What bonfire of the quangos?

In October 2010, I did a posting about the new Coalition Government’s intention to abolish or merge some 300 so-called quangos, including both the ones on which I sit, the Communications Consumer Panel and Consumer Focus.

Fifteen months later, only one merger has actually happened – Postcomm going into Ofcom which was in fact proposed by the previous Labour Government – and the National Audir Office now projects that the cost of the abolition process will be almost twice what the Government originally estimated {see story here).

Meanwhile we are still waiting for the Government announcement explaining how the various bodies involved in consumer advocacy will rationalised. The resultant uncertainty and cuts in funding has reduced the effectiveness and resources of such bodies at precisely the time when consumers most need them as they face the worst economic recession of our lifetimes.

At a personal level, my terms of office on the relevant bodies are due to end very shortly anyway. I finish at Consumer Focus next week and at the Communications Consumer Panel later in the year. So I need to refresh my portfolio. Watch this space.


 




XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>