§ Mr. Kaufmanasked the Prime Minister, pursuant to her answer of 23 May to the hon. Member for Dundee, West (Mr. Ross) on quangos, Official Report, column 351, if she will state, out of the 756 quangos which she listed as having been abolished, rationalised or substantially reduced, how many of those which had been reduced are still in existence; what form the rationalisation took in the relevant cases; of those which were rationalised how many are still in existence; how many of the 756 were completely abolished; and how many of the 756 still exist.
§ The Prime Minister[pursuant to her reply, 9 June 1986, c. 42]: Four hundred and seven non-departmental public bodies have been completely abolished since 1979. In addition there has been a reduction of 194 in the number of NDPB's which form part of composite organisations such as the wages councils or area manpower boards. But in these cases the composite organisations themselves have not been abolished. A further 155 NDPB's have been rationalised, including five which have been subsequently abolished. The main forms of rationalisation have been:
- (i) merging of two or more NDPB's;
- (ii) abolition of an NDPB and its replacement by a new
110 body; - (iii) absorption of an NDPB by its sponsor department or another NDPB;
- (iv) transfer to the private sector.