The Cabinet Office is currently conducting a comprehensive spending review of all government funded quangos. Each agency now has to prove it deserves to exist or be eliminated. This step represents a bold step towards ensuring defence public spending is far more streamlined and accountable across the UK’s semi-public bodies. The directive, issued as a memorandum to all federal agencies, establishes an ambitious standard that will require these entities to justify their continued existence.
The review is part of a larger initiative to improve efficiency and cut wasteful spending across the government. The imperative to do more with less has only intensified. Judging quangos fairly and firmly oversight is important to help ensure that often huge sums of public money are spent wisely.
Justification or Abolition
Every quango need make the case for why they should exist, making their case with a strong argument that they are needed to exist. This strategy represents a departure from the status quo. Faced with these realities, these entities had better start providing some illustrated evidence of their worth.
Each quango needs to be judged on its functions and performance by the relevant government department. Equally important, they need to measure the economic return of these arts organizations. The evaluation must clearly articulate why the services provided by the quango cannot be delivered more efficiently or effectively through alternative means.
Criteria for Evaluation
The evaluation process will emphasize three main criteria in deciding if a quango should be kept. Restoring and reforming the quango that so badly chewed through public services. It’s indispensable for accomplishing government goals, and provides a lower-cost solution than other delivery models.
Applicable departments should consider whether the quango is already covered by bodies performing similar functions elsewhere. Equally important, they should figure out whether its activities can be folded in to what already government does. Transparency and accountability This will be under a microscope. Even if it doesn’t impact your organization, transparency encourages every organization to perform at a higher level of public service.
Implications and Future Steps
This review has the potential to eliminate a sizeable chunk of the quango state pervasive across the UK. Eliminating unnecessary or duplicative councils, committees, and commissions will save nearly half a billion dollars. Once again, we can use those savings to invest in other priority areas.
