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Government efforts to scrap expensive and often ineffective quangos have been criticised by a group of MPs, who say the process has been "botched".
In October, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude announced he was culling the number of public bodies from 901 to 648 to restore accountability to large swathes of government.
However, the House of Commons public administration committee criticised the way the review was carried out and accused ministers of seeking excessive powers to axe even more.
The cross-party group of MPs found ministers had "failed to recognise the realities of the modern world" and missed an opportunity to show its "Big Society" agenda in action by handing more powers to charity.
It criticised the Conservatives' pre-election promises about cutting the "costly bureaucracy" of quangos for creating a "false expectation that the review would deliver greater savings".
Concerns were also raised that the quango cutbacks were carried out without "meaningful consultation" and without properly defined tests.
The committee said the legislation allowing the cull should be limited to the present process and not pave the way for future reductions.
The report found there was "insufficient safeguards to prevent the misuse of powers by ministers" – something which has already led to several defeats in the House of Lords.
And it said the Cabinet Office had failed to establish a proper procedure for departments to follow and there was no system of consultation with the bodies concerned or with the public.
Conservative committee chair Bernard Jenkin said:"The whole process was rushed and poorly handled and should have been thought through a lot more.
"This was a fantastic opportunity to help build the Big Society and save money at the same time, but it has been botched.
"The government needs to rethink which functions public bodies need to perform and consider transferring some of these functions over to mutuals and charities."
Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme, Maude admitted the coalition had been quick to reduce the number of quangos and that it had not been a "perfect process".
The Cabinet Office minister said: "We don't think we can just sit around and wait for things to happen. We want to get on with it. This has been delayed. This is long overdue.
"Everyone says that they support the aim of getting rid of a lot of quangos, simplifying it, getting rid of the duplication, often the conflict that exists between different quangos in the same area and, you know, it has got to be dealt with.
"So I wasn't willing that the government should sit around and have a long review, we want to get on with it."
He argued that the bonfire of quangos would save "significantly more" than £1bn and would clear up the "hugely chaotic landscape" they inherited from Labour.
Article Comments
Unite warned last October about the dangers of culling quangos as they do an immense amount of good work as economic generators, defenders of consumer and legal rights, environmental champions, and guardians of standards in public life.
It appears that the coalition is intent on pushing ahead with its plans, regardless of the stinging criticisms from this respected parliamentary committee, which means that ministers are refusing to take account of the expert advice of the professionals and the conclusions of elected MPs from across the parties.
Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary designate
7th Jan 2011 at 10:40 am
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