Bonfire of the Quangos

Just noticed we’ve lost the ‘images’ facility again.
(You just know I’d have liked a pic of Keir Starmer alongside my OP!). 😁

Personally, I havent the faintest idea what it all means.

I don’t know if it was a coincidence, but NHS has gone downhill since the Tories set up NHS England.

Keir Starmer abolishes health service’s executive body NHS England
Prime minister brings health service back under ‘democratic control’ of ministers

“Keir Starmer has brought the health service back under the control of ministers by abolishing NHS England.
The prime minister said the NHS should be overseen by politicians rather than an arm’s-length body.

Starmer’s move is one step towards reversing a shake-up of the NHS carried out by former health secretary Andrew Lansley in the first years of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.

In a speech about reshaping the state, Starmer said NHS England would be abolished to “cut bureaucracy” and bring management of the health service “back into democratic control”.

He said the move would free up cash for doctors, nurses and frontline services, and cut red tape to help speed up improvements in the NHS, with the government aiming to slash waiting lists by the next election.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has already presided over plans to reduce the size of NHS England by half, and its chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, is leaving at the end of the month.
Streeting said on Thursday that the government was “abolishing the biggest quango in the world” by getting rid of NHS England. Its functions would be taken into the Department of Health

Includes a video with Starmer explaining.

www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/13/keir-starmer-abolishes-nhs-england-executive-body

Absolutely brilliant brilliant news. 👏👏👏👏👏
Now Whitehall.

Don't get too excited, Starmer is abolishing one quango,

but has created new ones since coming to power

He's not anti quango per se, it's whether they are useful and helpful.

The news headline "Bonfire of the Quangos" is somewhat misleading as per .

More are likely to go, but after proper thought not rushing into it.

Looks a bit like pass the parcel to me.
But if it works, that would be brilliant.
It certainly isnt working well currently.

20 new quangos since the election. List on the post at 11.41

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5293360-nhs-england-to-go-is-keir-being-unreasonable

fancythat

Looks a bit like pass the parcel to me.
But if it works, that would be brilliant.
It certainly isnt working well currently.

Why wouldn’t it work. You have 2 bodies working in parallel both doing more of less the same thing.
Are you aware of what this duplication costs?

karmalady

20 new quangos since the election. List on the post at 11.41

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5293360-nhs-england-to-go-is-keir-being-unreasonable

Life’s too short to go through the whole it’s so I picked one that I’m very interested in Solar Taskforce.
All looks good to me.

The number of non-departmental public bodies has been in decline for decades, and currently stands at about 300, down from about 700 in 2010 when Cameron won power. In the 1970s, there were as many as 2,000.

“At the high point of executive agencies in the late-90s, there’s one paper which suggests that three-quarters of civil servants were employed in agencies of this kind,” Matthew Gill, programme director at the Institute for Government, said. “That was the point at which you had the bonfire of the quangos led by Cameron and Francis Maude. But the reduction in cost this led to was low compared with the reduction in number.”
Civil service departments became agencies, the staff were still civil servants doing vital work but the focus did change. Staff who were highly educated and trained and were previously doing vital and skilled work had to take over management tasks previously carried out by central government staff.

Then when Cameron closed these agencies, the work went out to the private sector. Was that cost-effective?

It's just a shuffling around of a pack of cards.

I recall Mrs T getting rid of quangos but there was a rise in the number of NDPBs (Non- departmental public bodies). Just saying.

A quango isn’t the same as a task force is it?

Seems to me what matters is whats best for the matter in hand.

If the 20 new groups are pertinent and effective working groups for specific useful purposes then I don't have a problem.

Cut what isn't working for us.

Clearly NHS England was not.

vegansrock

A quango isn’t the same as a task force is it?

Exactly. some of the groups on that list are clearly small task forces working within the civil services but with specific focuses.

I think Starmer is getting his inspiration from a certain Donald Trump!

First he’s vowing to cut the bloated welfare budget and now the quangos are for the chop.

Can we dare hope that he continues to follow Trump and kick out illegal immigrants, starting with the many criminals who are languishing here at tax payers expense, enjoying their ‘human rights’ ?

Er...no, Jennifer.

Firstly, A major overhaul of the NHS and review of benefits were in the LP manifesto.

Secondly, no chainsaws in sight, rather, tackling the big issues gradually with proper forward planning.

Third, it depends on the quango. Quangos per se are not up for the chop, it depends on their function, size and efficiency.

Quango is an umbrella term which has outlived its usefulness becuase they range from small working groups appointed by government (like some of the new ones) on the one hand to the NHS and say Ofwat on the other.

Lastly, Trump is not having the success he might have wanted: huge numbers of undocumented people are in holding camps, guarded by soldiers, at the expense of the government, and they cant be deported as their countries of origin have not agreed to take them.

In fact the number of deportations have dropped since Trump came in

"Trump announced mass expulsions, but the pace of deportation flights has been slower than Biden's
Countries that received more deportation flights haven't seen major changes and predict that 2025 will end with fewer deportees than previous years.

www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/trump-announced-mass-expulsions-deportation-flights-slower-bidens-rcna195223

Here is a list of Qangos
The BBC is a Qango,
Health & Safety Executive.
Air Accident Investigaions Branch
Arts Council
Atomic Weapons Establishement
The Chariity Commission
Crown Prosecution Service
Food Sandards Registry
The Land Agency
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
National Crime Agency
Serious Fraud Agency
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

This is just a selected list. All do jobs that will need to be done anyway whether done through a Qango, or done by government.

Several of them are better for being separated from government - The Supreme Court, for example, Crown Prosecution Service, BBC.

Quangos, do not make jobs, and closing them does not cut jobs. The work has still to be done.

This is a classic case of moving the deckchairs on the deck of the Titanic.

They are all so different, aren't they? I don't think "Quango" a helpful term anymore.