Death of the Quangos?

A leaked Cabinet Office memo includes lists of quangos that will be cut, merged, privatised or left alone (or whose future is still undecided). Here it is -- with bodies whose status surprises me annotated accordingly.

Public bodies to be abolished (177 bodies)

Administrative Justice and Tribunal Council

Advisory Board on the Registration of Homeopathic Products

Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens

Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections

Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances

Advisory Committee on Carbon Abatement Technologies

Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites

Advisory Committee on National Historic Ships

Advisory Committee on Organic Standards

Advisory Committee on Packaging

Advisory Committee on Pesticides

Advisory Committee on the Government Art Collection

Advisory Committee on the safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs

Advisory Council on Libraries -- this is a shame: public libraries have lost their way and need a new sense of vision and direction. Then again, maybe this wasn't the right body to give that.

Advisory Group on Hepatitis

Advisory Panel on Local Innovation Awards

Advisory Panel on Standards for the Planning Inspectorate

Agricultural Dwelling House Committees (16 bodies)

Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales -- I'm guessing that the Minimum Wage legislation has made this body superfluous. 

Agricultural Wages Committees (15 bodies)

Air Quality Expert Group

Alcohol Education and Research Council

Animal Welfare Advisory Committee

Appointments Commission

Audit Commission -- this one is typical of many of these "savings": most of the Audit Commission's costs were in auditing local government and the NHS, and those activities will need to continue (only now done by expensive private-sector auditors).  

British Educational Communications and Technology Agency

British Nuclear Fuels

British Shipbuilders

British Waterways -- this is a terrible shame: they did nice work, preserving and making accessible the nation's network of now largely disused 18th century canals.  

Capacity Builders

Caribbean Board

Churches Conservation Trust

Commission for Integrated Transport

Commission for Rural Communities

Commissioner for the Compact

Committee on Agricultural Valuation

Committee on Carcogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment

Committee on Medical Aspects of Air Pollutants

Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment

Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment

Committee on the Safety of Devices

Commons Commissioners

Consular Stakeholder Panel

Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence

Courts Boards (19 bodies)

Crown Court Rule Committee

Cycling England

Darwin Advisory Committee

Disability Employment Advisory Committee

Disability Living/Attendance Allowance Advisory Board

Disabled Persons' Transport Advisory Committee

Expert Advisory Group on HIV/AIDS

Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards

Farm Animal Welfare Council

Food from Britain

Foreign Compensation Commission

Gene Therapy Advisory Committee

General Social Care Council

General Teaching Council for England

Genetics and Insurance Committee

Government Hospitality Advisory Committee on the Purchase of Wines

Government Strategic Marketing Advisory Board

Health Protection Agency

Hearing Aid Council

Herbal Medicines Advisory Committee

HM Inspectorate of Court Administration

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority

Human Genetics Commission

Human Tissue Authority

Independent Advisory Group of Sexual Health and HIV

Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy -- given that we have one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe, this quango has clearly failed. Unless, of course, its job was to encourage teen pregnancy, in which case it has succeeded admirably and, now, its work is done.  

Independent Living Fund

Independent Review Panel for the Classification of Borderline Products

Independent Review Panel on the Advertising of Medicines

Infrastructure Planning Commission

Inland Waterways Advisory Council

Insolvency Practitioners Tribunal

Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisations

Legal Deposit Advisory Panel

Legal Services Commission

Legal Services Ombudsman

London Thames Gateway Development Corporation*

Main Honours Advisory Committee

Magistrates' Court Rule Committee

Museums, Libraries and Archives Council

National Housing and Planning Advice Unit

National Information Governance Board

National Joint Registry Steering Committee

National Policing Improvement Agency

National Standing Committee for Farm Animal Genetic Resources

National Tenant Voice

National Endowment for Science, Technology and Arts (NESTA) -- this is a surprise, although it was pure New Labour so perhaps it shouldn't have been. It has seemed to lose its way, ignoring the arts and instead becoming a sort of forcing incubator for mad inventors. I can't point to anything it's done that society will miss terribly. 

