Bonfire of the quangos

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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.


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

Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)

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

Telegraph list of quangos to be abolished (24/09/2010)

Public bodies to be abolished (177 bodies)

(*) = Responsibility devolved to relevant Local Authority

Public bodies to be privatised (4 bodies)

Public bodies to be merged or consolidated (Maximum of 129 bodies reduced to Minimum of 57)

Public bodies still under review (94 bodies)

(*) Refers to those National Museums and Galleries in England which are publicly-funded by DCMS and receive rebates of VAT incurred in the course of their activities, in order them to enable free admission to the public. These are:

Other publicly-funded museums (The British Library, The National Army Museum, etc.) are separately referred to in this list, and museums in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are a devolved matter (although they also receive rebates of VAT).

Public bodies which will be retained (350 bodies)

FOI requests to most of these public authorities can be made using WhatDoTheyKnow.com. Direct links to these public authorities [be found here]

  • ACAS
  • Administration of Radioactive Substances Advisory Committee
  • Advisory Committee on Business Appointments
  • Advisory Committee on Civil Costs
  • Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards
  • Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances
  • Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment
  • Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs
  • Advisory Group on Military Medicine
  • Agricultural Land Tribunal
  • Architects Registration Board
  • Armed Forces Pay Review Body
  • Arts Council England
  • BBC
  • Big Lottery Fund
  • British Railway Board (Residuary) Ltd
  • British Library
  • British Pharmocopoeia Commission
  • British Transport Police
  • British Wool Marketing Board
  • Broads Authority
  • Capital for Enterprise
  • Care Quality Commission
  • Central Advisory Committee on Pensions and Compensation
  • Central Office of Information
  • Channel 4
  • Charity Commission for England and Wales
  • Civil Aviation Authority
  • Civil Nuclear Police Authority and Constabulary
  • Civil Procedure Rule Committee
  • Civil Service Appeals Board
  • Commission on Human Medicines
  • Committee on Climate Change
  • Committee on Radioactive Waste Management
  • Committee on Standards in Public Life
  • Commonwealth Development Corporation
  • Commonwealth Scholarship Commission
  • Courts Fund Office
  • Criminal Cases Review Commission
  • Criminal Procedure Rule Committee
  • Defence Nuclear Safety Committee
  • Defence Scientific Advisory Council
  • Equality 2025
  • Family Procedure Rule Committee
  • Fire Service College
  • Food Standards Agency
  • Forensic Science Service
  • Gangmasters Licensing Authority
  • Great North Eastern Railways Ltd
  • Higher Education Funding Council for England
  • HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  • HM Inspectorate of Probation
  • HM Land Registry
  • Horserace Betting Levy Appeal Tribunal
  • House of Lords Appointment Commission
  • Independent Advisory Panels on Deaths in Custody
  • Independent Agricultural Appeals Panel
  • Independent Housing Ombudsman
  • Independent Monitoring Board for the Military Corrective Training Centre
  • Independent Police Complaints Commission
  • Independent Prison Monitoring Boards (147 bodies)
  • Independent Reconfiguration Panel
  • Industrial Injuries Advisory Council
  • Information Commissioner's Office
  • Insolvency Rules Committee
  • Judicial Appointments Commission
  • Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman
  • Land Registration Rule Committee
  • Legal Services Board
  • Local Government Ombudsman
  • London and Continental Railways Ltd
  • Low Pay Commission
  • Marine Management Organisation
  • Marshall Aid Foundation
  • Medical Education England
  • Migration Advisory Committee
  • Monitor
  • National Employment Savings Trust
  • National Parks Authorities (9 bodies)
  • National Savings and Investments
  • National School of Government
  • Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes
  • NHS Pay Review Body
  • Northern Lighthouse Board
  • Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
  • Nuclear Liabilities Board
  • Nuclear Liability Financing Assurance Board
  • Nuclear Research Advisory Council
  • Office of Judicial Complaints
  • Office for Legal Complaints
  • Office of Manpower Economics
  • Office of Rail Regulation
  • Office of Surveillance Commissioners
  • Office of the Public Guardian
  • Official Solicitor
  • Ofgem
  • Ofqual
  • Ofsted
  • Oil and Pipelines Agency
  • Olympic Delivery Authority
  • Olympic Lottery Distributor
  • Ordnance Survey
  • Parole Board
  • Partnerships UK
  • Pension Protection Fund
  • Pensions Regulator
  • Planning Inspectorate
  • Plant Varieties and Seeds Tribunal
  • Police Discipline Appeals Tribunal
  • Prison Services Pay Review Body
  • Prisons and Probation Ombudsman
  • Probation Trusts (35 bodies)
  • Research Councils (7 bodies)
  • Restraint Accreditation Board
  • Review Board for Government Contracts
  • Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration
  • Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art
  • Royal Mail Holdings Plc
  • S4C
  • School Teachers' Review Body
  • Science Advisory Council
  • Scientific Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons
  • Security Vetting Appeals Panel
  • Senior Salaries Review Body
  • Sentencing Council for England and Wales
  • Social Security Advisory Committee
  • Technical Advisory Board
  • Technical Assessor for Compensation of Miscarriages of Justice
  • Technology Strategy Board
  • The Royal Mint
  • The Westminster Foundation for Democracy
  • Traffic Commissioners and Deputies
  • Treasure Valuation Committee
  • Tribunals Procedure Rule Committee
  • Tribunals Service
  • Trinity House Lighthouse Service
  • UK Anti Doping
  • UK Commission for Employment and Skills
  • UK Trade and Investment
  • Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committees (13 bodies)
  • Veterinary Products Committee
  • Victims Commissioner
  • Victim's Advisory Panel
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