Government to review every quango “to see if its existence is justified”

The Cabinet Office is to conduct a review of every arm’s length body (ALB) or quango across government, with a view to close, merge or bring functions back into departments if its continued existence cannot be justified.

The review is part of plans “to re-wire Whitehall and produce a more productive and agile state”.

The Cabinet Office said it is expected that quangos with large policy functions could be brought back into departments, “bringing ministerial, elected, scrutiny back to major decisions that affect the public”.

It added: “All departments must demonstrate the necessity of each one, operating under the presumption that these bodies will be affected unless there is compelling justification for their separate existence.”

Where independence from ministerial decision making is considered essential, such as quangos which scrutinise government or protect the rule of law, then these will remain unaffected. 

The Cabinet Secretary and departmental Secretaries of State and Permanent Secretaries are to be held directly accountable for the ALBs that continue to exist following the review. 

The Cabinet Office said the review would consider four key principles:

• Ministerial policy oversight – “if a policy is of national importance then Ministers should have appropriate oversight and control of its development. Major decisions that affect the country and the public should be taken by those elected by the country to do so.”
• Duplication and efficiency – “government should drive out duplication and inefficiency wherever possible, this includes if there is duplication of policy or delivery work between ALBs and Ministerial departments.”
• Stakeholder management – “the fact that government needs to engage stakeholders should not be a reason for an ALB to exist, government itself should be working hard to engage with a variety of partners at every stage.”
• Independent advice – “where there is a clear justification for independent advice, then this should be conducted at arm’s length.”

The Cabinet Office acknowledged that many ALBs are set up in legislation, admitting that previous work to deliver these changes had been hampered by the difficulty in updating and changing individual pieces of ALB legislation.

As part of this work, the Government will consider what legislation may be required to ensure the reviews can be implemented and delivered upon, it added.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden said: “We are taking action to ensure decisions of national importance that affect everyone in this country are made by those who have been elected to do so. 

“Only by fundamentally re-wiring the state, can we deliver our Plan for Change to secure Britain’s future and serve working people; kick-starting economic growth, rebuilding the NHS and strengthening our borders.

“The review will aim to drive out waste and inefficiency across Whitehall, reducing duplication and bureaucracy - saving the taxpayer money and cutting the cost of ‘doing government’.”