Office for the Civil Society Advisory Bodies

Olympic Park Legacy Company*

Pesticides Residues Committee

Public Guardian Board

Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency

Railway Heritage Committee -- I am utterly devastated by this cut. The RHC's job is to identify objects and papers from the nation's railway system which should be preserved in the National Railway Museum, and then to negotiate the transfer of those assets. It is a job of vital importance, and the RHC employed just one person - a Secretary/Advisor whose post I had my eye on. Damn it.

Regional Development Agencies (8 bodies)

Renewables Advisory Board

Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

School Food Trust

School Support Staff Negotiating Body

Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition

Security Commission

Security Industry Authority

SITPRO

Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee

Standards Board for England

Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property

Sustainable Development Commission

Teachers TV Board

The Theatres Trust

Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation*

UK Chemical Weapons Convention National Authority Advisory Committee

UK Film Council

Union Modernisation Advisory Fund

Veterinary Residues Committee

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Advisory Board

West Northamptonshire Development Corporation*

Women's National Commission

Zoos Forum

* = Responsibility devolved to relevant Local Authority

Public bodies to be privatised (4 bodies)

Construction and Skills Training Board

Engineering Construction Industry

Film Industry Training Board

The Tote Board

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

Advisory Committees on Justices of the Peace, (101 bodies – to be reduced to 49)

Central Arbitration Committee, Single Arbitration Panel

Certification Office, (as above)

Competition Appeals Tribunal, Single Tribunals Service

Competition Service, (as above)

Copyright Tribunal, (as above)

Police Advisory Board, (as above)

Police Negotiating Board, (as above)

Police Arbitration Tribunal, (as above)

Rent Assessment Panels, (as above)

Residential Property Tribunal Service, (as above)

Valuation Tribunal for England, (as above)

Valuation Tribunal Service, (as above)

Crown Prosecution Service, Single Prosecution Service

Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office, (as above)

English Heritage, Single Heritage Body -- since English Heritage is one of the biggest applicants for Lottery and NHMF funding, I wonder if there isn't a conflict of interest being created here. 

National Heritage Memorial Fund, (as above)

National Heritage Lottery Fund, (as above)

Football Licensing Authority, Single Sport Body

Sport England, (as above)

UK Sport, (as above)

Gambling Commission, Single Gambling Regulator

National Lottery Commission, (as above)

Ofcom, Single Communications Regulator

Postcomm, (as above)

Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner, Single Immigration Body

Pensions Ombudsman, Single Pensions Regulator

Pensions Protection Fund Ombudsman, (as above)

Serious Organised Crime Agency, Merged into National Crime Agency -- while I could see the merit in creating an agency to deal with serious organised crime, I always wondered why the mirror agency -- for humorous organised crime -- was not created. 

Public bodies still under review (94 bodies)

Advisory Committee on Conscientious Objectors

Advisory Council on Public Records

Advisory Council on National Records and Archives

Advisory Council on Historical Manuscripts

Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information

Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board

Animal Procedures Committee

BBC World Service -- it would be completely mental to abolish this. Cut 1% from the Ministry of Defence budget and spend it here, and you'll get infinitely greater value for money.. 

British Council -- I can't believe this is still under review -- of course we need the British Council and, if not, we would simply have to replace the spending within the Foreign Office (the British Council is Britain's equivalent of a cultural attache service). 

British Hallmarking Council

Building Regulations Advisory Committee

Carbon Trust

Chief Coroner of England and Wales

Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission

Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service

Children's Workforce Development Council

Civil Justice Council

Coal Authority

Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment

Community Development Foundation

Competition Commission

Consumer Council for Water

Consumer Focus

Covent Garden Market Authority

Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority

Design Council -- why is this still under review (£6 million a year, thanks very much)? It is the most useless quango in Britain. And I should know: I used to work there. No other industry sector gets its own tax-payer funded lobbying body (IT? Pharmaceuticals? Aerospace? Video Games?). So why does design? 

Diplomatic Service Appeals Board

Exports Credit Guarantee Department

Energy Savings Trust

Environment Agency

Equality and Human Rights Commission -- this has outlived its usefulness. There is still a need for something in this area, but the current quango should be utterly destroyed and something new created in its place. 

