Charities' role ignored in 'bonfire of quangos' - Select Committee report
“Reforming public bodies has a much greater potential for strengthening civil society and its institutions (‘the Big Society’) than has so far been realised,” according to a report on last October’s review of quangos, published today by the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee.
Smaller Government: Shrinking the Quango State concludes that “While the Government has identified a few bodies that can be reformed as charities and mutuals we believe more could be considered.”
Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, chair of the committee, said: “The whole process was rushed and poorly handled and should have been thought through a lot more.
“This was a fantastic opportunity to help build the Big Society and save money at the same time, but it has been botched. The government needs to rethink which functions public bodies need to perform and consider transferring some of these functions over to mutuals and charities.”
The review looked at 679 quangos and 222 other statutory bodies. It led to the abolition of 192 public bodies, including the Audit Commission and the Compact Commission, and the introduction of the Public Bodies Review Bill.
The report is critical of tests used in the review: “The three second stage ‘tests’ may have seemed superficially plausible at the outset, but they are hopelessly unclear.”
It also states that the Government did not consult properly with the bodies affected by the proposed reforms.
It argues that the government failed to demonstrate that abolishing nearly half the existing quangos will deliver the savings claimed, and that the Public Bodies Reform Bill provides too many opportunities for ministers to abuse their powers in future.
The Committee urges government ministers to consult further on the proposals contained in the Bill.
7 January 2011
