UK considers shutting hundreds of public bodies to streamline government
(VOVWORLD) - Britain said it could close hundreds of arms-length government agencies, as it looks to reform the state to cut costs and improve productivity in what it called "a new era of global instability".
 Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (photo: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Rex/Shutterstock) |
Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said that "every quango across government will be reviewed, with a view to close, merge or bring functions back into government’s departments if its continued existence cannot be justified."
The government warned that global instability meant it had to go "further and faster" in its reforms of the bureaucracy. Last month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was scrapping NHS England, a body overseeing the health system, and bring its functions back into the government's health department, aiming to save hundreds of millions of pounds.
Britain has hundreds of quangos, or quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations. These are taxpayer-funded but not controlled by ministers, and include public bodies such as the Health and Safety Executive, Network Rail and the Migration Advisory Committee.