Each day we are publishing a blog on one of the policies from our Spending Plan. Click here to read them all.

The coalition government’s promised bonfire of quangos did not reduce the number or scope of quangos as much as was hoped or as much as was necessary. There are still too many unaccountable and expensively-managed quangos. There needs to be a serious and systematic rationalisation of both the functions and continued existence of each public body.

Currently, there are over 400 such organisations and the government should disband some and move some others into a ministerial department to make efficiency savings. This would create savings by removing unnecessary functions and by increasing efficiency through reducing duplication of back-office operations.

The measures listed below should save almost £400 million annually by 2019–20. This is not an exhaustive list . (See policies 13, 14, 27 and 29 for further examples of bodies covered by The Spending Plan but which are accounted for separately.) The government should instigate another review of public bodies, this time with tougher criteria. But is indicative of what could be achieved, bringing further savings.