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More than 300 arm’s-length bodies will be considered for abolition or merger under UK government plans to cut waste and restore ministerial control over swaths of policy areas.
Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden has written to Whitehall departments demanding they justify the existence of every quango — a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation — to which decisions are currently outsourced, with a view to closing superfluous agencies and bringing responsibility for decisions back in-house.
He is expected to announce the first targets to be scrapped soon, according to government officials.
“We are taking action to ensure decisions of national importance that affect everyone in this country are made by those who have been elected to do so,” said McFadden on Sunday.
It is the latest move in the government’s programme to overhaul the state to improve its efficiency, in response to Sir Keir Starmer’s concern about Whitehall’s ability to deliver his five core missions.
Some arm’s-length bodies are already under review. In February chancellor Rachel Reeves announced an audit of Britain’s 130 or so regulators, with a view to refocus them on boosting growth. She gave notice that she would look at whether some should be scrapped.
Since then, the Payment Systems Regulator is the only regulator that has been abolished, with its operations merged into the Financial Conduct Authority.
Last month it became clear that ministers intended to review a wider category of arm’s length body, however, when Starmer announced that NHS England, the world’s largest quango, would be axed and its functions brought back into the Department of Health and Social Care.
Starmer said the abolition of the organisation — which employed more than 15,000 staff — would put the NHS “back at the heart of government” and return it to “democratic control”, while freeing it up to “focus on patients” and cut waiting lists.
Under the latest review, quangos found to be duplicating work conducted elsewhere across government will be abolished to slash bureaucracy and save money, while those with large policy functions will be merged back into departments so they fall under the oversight of ministers.
Officials said that arm’s-length bodies with a genuine need to remain independent from ministers — because they scrutinised the government or protected the rule of law — would be exempt.
Clearer accountability will be introduced for the quangos that remain after the review, however, with relevant Cabinet ministers and permanent secretaries, plus the cabinet secretary, being held responsible for their activities. Legislation may be required to deliver these reforms.
Simon Hoare, Conservative chair of the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee, told the Financial Times last autumn that UK quangos lacked accountability and some had become a “law unto themselves”.
He also complained that officials had been unable to confirm the exact number of quangos in operation. The last audit four years ago recorded 295 such bodies.
It recorded 38 executive agencies, including the corporate registry Companies House and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency; 237 non-department public bodies, such as the Environment Agency and British Council; plus 20 non-ministerial departments, such as the Crown Prosecution Service and Food Standards Agency.
Trade unionists took a wary view of McFadden’s announcement. Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect union, warned that many quango staff around the country performed “incredibly important work” that was “often under-appreciated” in Westminster.
“Any reorganisation must not jeopardise the essential expertise and specialist skills contained within arm’s length bodies, and must make it easier to recruit and retain the specialists the civil service needs,” he said.
