progress in improving both governance and operational management’.
‘While the LGA recognises that we have one of the most representative and diverse boards, its decision to give us a red for accountability because we do not have elected representatives on the board does not take into account the fact that our commissioners are appointed by the Government Equalities Office and that we are an independent non-political body.’
Meanwhile, one quango – the Local Government Better Regulation Office – has praised the work of local authorities, which it said had a ‘critical role to play’ in economic recovery.
LGBRO chair, Clive Grace, speaking ahead of the organisation’s annual conference on November 19, said: ‘It is too easy to forget where the majority of our prosperity is generated: the small and medium size grass roots businesses in towns and cities up and down the country; and their local authorities can make a huge difference to them and how they prosper.’
19 November 2009
The Human Rights and Equalities Commission and Passenger Focus are the country’s worst performing quangos, according to a damning report by the Local Government Association.
The LGA rated the performance of 11 non-governmental organisations on their value for money, openness and accountability, awarding green (best), amber and red (worst) ratings.
The HREC and Passenger Focus were given red ratings for both value for money and accountability. The report also gave the Learning & Skills Council and regional development agencies a red rating for value for money.
The Arts Council England, the Homes & Communities Agency, the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council and Sport England were given red ratings for accountability.
LGA chair Margaret Eaton said: ‘There are a huge number of quangos spending a vast amount of public money and running large numbers of public services. Only a tiny proportion of public money spent in each area is under the control of locally elected people... We think the time is right for a thorough look at the way the public sector is organised to make sure every penny of public money is working as hard as possible.’
Initial findings from the study, published on November 13, suggested that unelected quangos give local people little say over what they do. It warned that many quangos are closed to the public, have responsibilities that overlap with other public bodies, yet spend billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money each year.
The study found that all the non-departmental public bodies included in the study had a higher proportion of staff on salaries over £100,000 than local government.
An HREC spokeswoman told Public Finance that, despite the LGA’s findings, the commission had made ‘significant progress in improving both governance and operational management’.
‘While the LGA recognises that we have one of the most representative and diverse boards, its decision to give us a red for accountability because we do not have elected representatives on the board does not take into account the fact that our commissioners are appointed by the Government Equalities Office and that we are an independent non-political body.’
Meanwhile, one quango – the Local Government Better Regulation Office – has praised the work of local authorities, which it said had a ‘critical role to play’ in economic recovery.
LGBRO chair, Clive Grace, speaking ahead of the organisation’s annual conference on November 19, said: ‘It is too easy to forget where the majority of our prosperity is generated: the small and medium size grass roots businesses in towns and cities up and down the country; and their local authorities can make a huge difference to them and how they prosper.’
