24 September 2010
The coalition government is proposing to abolish 180 quangos, leaked papers have revealed.
The Daily Telegraph and the BBC obtained the documents, accompanied by a letter signed by Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude. They show the full extent of the cull of government organisations. Along with the 180 bodies to be scrapped, a further 94 are under threat and 129 will be merged, the papers show.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will be hardest hit, standing to lose 50 of its quangos. The Department of Health is to lose 30, including the General Social Care Council and the Health Protection Agency.
According to thedocument, among the 94 quangos under threat are the British Council and the BBC World Service. Others include: the Equalities and Human Rights Commission; the Housing and Communities Agency; the Environment Agency; and the Forestry Commission.
Postcom and Ofcom, the independent regulators of the postal service and the communications industry, are likely to be merged
Of those to be retained, the education watchdogs Ofsted and Ofqual are to be subject to ‘substantial reform’.
In the letter, dated August 26, to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg accompanying the list, Maude said: ‘These reforms are intended primarily to increase accountability, but will also support the aims of the Spending Review by reducing our costs and support our ambitions for a Big Society by encouraging alternative, devolved or non-state delivery models.’
Sir Ian Magee, who co-authored an Institute for Government report on arm's-length bodies, said: ‘Ministers need to be clear why they are culling quangos. If it is to save money, a simple cull may not produce the right results – much lower spending will only be achieved where functions or programmes are cut or reduced.
‘Transferring functions back into government, or merging bodies, may lead to long-run efficiencies, but often with high upfront costs and risks to service continuity, and the government needs clear plans to make sure those savings are delivered and expertise maintained.’
Shadow communities secretary John Denham said many of the organisations facing abolition ‘have the job of holding the government to account... on behalf of the public’.
He said: ‘If you've got a government coming along saying “let's silence all the independent voices, let's silence the people who speak up about equalities”, they are really saying ‘we will be able to do whatever we like and there won't be anyone able to shine a spotlight on what we are up to”.’
