subject: Government quangos to be hit hard [print this page] Government quangos to be hit hard Government quangos to be hit hard
Quangos, perhaps not the best acronym the government has ever put together, but that didn't stop them from growing to be very favored by the Labour government. Quangos stand for "quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations", and there are about 679 at this time.
However, if the Public Bodies Bill is put through parliament and becomes legislation that amount could come right down. The BBC has revealed that about 192 quangos are going to be ended entirely and 118 shall be merged to reduce costs. The coalition government has researched around 901 bodies which includes 222 non-quango statutory bodies, prior to the decision of what must be cut and what has to be merged.
The public service sector is a major part of the UK economy. The previous labour government had a lot of confidence in quangos and regarded them a key element of reforming and modernising the country and economy. In places like the north east of England quangos produced a great deal of jobs and various opportunities for many people and businesses. Still in difficult economic times, many have questioned the current government's policy of cutting down spending and therefore are seriously worried about the impact this will have in places such as Newcastle.
The previous government did have in place a plan to gradually reduce the amount of quangos, but because of the state of public finances the coalition government wants the process to be sped up. Currently it's unclear exactly how much of a saving the cuts to quangos is likely to make. The messages from the government have been more focused on enhancing state accountability and visibility.
Legal experts and west London lawyers alike, however, have questioned the legality of the Public Bodies Bill. It has been argued by some that the Public Bodies Bill would be a direct violation of the constitution because is bypasses parliament which would give ministers the ability to change, transfer or abolish these public bodies.
Before you go calling up your west London solicitor it is important to look at this in a wider context. The UK is not the only country in the world to have such organisations. There are in fact forty seven EU quangos and the EU hopes to increase this to fifty two and get an 8 per cent rise in the Brussels quango budget.
Under the Labour government quangos grew rapidly and perhaps their initial success and popularity, particularly in places like the north east of England overshadowed the potential long term damage. Many would argue that quangos have wasted a lot of taxpayers' money, weakened the private sector and inflated the public sector.
The question is how can the government reduce the number of quangos without ruining communities which depend on them? Unfortunately there is no easy solution.
