Bonfire of the quangos

A number of non-departmental government bodies / quangos have been named as being up for abolition, merger or absorption into parent departments, as part of the Coalition Government's Spending Review, due this autumn. This has been widely dubbed in the press as a "bonfire of the quangos".

The list of quangos up for review is still being compiled, and there have been a number of clarifications, amendments and retractions as further details come to light.

As dates are confirmed and necessary legislation made, these should be copied into Current events.

• 24/09/2001 - The Telegraph has obtained a list of 177 quangos up for abolition

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

• Main announcement: [1]
• To be abolished:
  • Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property policy (SABIP)
  • SITPRO (Simplifying International Trade)
  • Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Advisory Body (WAB)
  • British Shipbuilders Corporation (to be abolished 2011)

• Announced 24 May 2010
  • seven Regional Industrial Development Boards
  • UfI/Learndirect
  • Learning & Skills Improvement Service
  • Institute for Learning
  • Standards and Verification UK
  • IiP UK
  • Hearing Aid Council (closing 31 July 2010, powers are being transferred to HPC[2])

Department for Communities and Local Government

• Main announcement: [3]
• To be abolished:
  • Government Office for the South-West
  • Government Office for the South-East
  • Government Office for the East Midlands
  • Government Office for the West Midlands
  • Government Office for the East of England
  • Government Office for the North-West
  • Government Office for the Yorkshire & the Humber
  • Government Office for the North-East
  • Government Office for London
  • Regional Spatial Strategies
  • Regional Assemblies/Regional Leaders' Boards
  • the Regional Development Agencies

Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)

• Main announcement: [4]
• Changes announced:
  • abolishing the UK Film Council and establishing a direct and less bureaucratic relationship with the British Film Institute; this would support front-line services while ensuring greater value for money - Government and Lottery support for film will continue
  • abolishing the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council to focus efforts on front-line, essential services and ensure greater value for money - Government support for museums, libraries and archives will continue
  • merging UK Sport and Sport England, creating a more effective structure to deliver elite sport success and a wider sports legacy from the 2012 games
• DCMS is also looking at:
  • abolishing the Advisory Council on Libraries and winding up the Legal Deposit Advisory Panel
  • abolishing the Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites
  • declassifying the Advisory Committee on National Historic Ships and transferring its functions to another body
  • declassifying the Theatres Trust so it can act as an independent statutory advisory body
  • looking at its responsibility for heritage and the built environment, and considering the role and remit of English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the National Heritage Memorial Fund
  • considering the role of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
  • discussing with the Church of England the merits of declassifying the Churches Conservation Trust
  • considering whether to change the status, role and functions of Visit England and Visit Britain
  • it intends to merge the National Lottery Commission with the Gambling Commission, subject to further consideration of the business case.

Department for Education

• Abolition of General Teaching Council for England (GTC) [5]
• Abolition of British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) [6]

Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC)

tbc

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

• Main announcement: [7]
• Defra will carry out this as part of the Public Bodies Reform Bill
• To be abolished:
  • Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution
  • Agricultural Wages Board
  • the 15 Agricultural Wages Committees
  • the 16 Agricultural Dwelling House Advisory Committees
  • Committee on Agricultural Valuation
  • Inland Waterways Advisory Council
  • Commons Commissioners
  • Defra is also withdrawing funding from the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC)

Department for Transport

tbc

Department of Health

• Announcement 26/07/2010 [8]
• To be abolished:
  • Alcohol Education and Research Council - to be abolished
  • Appointments Commission - to be abolished during 2012. Move remaining appointments to the Department of Health.
  • Care Quality Commission - Retain as quality inspectorate across health and social care, operating a joint licensing regime with Monitor. Host organisation for Healthwatch England. Current responsibility of assessing NHS commissioning moves to the NHS Commissioning Board. May gain functions from other organisations, e.g. HTA and HFEA.
  • Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence - Remove from the sector. Make a self-funding body by charging a levy on regulators. Extend role to set standards for and quality assure voluntary registers.
  • General Social Care Council - Transfer the regulation of social workers to the Health Professions Council, which will be renamed to reflect its new remit.
  • Health and Social Care Information Centre - Retain, and put on a firmer statutory footing by establishing it in primary legislation. National repository for data collection across health care, public health and adult social care. Clearer focus on data collection, with a close working relationship with the NHS Commissioning Board.
  • Health Protection Agency - Abolish as a statutory organisation and transfer functions to the Secretary of State as part of the new Public Health Service.
  • Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HEFA) - Retain as a separate ALB for the time being, with the aim of transferring its functions by the end of the current Parliament. In the meantime, we will examine the practicalities (and legal implications) of how to divide the HFEA’s functions between a new research regulator, the Care Quality Commission and the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
  • Human Tissue Authority - Retain as a separate ALB for the time being, with the aim of transferring its functions by the end of the current Parliament. In the meantime, we will examine the practicalities (and legal implications) of how to divide the HTA’s functions between a new research regulator, the Care Quality Commission and the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
  • Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency - Retain, but with the expectation that it will undertake its regulatory duties in the most cost effective way.
  • Monitor - Retain and make an economic regulator, operating a joint licensing regime with CQC.
  • National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) - Retain, and put on a firmer statutory footing by establishing it in primary legislation. Expand scope to include social care standards.
  • National Patient Safety Agency - Abolish as an ALB. Safety functions retained and transferred to the National Commissioning Board. Explore transfer of National Research and Ethics Service functions to single research regulator. National Clinical Assessment Service to become self-funding over the next two to three years.
  • National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse - Abolish as an ALB, and transfer functions to the Secretary of State as part of the new Public Health Service.
  • NHS Blood and Transplant - Retain, and commission an in-depth review of opportunities to make more commercially effective. Transfer Bio-Products Laboratory out of NHSBT into a Department of Health owned company.
  • NHS Business Services Authority - Retain in short term, and commission commercial review to identify potential for increased commercial opportunities, including potential to remove functions from the ALB sector.
  • NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement - Abolish. Move functions which will support the NHS Commissioning Board in leading for quality improvement to the Board. Review the potential for its remaining functions to be delivered through alternative commercial delivery models.
  • NHS Litigation Authority - Retain, and commission an industry review to identify potential opportunities for greater commercial involvement.

Ministry of Defence

tbc