In the past people just talked about quango reform.
There were many calls for something to be done about the vast array of faceless organisations that seemed to be involved in so many parts of our lives, yet appeared to be answerable to no one. But nothing was done. Too many public bodies were largely unaccountable, and too many were duplicating bureaucracy and tolerating waste.
That's why this government was determined to take action. After we came to power in May 2010 we initiated the biggest programme of quango reform in a generation.
We passed a new law that gives ministers the power to close public bodies associated with their department. Staggeringly, despite their calls for quango reform, the Labour party voted against this: the very legislation needed to close public bodies.
Our review examined the entire public bodies landscape. Each quango needed to justify why it had to remain at arm's length from government. We found hundreds of redundant bodies that the last Labour government should have shut down, merged or spun out fully into the voluntary sector.
In December, we published Public Bodies 2012, which shows just how far we have come since we began our programme of reform.
The report shows that we have now closed 114 quangos. This puts us more than halfway to our goal of 204 abolitions. In addition we have enabled more than 150 bodies to be merged into fewer than 70. Of the bodies that remain, around 175 are due to be substantially reformed, helping to create a landscape of fewer, slimmer public bodies that allows for the most efficient and effective delivery of public services. By reducing duplication, waste and unnecessary bureaucracy departments tell us we are well on track to cut the administrative cost of public bodies by at least £2.6bn by 2015.
Even more significantly we are bringing in a new era of accountability and transparency. The report sets out the size, expenditure and membership of all public bodies so everyone can see where their money is being spent and who is responsible for spending it. This clear line of sight to those running public bodies means that citizens can hold them, and the government, to account – no more faceless organisations and nameless people making important decisions on our schools, our homes, or even our local rivers and canals.
But the work doesn't stop there. We never want to see the proliferation of unnecessary and wasteful bodies that was tolerated in the past. That's why we will review every single remaining quango every three years. At these rigorous and systematic assessments each public body will have to justify why it needs to continue to remain at arm's lengths from government. If it doesn't pass the test it will be closed, merged into central government or spun out into the voluntary sector. These Triennial Reviews will also challenge public bodies to provide best value for money for taxpayers and will encourage departments to think innovatively about the way they deliver services.
We have already taken great strides in making the public bodies landscape more efficient and streamlined. This is a two-way process and we will work closely with public bodies to find the very best ways of delivering services for the public. But ultimately there is much more work to be done here. We need to continue with this pace of reform to fully embed a culture of transparency and accountability at the heart of public bodies. The process of reforming quangos still has a long way to go.
Francis Maude is Cabinet Office minister