Family Justice Council

Firebuy

Forestry Commission

Fuel Poverty Advisory Group

Historic Royal Palaces

Homes and Community Agency

Horserace Betting Levy Board

Independent Safeguarding Authority

Industrial Development Advisory Board

Investigatory Powers Tribunal

Joint Nature Conservation Committee

Law Commission of England and Wales

Leasehold Advisory Service

Local Better Regulation Office

National Museums and Galleries (18 bodies*) -- I'd expect to see some tidying-up here, but no major abolitions (the National Armed Services Museums probably ought to sit in this group). There may also be some regulatory changes to tie-in with the Prime Minister's view that they should be more entrepreneurial and lesss dependent on public funding -- in which case they need to shed the dead hand of Treasury regulation.

National Army Museum -- as if a Tory government would close this...

National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services

National Employer Advisory Board

National Forest Company

National Museum of the Royal Navy

Natural England

Office for Fair Access

Office for Fair Trading

OFWAT

Partnership for Schools

Public Lending Right Committee

Public Trustee Youth Justice Board

Rail Passengers' Committee

Remploy, Ltd.

Renewable Fuels Agency

Royal Air Force Museum

Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew -- yeah, right, this is really seriously under threat. Not.

Royal Mint Advisory Committee on the Design of Coins, Medals, Seals and Decorations

Sea Fish Industry Authority

Student Loans Company

Tenant Services Authority

The National Archives

The Office of the Children's Commissioner

The Pensions Advisory Service

Training and Development Agency for Schools

UK Atomic Energy Agency

UK India Round Table

UK Supreme Court -- yes, I can really see the justices of the Supreme Court allowing the government to do anything to this quango. Just a hint of a threat to the Supreme Court and there'd be total judicial deadlock on every government decision between now and the next election.

Visit Britain

Visit England

Young People's Learning Agency

* 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: The British Museum; The Imperial War Museum; The National Gallery; The National Maritime Museum; The National Museums & Galleries of Merseyside; The Natural History Museum; The Royal Armouries; The Science Museum; The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television; The National Railway Museum; The National Coal Mining Museum for England; The Tate Galleries; The Wallace Collection; The Greater Manchester Museum of Science and Industry; Sir John Soane’s Museum; The Museum of London; The Geffrye Museum; and The Horniman Museum. 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)

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 -- hurrah! After the political drubbing they got during the election I was a bit worried, but this is one of the best-run funding quangos around.

BBC -- good.

Big Lottery Fund

British Railway Board (Residuary) Ltd

British Library -- nifty footwork on their part to be on this list, when the rest of the National Collections are on the "still to be decided" list.

British Pharmocopoeia Commission

British Transport Police

British Wool Marketing Board -- I am so pleased this one has survived. We have to have at least one pointless marketing board.

Broads Authority -- a bit of a surprise that its functions haven't been delegated to local authorites, but it's good that it's survived. It's a sort of combination National Park and enterprise/planning agency for the watery bits of eastern Norfolk (although I don't know why the Broads gets one but the Fens don't).

Capital for Enterprise -- WTF?? This is what the whole capitalist system is supposed to be about, so why does it need a quango?

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 -- no idea what this.

Family Procedure Rule Committee

Fire Service College

Food Standards Agency

Forensic Science Service

Gangmasters Licensing Authority

Great North Eastern Railways Ltd -- I don't know what this is -- the East Coast mainline is currently run by a limited company owned by the Secretary of State for Transport, but this is not its name (iunless they've changed it!).

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 -- nothing like having a name that explains to the public what you do. And this is nothing like that.

National DNA Database Ethics Group

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 -- this sounds delightful.

Police Discipline Appeals Tribunal

Prison Services Pay Review Body

Prisons and Probation Ombudsman

Probation Trusts (35 bodies)

Research Councils (7 bodies)

Restraint Accreditation Board -- is it just me, or does this sound a bit kinky in a Cynthia Payne sort of way?

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 -- I thought this was being privatised?

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 -- that grocer's apostrophe is not mine, but it's good to know there are so few victims (unless they have a panel each).

That is all.