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Culling quangos is about ideology, not efficiency Culling quangos is about ideology, not efficiency
(40 minutes later)
In the great Tory quango hunt, cabinet officer minister Francis Maude presents as St George chopping at the hydra-headed beast. He's actually an upper-crust Arthur Daley. The figures for money saved are dodgy and don't, whatever you do, look under the bonnet. It takes chutzpah to use the dog days of late August to rehash old claims, fail to rebut the Public Accounts Committee critique of the quango cull and, at the same time, totally ignore the rash of new quangos his colleagues are surreptitiously creating in health and education such as a gaggle of regional commissioning boards and a plethora of academy schools. In the great Tory quango hunt, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude presents as St George chopping at the hydra-headed beast. He's actually an upper-crust Arthur Daley. The figures for money saved are dodgy and don't, whatever you do, look under the bonnet. It takes chutzpah to use the dog days of late August to rehash old claims, fail to rebut the Public Accounts Committee critique of the quango cull and, at the same time, totally ignore the rash of new quangos his colleagues are surreptitiously creating in health and education such as a gaggle of regional commissioning boards and a plethora of academy schools.
Only a used-car salesman can claim quangos are being killed when all you are doing is screwing in a different nameplate. Take the Legal Services Commission. Next year it becomes an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice, having been a non-departmental public body at arm's length from Ken Clarke. What's the difference, administratively speaking? How it's badged is irrelevant when the issue is how much money there is for legal aid.Only a used-car salesman can claim quangos are being killed when all you are doing is screwing in a different nameplate. Take the Legal Services Commission. Next year it becomes an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice, having been a non-departmental public body at arm's length from Ken Clarke. What's the difference, administratively speaking? How it's badged is irrelevant when the issue is how much money there is for legal aid.
If Maude read his own party's history, he might be a bit more modest. Who said this? "When the government's plans have been fully implemented, 550 quangos will either have been abolished or reduced in size." Funnily enough, it was one of Maude's Tory predecessors, Barney Hayhoe, extolling the Thatcher government's success in hunting down and spearing quangos. That was in 1983. From that point until the Tories left office in 1997, the quango total grew – proving that in the modern age governing without arm's length bodies is hard and maybe impossible, even for an administration intent on shrinking the state.If Maude read his own party's history, he might be a bit more modest. Who said this? "When the government's plans have been fully implemented, 550 quangos will either have been abolished or reduced in size." Funnily enough, it was one of Maude's Tory predecessors, Barney Hayhoe, extolling the Thatcher government's success in hunting down and spearing quangos. That was in 1983. From that point until the Tories left office in 1997, the quango total grew – proving that in the modern age governing without arm's length bodies is hard and maybe impossible, even for an administration intent on shrinking the state.
Does Maude even know what his neighbours are up to? By September 2013, Andrew Lansley's top-down redisconfiguration of the NHS will have created a plethora of new quangos. They include, in addition to the commissioning boards, the NHS Trust Development Agency (a special health authority), Public Health England, the Health Research Authority and Health Education England. The Care Quality Commission will conceal a newly hatched quango in all but name, Healthwatch England, which will oversee hundreds of local Healthwatch sub-quangos.Does Maude even know what his neighbours are up to? By September 2013, Andrew Lansley's top-down redisconfiguration of the NHS will have created a plethora of new quangos. They include, in addition to the commissioning boards, the NHS Trust Development Agency (a special health authority), Public Health England, the Health Research Authority and Health Education England. The Care Quality Commission will conceal a newly hatched quango in all but name, Healthwatch England, which will oversee hundreds of local Healthwatch sub-quangos.
Michael Gove's multitude of academies have most of the appurtenance of quangos – wholly funded arm's length bodies. Meanwhile his chief inspector of schools is openly agitating to create a set of regional bodies to oversee Gove's new empire. And what else but quangos are the bureaucratic set-ups being built around police and crime commissioners in England and Wales?Michael Gove's multitude of academies have most of the appurtenance of quangos – wholly funded arm's length bodies. Meanwhile his chief inspector of schools is openly agitating to create a set of regional bodies to oversee Gove's new empire. And what else but quangos are the bureaucratic set-ups being built around police and crime commissioners in England and Wales?
Kill a quango and, despite the professions of ministers, the accountability trail becomes much more difficult to follow. After the government abolished the Central Office of Information, within months it was touting Whitehall PR and publicity contracts to advertising agencies and public affairs companies, all less open to external scrutiny and not subject to the ethical checks the COI used to insist on.Kill a quango and, despite the professions of ministers, the accountability trail becomes much more difficult to follow. After the government abolished the Central Office of Information, within months it was touting Whitehall PR and publicity contracts to advertising agencies and public affairs companies, all less open to external scrutiny and not subject to the ethical checks the COI used to insist on.
Even though we lack baseline figures on which to assess the claims of savings being made, the effect of Tory measures is real enough. Except it's not the removal of the quango that secures the savings – it is stopping doing the work. The government claims net savings of £1.4bn by 2015. Even if we assume that is genuine and includes redundancy payments, ongoing pension costs, losses from early termination of property leases and so on, it's just not clear the money come from the way the function is organised or the fact it is no longer being carried out.Even though we lack baseline figures on which to assess the claims of savings being made, the effect of Tory measures is real enough. Except it's not the removal of the quango that secures the savings – it is stopping doing the work. The government claims net savings of £1.4bn by 2015. Even if we assume that is genuine and includes redundancy payments, ongoing pension costs, losses from early termination of property leases and so on, it's just not clear the money come from the way the function is organised or the fact it is no longer being carried out.
I plead an interest as former employee of a quango, the Audit Commission. It may have become too big, but savings come not from abolishing it but ending its programme of work – including high-grade studies of value for money in council services – and privatising the audit, both of which have been done. Private auditors start work this autumn.I plead an interest as former employee of a quango, the Audit Commission. It may have become too big, but savings come not from abolishing it but ending its programme of work – including high-grade studies of value for money in council services – and privatising the audit, both of which have been done. Private auditors start work this autumn.
The bulk of the advertised savings from the quango cull to date have come from getting rid of regional development agencies – and with them most of the state's capacity to influence the economic destiny of poorer areas, including rural areas represented by Tory MPs. The starveling quangos put in their place, the local enterprise partnerships, are proving too small and too underfunded to do much. Quangos – often, not always – are the state at work in economy and society. Abolishing them has little to do with efficiency and effectiveness, much more to do with realising the Cameron government's ideological objectives.The bulk of the advertised savings from the quango cull to date have come from getting rid of regional development agencies – and with them most of the state's capacity to influence the economic destiny of poorer areas, including rural areas represented by Tory MPs. The starveling quangos put in their place, the local enterprise partnerships, are proving too small and too underfunded to do much. Quangos – often, not always – are the state at work in economy and society. Abolishing them has little to do with efficiency and effectiveness, much more to do with realising the Cameron government's ideological objectives.