Quangos (Report) (Hansard, 3 December 1980)

§ The Prime Minister

In January this year I announced decisions which will lead to the abolition of over 240 non-departmental public bodies with estimated savings of £11.6 million in a full year.

Since then, further decisions have been taken which will lead to the winding up of another 28 executive bodies

Department	Decision
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Centre for Information on Language	Grant to be reduced by about £36,000 per annum by 1983–84.
Teaching and Research Council for Educational Technology	Reduction in grant of about £222,000 by 1982–83
DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT GROUP
Disablement Advisory Committees	Numbers to be reduced from 220 to 88, with saving of about £150,000 per annum.
Industrial Relations Training Resource Centre	To be abolished; saving of £60–£100,000 per annum.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Advisory Committes on Fixed Offshore Installations	Abolished in March.
Advisory Council on Energy Conservation	Reconstituted with reduced membership.
Severn Barrage Committee	To be abolished in 1981.
DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT
New Town Development Corporations (11)	^*Target dates decided for abolition of first and second generation corporations.
Commission for New Towns	^*To be abolished; legislation required.
New Towns Staff Commission	^*Abolition associated with winding up of Development Corporations.
Advisory Panel on Institutional Finance in New Towns	^*Abolished.
Housing Corporation	Staff reductions and administrative streamlining, savings of about £1 million.
Housing Services Advisory Group	Abolished. Saving of about £26,000 per annum.
National Consultative Council for the Building and Civil Engineering	Abolished in April; saving of £60–£80,OO0 per annum.
Industries
FOREIGN OFFICE
British Council	Reduction in expenditure, phased over four years to reach £8.6 million per annum by 1983–84.
DEPARTMEKT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SECURITY
Advisory Committee on Child Psychotherapists (Grading and Appointments)	To be abolished after current negotiations; saving of about £12,000 per annum.
Advisory Committee on Top Grade Clinical Psychologist Posts
Advisory Committee on Top Grade Scientist Posts
Food Hygiene Advisory Council	To be abolished
General Nursing Council (E&W)	To be abolished after transitional period. New structure involves Central Council and two territorial boards.
Central Midwives Board (E&W)
Joint Board for Clinical Nursing Studies
Panel of Assessors for District Nurse Training
Council for the Education and Training of Health Visitors
National Radiological Protection Board Advisory Committee	To be abolished
HOME OFFICE
Central Committee on Common Police Services	Fewer meetings, reduced membership.
Licensing Planning Committees (6)	Four to be abolished

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and 164 advisory and judicial bodies. Valuable financial savings will arise from these decisions and from reductions in the expenditure of other bodies which have been reviewed. These savings will accrue over a period of time and in some cases cannot yet be calculated, but they will reach over £11 million a year by 1983–84.

I am sure hon. Members will welcome these measures, which bring to 436 the total number of public bodies to be wound up; the total savings will approach £23 million a year by 1983–84.

A number of reviews are still in progress, including those of the nationalised industries consumer councils and the industrial training board system.

We shall keep all existing bodies under regular scrutiny. Those which continue to undertake valuable work and remain appropriate will be retained, but we shall keep under close control the money which the Government spend on them. Whenever bodies are no longer needed, they will be wound up.

There are always pressures for the creation of new bodies. We shall be robust in resisting them. But we shall approve proposals for new bodies if we can be convinced that the function is essential and that a non-departmental body is the appropriate way to do the job, as in the case of the urban development corporations and other bodies we have set up.

Details of the decisions are as follows:

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Department	Decision
New Town Licensed Premises Committees (17)	11 to be abolished by 1985 along with associated Development Corporations.
DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY
Design Council	Staff reductions. Aim of increased income from advisory etc. services. Substantial savings.
NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE AND NI DEPARTMENTS
Advisory Committee for Agricultural Training (NI)	Abolished.
Advisory Committee on Health Education (NI)	Abolished.
Extra Statutory Compensation Tribunal	To be abolished.
Hotel Grants Advisory Committee (NI)	To be abolished; Legislation required.
Northern Ireland Agricultural Trust	To be abolished; saving of about £400,000.
Northern Ireland Council for Nurses and Midwives	To be abolished after transitional period; replaced by new NI board.
NI Electricity Consumers Council	To be amalgamated; legislation required.
NI Consumer Council
NI Transport Users' Committee
NI Training Council	To be amalgamated; legislation required.
Youth Careers Guidance Committee
Youth Opportunities Programme Monitoring Committee
Nature Reserves Committee	To be amalgamated; legislation required.
Wild Birds Advisory Committee
NI Training School Management Boards (4)	Government intends that Boards' present functions will be discharged by one board.
SCOTTISH OFFICE
Scottish Food Hygiene Council	To be abolished.
General Nursing Council for Scotland	To be abolished after transitional period. Replaced by new Scottish Board.
Central Midwives Board (Scotland)
Governing Bodies of Colleges of Education (10)	Closure of two colleges; restructuring of another. Significant savings.
Scottish Horticultural Research Institute	To be amalgamated.
Scottish Society for Research in Plant Breeding
TREASURY
Commonwealth War Graves Commission	Staff reductions and other savings. Savings of over £200,000 per annum by 1983–84.
^*Taking these bodies together, there will be substantial savings in the amount (currently about £640,000 per annum.) spent on departmental supervision, etc.