Savaged: MPs condemn ‘bonfire of the quangos’
By Ian Dunt
The government’s much-trumpeted ‘bonfire of the quangos’ has been savaged by an influential committee of MPs.
In a damning and comprehensive criticism of the measure, the public administration committee found the programme, which threatens thousands of jobs, would neither save money nor improve accountability.
The inquiry found there was no meaningful consultation, the tests the review used were not clearly defined and the Cabinet Office failed to establish a proper procedure for departments to follow.
MPs also raised concerns that the move did not allow for sufficient safeguards to prevent the misuse of new powers by ministers.
“The whole process was rushed and poorly handled and should have been thought through a lot more,” said committee chairman Bernard Jenkin.
“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.”
At the time of the move, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude was forced to admit the reduction in quangos would not save as much money as the government had hoped, but insisted the move would create a culture of responsibility in the ministers responsible for taking on the powers.
Many critics had complained that during Labour’s time in office potentially controversial issues had been shunted off to arms-reach bodies to escape their political ramifications.
But today’s report suggests that instead of promoting responsibility, the move risked ministers misusing their power and presented a missed opportunity to hand over the roles to civil society.
“The committee is also unconvinced that bringing functions back in to central departments will create a more accountable system,” the report reads.
“The government fails to recognise ways that organisations are held to account beyond ministerial accountability to parliament.”
MPs also argued that the Tories pre-election promises about cutting “costly bureaucracy” had created a false expectation that considerable savings could be found.
“If the government wishes to make meaningful savings in public body expenditure it needs to examine not just how these organisations operate, but what they exist to do,” the report found.
“In many cases these functions should have been transferred to charities and mutuals, which would have helped the government deliver its vision of a ‘big society’.”
The inquiry found that the tests used to evaluate each public body “may have seemed superficially plausible at the outset, but they are hopelessly unclear”.
The Cabinet Office failed to establish a proper procedure for departments to follow and there was no system of consultation with the bodies concerned or with the public, the report found.
Mr Maude was reduced to insisting the process would save more money than it cost as he defended himself on the Today programme this morning.
“The savings will be very significantly more than [the cost of restructuring],” he said.
“It is by no means going to be perfect. This is a work in progress.
“We could have had a leisurely bureaucratic review. We have got on with things.”
Labour was quick to sieze on the report as evidence of the failure of the government programme.
Liam Byrne MP, shadow Cabinet Office minister, ssaid it proved Francis Maude “is now Britain’s most expensive butcher”.
He added: “The Tory-led government has handled this so badly that any savings have gone up in smoke.”
Len McCluskey, general secretary-designate of Unite, which represents many of the workers whose jobs are under threat in the cull, said: “The fact that the government, which has been in office for nine months, is still unable to say how much will be saved by this exercise speaks volumes for its ability to formulate coherent policy.
“This is a massive upheaval affecting the services provided to the public for no apparent reason.”
A bill establishing a tri-annual review of quangos is currently making its way through parliament. It will include an assessment of whether scrapping the quangos would deliver value for money, unlike the criteria used for the post-election bonfire.
