§ Sir Philip Hollandasked the Prime Minister if she will list in the Official Report the executive non-departmental public bodies that have been the subject of overall reviews in accordance with the requirement set out in section 7 of the "Non-departmental Public Bodies: A Guide for Departments" since January 1982; and if she will make a statement on the progress to date.
§ The Prime MinisterThe executive bodies reviewed since 1982 are as follows.
Since the review arrangements described in the present guidance to Departments were introduced in 1979 we have substantially reduced the number of all kinds of non-departmental bodies, with corresponding savings in public expenditure. We shall continue to keep the justification for such bodies under review. But we are now putting even greater emphasis on getting better value for money from such bodies. I announced on 19 November last year a new programme of reviews aimed at progressively improving the management and performance of non-departmental bodies. Revised guidance, incorporating these new arrangements, will be published later this year.