How many times is Becta going to be killed?
That thing has some serious resiliance man. Becta has been announced as killed off a half dozen times now.
The complete list of quangos to be quashed by the Coalition has been released and fortunately republished by the BBC and other media because the government's own sites have been still mostly unavailable today. The Central Office of Information website has been down for most of the day - it is one of the quangos which is still …
Is it any wonder many taxpayers think that this quango lark was just a way for MPs (of any party colour) to give jobs to their mates when there's quango's like "The Government Hospitality Advisory Committee on the Purchase of Wines"?
Where's the Dr Frasier Crane icon when you need it? He'd probably vie with Niles to run said quango, with hilarity ensuing, no doubt...
There is a balancing act to be performed. On the one hand, QUANGOs have independence, so are theoretically non-partisan (although I imagine a lot of appointments will be politically inspired). On the other hand, they are independent from government, and therefore less accountable. Where the body has responsibility for overseeing things, then they probably should be independent from government. Where they have authority to do more, such as regulate training, levy fines, etc. then they should be accountable.
That's my opinion anyway; others are welcome to theirs...
Bravo for picking up the NEW reason for abolishing them (as per Francis Maude on the Today programme this morning) that they adopted once they worked out that they weren't going to save much (if any) money by abolishing them. Nasty case of sophistry the ConDems are coming down with...
I also believe that there are target efficiency savings in the civil service to be made as well. Presumably these targets will be applied equally to functions that have been absorbed from said QUANGOs.
Either way, making savings in government is never going to be an easy task. It's not a new topic, I believe the central premise was covered in 'Yes Minister' over a number of episodes...
Despite Davey boy's promise to abolish the utter waste of space/old boys club/failure that pretends its a regulator*
*delete as applicable. On second thoughts, don't delete, they're all applicable.
For the pre-election pledge see:
http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2009/07/David_Cameron_People_Power_-_Reforming_Quangos.aspx
How do you tell when politician is lying...? Their lips move.
Quangos are mostly independent limited companies. Why would the government pay one penny more than statutory guaranteed redundancy to employees of those companies, any more than they paid it to me the two times I've been Right Sized from a limited company during my thrilling career in the real world?
The quangos own their own troughs. It's up to them to dole out the remaining swill to the squealing piggies - SQUEAL, PIGGIES! - not to come to the taxpayer for yet more handouts. There's no swill left, piggies! You eated it all!
BNFL is a strange one, given the broad Tory support for the next generation nuclear power stations. Presumably the British taxpayers will pay the French to do it.
Something about the Competition Commission in a merger makes me smile.
I can't argue with the P45s heading to the Advisory Board on the Registration of Homeopathic Products and Herbal Medicines Advisory Committee. Presumably they'll dilute their giros with water and spin it out indefinitely. OK it's not nice to laugh at people losing their jobs but we shouldn't have been paying these charlatans in the first place.
And well done for keeping the BBC World Service. Given how far these bastards are up Murdoch's arse, this is a pleasant surprise.
Current Advisory bodies going = Good. They're useless.
Not replacing them with a body that says "produce _evidence_ or stop claiming you can cure everything in the world from AIDS to cancer to a cold with a smidge of pollen that's been diluted a zillion zillion zillion times and then banged on a horsehair mat" = Bad.
Can I have an icon of a hand from the Deep South of America where there's a thumb at the top and the bottom to indicate that it goes both ways?
The committee is involved in cases where members of the armed forces feel that their conscience prevents them from carrying out questionable orders from above. It could very well be argued that this committee therefore provides a valuable and necessary service for members of the armed forces. IIRC, it also costs very little, even when not considered in the larger scheme of things.
Disclaimer: I am only repeating what another poster put in a comment on a previous artivle where the same subject was raised. No doubt, these claims can be either verified, or debunked, by some judicious application of a well known search engine.