Quango cuts: backlash begins
by WIN Admin — published in Press Releases
Quango cuts: full list of bodies under review
The Daily Telegraph today revealed details of the taxpayer-funded bodies that are to be abolished under Coalition plans.
A further 94 are still under threat of being scrapped, four will be privatised and 129 will be merged, according to a Cabinet Office list compiled this week, while 350 other bodies have won a reprieve.
The list discloses for the first time the extent of David Cameron’s plans for the “bonfire of the quangos”, designed to save the taxpayer billions of pounds. Thousands of jobs will go as part of the reforms.
However, following the disclosure, critics lined up to warn that the plans may fail to fulfill Coalition objectives.
Sir Ian Magee, co-author of a recent Institute for Government report on arm's length bodies, warned that culling quangos may not save money and risks continuity of services.
Sir Ian 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.
Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell has launched an inquiry into the leak. A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said: "We deeply regret any extra uncertainty for employees that this irresponsible leak has caused."
Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, acknowledged the authenticity of the list but noted that it was subject to revisions.
The biggest cuts concern the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with more than 50 bodies to be abolished, and the Department of Health, where about 30 bodies will be cut or have their functions transferred back to the department.
These include the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the Health Protection Agency and the Commission for Rural Communities.
Baroness Deech, a former chairman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, said the Coalition had picked the wrong target.
She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's raised great dismay.
"This is one (quango) that deals with new life, new baby life and health and very important medical matters.
"It only costs £5 million and it is not taxpayers' money, most of the money comes from the patients.
"This is not a burden on the taxpayer. It's £5 million that comes off the patients and I'm sure the patients won't pay any less if the functions are picked up by other bodies."
As already announced, the Audit Commission and UK Film Council will be scrapped along with eight regional development agencies, the list shows. The Commission for Integrated Transport, the School Food Trust and the Sustainable Development Commission are to be abolished.
Construction workers' union Ucatt warned that the potential privatisation of ConstructionSkills would be a "disaster" for apprenticeship training.
ConstructionSkills is the commercial name for the Construction Industry Training Board, which provides training to the construction industry.
Ucatt leader Alan Ritchie said: "The idea that ConstructionSkills should be privatised is utter lunacy.
"Rather than looking to sell off such bodies, the Government should be concentrating on ensuring that there is a far higher level of quality construction apprentice training. Inadequate skills training exacerbates the problems of a growing skills gap and an ageing workforce. "
The BBC World Service, the British Council and the Environment Agency are among the 94 publicly funded bodies whose fate has yet to be decided.
The Competition Commission, the Design Council, the Energy Savings Trust, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Forestry Commission and the Office for Fair Trading are also still at risk. Whitehall insiders expect the majority to be abolished, removed from public funding or radically reformed.
In addition, the future of the publicly funded National Museums and Galleries service, which offers the public free admission to some of the country’s best-known cultural venues, is still in doubt.
According to the list, at least 70 more bodies will be lost as a result of mergers. Postcomm, the postal regulator, will be brought under the remit of Ofcom, the communications watchdog. Of the 129 bodies that will be either merged or consolidated are a number of sporting bodies. Heritage groups – English Heritage, the National Memorial Fund and the National Lottery Fund – will come under one single heritage body.
The National Lottery Commission will be merged with the Gambling Commission as one single regulator, according to the document.
Four bodies – the Film Industry Training Board, the Construction and Skills Training Board, the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board and the Tote Board – will be privatised. The sweeping abolition or merger of hundreds of other bodies will see thousands of job losses.
However, ministers will point to the billions of pounds that are likely to be saved after the number of taxpayer-funded quangos soared under Labour to cost an estimated £65 billion a year and employ more than 100,000 people.
A senior Whitehall source said: “These reforms represent the most significant rolling back of bureaucracy and the state for decades. Our starting point has been that every quango must not only justify its existence but its reliance on public money.”
The list shows that 350 quangos and public bodies have been reprieved. Some that had been under threat but will be retained include Acas, the mediation service, and the Food Standards Agency.
In these cases the quango has been shown to perform a technical role that cannot be better discharged by government, or sufficiently demonstrated their independence from government.
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