Taming the Quango state
Author: Lord Hanningfield, ConservativeHome - Aug 12, 2009
David Cameron’s promise of a bonfire of the quangos is welcome indeed. We have seen, in recent years, a significant increase in the number of these bodies which, frankly, have all too often operated out of sight
of the scrutinising public eye. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, but it is yet to cleanse many of these obscure (and unelected) corridors of power.
This is why we have taken the opportunity, in the Sustainable Communities Act to bring forward proposals to increase the accountability of such quangos.
Our proposal will ensure accountability and performance standards of local government agencies and service providers - allowing ECC to guarantee quality of service to our residents.
Under our scheme, ECC would be empowered to negotiate and enforce a set of local performance standards for selected government agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Subsequently, where organisations
fail to meet these standards, ECC will be develop mechanisms to ensure that appropriate services are delivered. This might mean devolving responsibility to appropriate local providers or partnerships or bringing services under the auspices of democratically elected councils.
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