HC Deb 25 May 2004 vol 421 cc1537-8W
Mr. Stephen O'Brien

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many non-departmental public bodies have been(a) created and (b) abolished since July 2003. [175451]

Mr. Alexander

This information is not currently available centrally.

I refer the hon. Member to my response to the hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr. Davey) on 4 May 2004, Official Report, column 1444W, when I indicated that later this year we would be launching a Public Bodies database on the internet. This will contain statistics as at 31 March 2004 which can then be compared with figures in the previous annual "Public Bodies" publications.