Every quango across government will be reviewed, with a view to
close, merge or bring functions back into departments if its
continued existence cannot be justified.
The review, commissioned by the Cabinet Office at the request of
the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, is the latest move to
re-wire Whitehall and produce a more productive and agile state.
It is part of our Plan for Change, delivering security for
working people and national renewal.
This follows news last month that NHS England will be brought
back into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to put
an end to the duplication resulting from two organisations doing
the same job in a system currently holding staff back from
delivering for patients.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, MP 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'.
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. This
would also retain the expertise and experience of staff working
in these areas.
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 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 will be held directly accountable for the
Arms Length Body (ALBs) that continue to exist following the
review.
The review will 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 arms length.
Many ALBs are set up in legislation, and previous work to deliver
these changes has 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 announced today can be implemented
and delivered upon.
