Queen's Speech: Public Bodies (Reform) Bill

The government has outlined the details of the Public Bodies (Reform) Bill which it says will increase the transparency of decision-making and save £1bn per year by reducing the number of quangos and transferring their powers to local authorities or government departments.

The Bill is intended to provide Ministers with greater powers to abolish, merge or transfer the functions of quangos. It will also introduce new three-yearly reviews of whether quangos are necessary, using the test: ‘ls the function technical; does it need to be politically impartial; and do facts need to be determined transparently?’

According to the government's figures, there are 766 non-departmental public bodies in England and Wales, which employ110,000 staff and spend £46bn per year.