Quangos offer bad value
Author: Daily Telegraph - Nov 13, 2009
Researchers from the Local Government Association used information provided by the different quangos to score 11 of them on their accountability, value for money and openness.
They found that many of them were effectively closed to public scrutiny and possessed responsibilities which overlapped with other public bodies.
The study also found that the quangos tended to have more staff on salaries of more than £100,000 a year than in councils.
The report found that only three quangos opened their meetings to the media and the public. Only four of the 11 quangos surveyed had elected representatives on their boards and less than half published a register of their board members’ interests
Along with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Passenger Focus, which represents rail, bus and coach passengers, scored the worst on the value for money and accountability measures.
Margaret Eaton, the association’s chairman, said: "There are a huge number of quangos spending a vast amount of public money and running large numbers of public services.
"We need to make sure there is no unnecessary bureaucracy and that the vast array of different bodies providing public services do not waste money by duplicating the work others already carry out."
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