HC Deb 13 May 1996 vol 277 cc621-2
1. Mr. William O'Brien

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans he has to make non-departmental bodies more accountable to the House; and if he will make a statement. [27664]

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. Roger Freeman)

The Government are committed to improving the accountability of non-departmental public bodies. We welcomed the recommendations in the first report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, and have recently published a consultative paper on propriety and accountability issues in public bodies.

Mr. O'Brien

Will the Chancellor address the vexed question of Members of Parliament who write to Ministers and find that their questions are shuttled off to some agency or other body? Many of those questions relate to the health, welfare and destinies of our constituents. Will the right hon. Gentleman ensure that Ministers who are responsible for their Departments answer such questions? Will he also ensure that non-departmental bodies are more open and democratic, and serve members of the community as they wish to be served?

Mr. Freeman

I am sure that all hon. Members have found the experiment involving chief executives of agencies answering questions of fact helpful. I well understand that one or two hon. Members might not approve of the practice, and it is open to them to write directly to Ministers and to ask for replies that can be made public in due course. I shall, however, bear in mind what the hon. Gentleman has said when we review the practice.

Dr. Spink

Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is absurd to refer to the governing bodies of grant-maintained schools as quangos? Are not those bodies staffed by dedicated local people who give of the wealth and breadth of their experience? Surely they should not be made more directly accountable to the House; they do an excellent job now—and they would no doubt have a view about the withdrawal of child benefit from some of their students by the Labour party.

Mr. Freeman

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for paying tribute to the work of not only grant-maintained school governing bodies but, by implication, national health service trusts and other bodies that draw on volunteers from the private sector who give their time freely and, in most cases, without payment. Let me record the Government's gratitude to all who serve on such bodies.

Mr. Derek Foster

Is not the real problem about quangos the fact that they have become the unelected, unaccountable and secretive state? As the right hon. Gentleman's party has been swept from office in local government, has it not transferred functions to unelected quangos and packed them with its placemen and women, and are not those bodies—health authorities, for example—totally unaccountable to the communities that they serve? Why does the Chancellor not apply his mind to that problem?

Mr. Freeman

I do not accept the right hon. Gentleman's analysis, and his suggestion that such bodies are in some way unaccountable to their local communities. The Conservative party has argued, and continues to argue successfully, that they are drawn from—and therefore represent, in a very real sense, the aspirations and needs of—their local communities.

Mr. John Marshall

Is my right hon. Friend aware that one of the first schools to become grant-maintained was Hendon school, in my constituency, which is now over-subscribed rather than under-subscribed? Is he also aware that, while Labour Members may attack non-departmental bodies in the House, they are happy to send their children to grant-maintained schools? That includes the Leader of the Opposition.

Mr. Freeman

I note what my hon. Friend says. We have reduced the number of non-departmental public bodies by 43 per cent. since 1979—from 2,167 to 1,227 at the end of 1995. That excludes grant-maintained schools and national health service trusts, but it reflects a welcome downward trend.