§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the non-departmental public bodies in existence on 1 May 1997 that(a) have been disbanded, (b) will be 513W disbanded in the next 12 months, (c) have had their functions transferred to (i) another non-departmental public body and (ii) a democratically elected body, (d) have been renamed but continue to perform a similar role and (e) have been unchanged; if he will indicate in (c)(ii) the relevant successor body; what new non-departmental public bodies have been established since I May 1997; and how many non-departmental public bodies his Department currently is responsible for. [53856]
§ Mr. MilburnOf the non-Departmental public bodies (NDPBs) in existence on 1 May 1997 one, the Advisory Committee on Design Quality in the National Health Service, has been abolished. None are currently planned for abolition within the next 12 months but the Central Council for Education and Training for Social Work (an executive NDPB) will be abolished by 31 March 2001, subject to Parliamentary approval. No NDPBs have had their functions transferred to another non-departmental public body or to a democratically elected body and none have been renamed; the rest remain unchanged.
The Royal Commission on the Long-Term Care of the Elderly has been established since 1 May, but it must be wound up by 17 December 1998. The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens, which was a Departmental committee, has been reclassified as an advisory NDPB. We are responsible for 7 executive and 38 advisory NDPBs.
We are committed to keeping the number of NDPBs to a minimum and to ensuring that those which remain are open, accountable and effective. Many of the new NDPBs established since 1 May will be essential in helping the Government to deliver their manifesto commitments.
The NDPBs for which the Department of Health is responsible are listed in Public Bodies, copies of which have been laid in the Libraries of both Houses.