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The Government's flagship plan to overhaul Whitehall through a ‘bonfire of the quangos' has been slammed as a hasty and ‘poorly managed' initiative which created ‘false expectations' over public savings. Backbench MPs published a highly-critical report on 7 January, in which they dismissed last autumn's quango cull as ill-conceived, ‘resulting in badly-drafted legislation that won't deliver significant cost savings or improved accountability'. Bernard Jenkin, Conservative chair of the public administration select committee (PASC) which published the report, said the initiative – which included the controversial plan to abolish local government's independent watchdog, the Audit Commission – had been ‘botched'. Coalition ministers announced last October plans to scrap 192 quangos or arm's length bodies, and to merge a further 118. They claimed the initiative would help improve public accountability for decision-making by slashing the number of unelected bodies, while pre-general election pledges by the Conservative Party said the plan could save £1bn a year from public spending. Ministers reviewed the role of 900 arm's length bodies as part of the initiative, and the decision to scrap the Audit Commission – set up in the 1980s to monitor and assess councils – was among the most controversial. At the time, communities secretary, Eric Pickles, faced criticism that the decision to scrap the watchdog was politically motivated. MPs on the PASC reported that tests used to evaluate each public body ‘may have seemed superficially plausible at the outset, but they are hopelessly unclear'. The Cabinet Office failed to establish a proper procedure for departments to follow, and there was no system of consultation with the bodies concerned or with the public, they concluded. The MPs also reported that few quango functions had been lost to Whitehall – many had simply been transferred to other bodies, meaning that the bureaucracies which underpinned those functions still existed and must be paid for. Consequently, MPs question ministers' claims the cull could save £1bn a year. They say many quango functions should have been transferred to charities and the voluntary sector to support prime minister David Cameron's Big Society initiative. Mr Jenkin said: ‘The whole process was rushed and poorly handled, and should have been thought through a lot more. This was a fantastic opportunity to help build the Big Society and save money at the same time, but it has been botched. ‘The Government needs to rethink which functions public bodies need to perform and consider transferring some of these functions over to mutuals and charities.' The MPs warned that the current system of quangos and arm's length bodies remained ‘chaotic'. ‘If the Government wishes to make meaningful savings in public body expenditure, it needs to examine not just how these organisations operate, but what they exist to do,' the study concludes. Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude, rejected some of the report's conclusions – he claimed that the quango cull would lead to ‘very significant' savings.

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WHITEHALL

MPs' criticisms ignite row over 'bonfire of quangos'

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