‘U-turn’ on quango cull bill, says
Unite
2 March 2011
‘A significant U-turn’ has been conceded by the government in
its bid to abolish quangos without full parliamentary scrutiny,
Unite, the largest union in the country, said today (Wednesday 2
March).
A crucial schedule in the Public Bodies (Reform) bill has been
removed by the House of Lords which means that quangos can’t be
abolished ”at a ministerial whim, with the flourish of their
cost-cutting pen.”
However, the nearly 200 organisations named in the bill are
still in line to be axed – but, in future, a minister won't be able
to use a statutory instrument to abolish quangos not mentioned in
the current legislation.
Unite national officer Rachael Maskell said: ”If Schedule 7 had
not been struck out by the peers, a minister could have stood up in
the house and announced, without further ado, that a public body
was to be abolished. Government by ministerial whim and flourish of
their cost-cutting pen is not good government.
”The removal of this schedule will mean that no minister now has
this power to abuse the democratic process. Ministers will need to
go through full parliamentary scrutiny first, which is what should
be expected in a democracy.
”We clearly still have a long way to go in getting this
government to think more cleverly about the jobs public bodies do,
but this is a definitely a U-turn and a significant victory for
common sense.”
This would give greater protection to such bodies as the Health
and Safety Executive.
Unite has argued that the coalition has adopted a ‘slash and
burn’ ideology to public bodies that 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.
Rachael Maskell said: ”The government has lumped all the quangos
under threat, such as the UK Film Council which funded The King’s
Speech, into a basket marked ‘Saving money at any cost’, when we
all know that life is more complex than that.
”This bill is gradually crumbling as public bodies are being
removed from this legislation. There can only be a certain number
of U-turns before common sense shows that this legislation was
badly drafted with little thought.”
ENDS
Notes to news editors:
For further information, please contact Rachael Maskell on 07768
693933 and/or Shaun Noble on 07768 693940.
