For lovers of Qango & Copland..........
I was thinking about all the cuts that were being made, (none for MP's & councillors, we could do with a few less) & thought about these. Although some cuts were made, allegedly in 2010, do we need to spend £64 billion on these?
The term 'quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation' was created in 1967 by the Carnegie Foundation's Alan Pifer in an essay on independence and accountability in public-funded bodies incorporated in the private sector. This term was shortened to 'quango' by Anthony Barker, a British participant during a follow-up conference on the subject. It describes an ostensibly non-governmental organisation performing governmental functions, often in receipt of funding or other support from government, while mainstream NGOs mostly get their donations or funds from the public and other organizations that support their cause. Numerous quangos were created from the 1980s onwards
According to the Tax Payers Alliance, in the year 2006-07, tax payers funded 1,162 Quangos at a cost of nearly £64bn; equivalent to £2,550 per household. Since the coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats was formed in May 2010, over 80 of such public bodies funded by government have been abolished (BBC News - Quango list shows 192 to be axed) under Conservative plans to reduce the size of the public sector, as a route to reducing the overall budget deficit. However about a thousand still remain.
Of course someone has to say;
"The Tories now need to tell us whether their desperation for headlines and faster cuts means the cost of closing quangos is actually bigger than the savings. And while they're at it, they should tell us whether their manifesto commitment for 20 new quangos is now on ice."
From May 2010
A £500million bonfire of quangos run by public-sector fat cats will be unveiled by Chancellor George Osborne tomorrow in the first phase of his war on the £163billion deficit that has brought Britain to the brink of bankruptcy.
Dozens of quangos will be scrapped or scaled down as the Government announces the first £6billion of spending cuts aimed at speeding up to the economic recovery.
Mr Osborne will also announce new curbs on perks for Ministers and mandarins.
The spending included £125million on taxis, £320million on hotel bills, £70million on flights, £1.5billion on consultants, £580million on office furniture and more than £1 billion on advertising.
Under Labour the number of quangos – non-governmental advisory groups funded by taxpayers – soared to an estimated 1,162 at total cost of £64billion. They employ more than 100,000, and 68 quango chiefs earn more than the Prime Minister, with salaries of up to.............
£624,000
‘Some have become more like Government departments than small, well-run public advisory groups. It has mushroomed into a huge industry which we neither need nor can afford. Every year they spend more and pay ever bigger salaries to themselves.’
The pay and perks of quango fat cats has caused growing anger. Last year, it emerged that the employment package of Chief Constable Peter Neyroud, the £195,000-a-year boss of the £550million a year National Policing Improvement Agency, includes a Westminster apartment in a block that has a gym, pool, sauna and valet parking.
The highest-paid quango boss is David Higgins, the Olympic Delivery Authority’s chief executive, whose total package is worth £624,000 a year.
James Stewart, chief executive of Partnership UK, which promotes ‘high-quality public services and the efficient use of public assets through stronger partnerships between public and private sectors’, is paid £505,000.
Another quango in the firing line is Ofcom, which oversees TV and other media. Chief executive Ed Richards, who was forced to cut his £430,000 pay after public uproar, is a former adviser to Tony Blair and one of a number Ofcom officials with close links to Labour. Ofcom may escape abolition, but could lose several of its functions.
Q(u)ango's ? Definitely but none of those & more of these
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