Sep 2010 24

Abolition of quangos13

Encouraging news today as the Daily Telegraph publishes a list of quangos to be abolished by the coalition government. The list, leaked to the paper reveals the highly anticipated list of quasi autonomous taxpayer funded bodies to be scrapped in the essential drive to cut government waste, increase efficiency and reduce the monstrous government budget deficit.

The list outlines some 177 bodies which are to be abolished, including the Health Protection Agency, the Standards Board for England, the Schools Food Trust, British Waterways and the Sustainable Development Commission to name a few. A thorough re-evaluation of the taxpayer funded bodies was something the TaxPayers’ Alliance has been campaigning on for some time.  We published the most comprehensive list of the 1,148 quangos that were in place in 2007-08 last October and scrapping quangos was  a key element in the TPA book How to cut public spending. Crucially, the abolition of many of these bodies will not result in a reduced service to the public, what is not made clear by politicians is that many of the functions of these bodies are carried out by other organisations or unnecessary in the first place. A clear example of this is that of the Schools Food Trust. As outlined in the book, this is an area already covered by other public bodies and charities and the main obstacle to better food in schools was micro-management in Whitehall.

Whilst the news is initially encouraging and is proof the coalition is serious about improving public sector efficiency and tackling the huge deficit, the Telegraph also lists a number of bodies still under review. It names the Carbon Trust, The Advisory Council on Public Records and the Energy Savings Trust among others whose future is yet undecided. This shows that there are still lots more quangos that can be added to this growing bonfire.

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  • http://profile.typepad.com/skyhussar Skyhussar

    So how many sacked staff do you think would be about right? Do you care at all about the livelihoods of ordinary people, as no doubt it will lower-paid staff that get the boot first? The level of joy you display at the misfortune of others is a disgrace. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

  • Steve Collins

    Many quangos should go and certainly those whose functions are duplicated.
    However, there are many others that perform valuable roles and can act as checks against the Government.
    Regrettably, the TPA’s interest is purely ideological, therefore you are only too quick to condemn them all to the bonfire.
    It’s only when we realise that we’ve got rid of something useful, that it will have to be resurrected again, at a cost to the taxpayer.

  • Colin Runeckles

    I note from the Defra website that Food From Britain was abolished last year yet it appears on the Telegraph list. They’re surely not going to take retrospective credit for that?
    Also, the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts doesn’t actually cost the taxpayer anything because it’s funded, surprisingly enough, by an endowment from the lottery. Its ideas apparently were used in all 3 party manifestos so it’s a bit odd that it should be axed.
    One of its reports was called Mass Localism which offered “a solution: an approach by which central and local government can encourage widespread, high quality local responses to big challenges.”
    Brilliant. Cameron’s Big Society government abolishes an organisation that can give some of the answers. Well done.

  • long_disgruntled private sector worker

    Whilst I agree that front-line staff should never be the first to go, there is a need to be rid of the over-burdening level of middle management the public sector seems to have been naively saddled with under the previous government. Due to intense competition out there in the real world, the private sector hasn’t been able to sustain such a level of middle management as this for at least 10 years. Why should the public sector, who are effectively paid by the private sector?
    We in the private sector simply want those of you who are surplus to requirements in the public sector to be front line workers in the private sector with us! Earning useful export business in the world of business.
    My worry is, that the middle management in the public sector, as a group, have hijacked the government’s cost cutting exercise for their own ends – they will protect their own butts at the expense of front-line workers unless front-line workers do something to challenge this position. But if you have to do this, don’t put the entire country’s economy on the brink!

  • http://pricewagesqueeze.blogspot.com/ The Squeeze

    Can TPA please campaign to abolish the Local Better Regulation Office, it’s far more useless and wasteful than Consumer Focus, so if you think CF should go I’d urge you to have a closer look at LBRO.

  • http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/bettergovernment/2010/09/abolition-of-quangos.html David James

    I am surprised to see the Heritage Lottery Fund on the list of quangoes because it does not exist as a separate legal entity from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. Therefore, it cannot be scrapped or merged; all that can happen is that some other body will take over responsibility for it. In addition, as a previous commentator has said, as it is utilises solely Lottery money no taxpayers’ funds will be saved by ending its activities.

  • Joe

    While any loss of jobs is always unfortunate, the huge growth in the size of the public sector has reached the point where it is now out of control and is unaffordable. At a time when the government is trying to find any possible area to make necessary savings, many of these quangos, whose roles are duplicated across the public sector are obvious targets. There is no doubt that some of these bodies carry out essential roles, however many do not and it is these who should be abolished. There will be many resisting these cuts, some who have already commented, however these are necessary cuts and a complete waste of taxpayer money. The first post says that the TPA takes pleasure in people losing their jobs, surely if their job no longer has a purpose, or if it can be carried out more efficiently then this is a regrettable situation but a necessary one. I cannot believe how ignorant some people are.

  • http://profile.typepad.com/skyhussar Skyhussar

    I’m a Barclays customer. How about I start up a web site campaigning for their staff to be sacked so that the cost of my bank charges/loan/mortgage can go down. I’ll call it the “Bonfire of Barclays Cashiers and Call Centre Staff” and say that any potential Barclays job losses are “encouraging”. That would also be a disgrace, but it would save me a few quid.
    Why campaign for peoples’ livelihoods to be ruined?
    Joe – thanks for the insult.

  • CJD

    Please stop whingeing on about job losses. Government does not exist to keep people in jobs unless they perform a useful necessary function. Many of these quangos are pointless meddlers in day to day life. Many started as inexpensive and well organised now they have become huge money gobbling gravy trains with massive unjustifiable salaries legions of support staff with all the accoutrements such as generous pensions, perks, expenses, cars etc they have to go.

  • QuangoCaptive

    As an employee in an RDA that is about to be bonfired I can assure you that very few of us are low paid!
    Personally I’m looking forward to returning to the private sector and leaving the la-la land of RDAs where bogus evaluations of our effectiveness are the order of the day.
    Please keep burning us – I’m appalled at how much useless work I see done in Quangoland, and no, I’m not being sarcastic.

  • John

    Skyhussar – I respect your empathy, and I never like to see people lose their jobs – public or private sector. It can be devastating and very unpleasant.
    All the same, if a job role is unnecessary, it shouldn’t be there. If an organisation has outlived its usefulness, it should be axed or reformed. I’ve worked in both sectors, and seen so much waste in the public sector that it beggars belief. There are job roles which should go – every unnecessary person on the payroll is preventing us hiring another nurse, teacher, or other frontline worker.

  • Sparky

    Well done QuangoCaptive, you and that fire chief who called the public sector lazy are now my heros. Good job on standing up and being counted!

  • Ex Barclays customer

    skyhussar,
    You are free to take your banking custom elsewhere. I was a Barclays customer. I finally got fed up with their shoddy service and random charges so I took my business to HSBC who are much better and cheaper. It took about 30 minutes to arrange. Perhaps you worry that by taking your business elsewhere you would cost some poor cashier their job? Or maybe you are too lazy to do anything about it.
    The UK government provides mediocre yet expensive services paid for via debt and high tax rates. There is nothing I can do to escape this short of emigrating which is a very tempting option but, I’m sure you’ll agree, rather more challenging than switching banks.