Think-tank: Quangos eroding democracy
A review is under way into around 1,000 special state bodies at national level with a view to amalgamating some and abolishing others.
TASC — the Think-tank for Action on Social Change — said this review should be extended to include the 500 to 600 agencies and bodies that exist at a local level.
These include county development boards, strategic policy committees, childcare committees and regional drug task forces.
It is estimated that about 80% of these agencies and boards were set up in the past two decades.
In its response to the recently published green paper on local government, TASC said yesterday that “radical reform” is needed in how local authorities operate.
Director Paula Clancy said the pattern of establishing quangos “does not sit easily with the green paper’s stated principle of strengthening local democratic institutions”.
She said: “The last 20 years have seen an emphasis at local level on the development of partnerships among the public, private and voluntary sectors.
“While these structures allow for more diverse composition, many of the individuals, groups and agencies are not at all accountable to local communities.”
Ms Clancy said that in many cases establishing “arms’ length agencies” can have positive outcomes including a need for independence, access to specialist expertise and efficiency in service delivery.
“However, delivering these outcomes in a transparent and accountable fashion is less easy in practice. TASC has called for a planned strategic approach to the establishment of agencies and allocation of functions to them, based on a clear set of criteria.
“In particular, where local agencies are retained or established, they must be accountable to local government,” said Ms Clancy.
TASC also said the green paper has failed to address the “unsustainable” system of funding of local government.
