Politics

[Park Life 71]

There is self-perpetuating middle class elite (think tanks, quangos, quasi Eu bodies, most of the Eu itself, cunts in our Govt with no job desription or misson but giving advice as to the size of the new 2p coin or trade with Barbados) who are sucking us dry....Get rid of all of it. ALL OF IT!! ARM THE PEOPLE!

Edited July 15, 2010 by Park Life

[Meenzer 15718]

Danny smashed for 6 again

 

Not really I just don't have time to pick through Matts point. Which really isn't a point, more of a rant based on the idea that the Tories have ignored all sound economic advise to put into place a nefarious plan to dismantle this countries public sector at the detriment of the country as a whole....which is of course as ridiculous as it sounds.

 

I'm sorry, but dismissing any post of Matt's on financial matters as an "anti-Tory rant" just proves that either you haven't read his post or you don't have the mental capacity to understand it.

[Renton 22001]

If we're looking at low impact cuts I'd start here:

 

But more than 12½ years later the great "bonfire" Mr Brown spoke of remains unlit. In fact, the cost of executive agencies, advisory bodies, independent monitoring boards and other quangos has mushroomed under New Labour. Spending on such agencies soared to £167.5billion in 2006, up from £24.1bn in 1998.

 

Research revealed for the first time this weekend shows that over the past two years ministers have created 200 quangos. The new study, which will become available online to the public this week, has been put together by the Economic Research Council, Britain's oldest think-tank. By trawling through a forest of government accounts, the ERC has created a database that allows users for the first time to see how the quango state has grown since 1998 and how its payroll - and its pay - has grown exponentially.

 

1. Cut deep as above.

2. Cancel all new defence procurement and get out of Afghanistan. (Keep nuke subs only).

3. Cut NHS management, hire more nurses and doctors. (Cut GP pay...why are they earning upto £115,000 a year anyway??)

4. Bank tax on profits for all banks in the UK and bank taxes across the EU and mega taxes on bonuses. If you want to fuck off to America go ahead.

5. Scrap all taxes on small business that employ more than 5 people and with a turnover of less than 1 million inc corporation tax.

6. Scrap all but the most necessary liason agencies with the EU (we spend 30 billion on quasi-EU bodies.

7. Set timetable for reimbursment of the public purse from bailout banks.

8. Invest in medium sized industry in high unemployment zones, create tax breaks for foreign private capital to invest in such zones.

 

...for starters...

 

We spend £168 Billion on Quangos? Nearly £3000 per capita (including children)? Common sense says that is complete bollocks.

 

Well you're wrong. EU quangos alone are around 30 billion. You know all that shit about how big your sausage is Renty and whether some car sprayer in Hoxton is using the correct water based paint.

 

Most of those are Daily Mail myths though. You are seriously telling me we spend twice as much on Quangos as we do on Healthcare? Howay man.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Renton

[Park Life 71]

If we're looking at low impact cuts I'd start here:

 

But more than 12½ years later the great "bonfire" Mr Brown spoke of remains unlit. In fact, the cost of executive agencies, advisory bodies, independent monitoring boards and other quangos has mushroomed under New Labour. Spending on such agencies soared to £167.5billion in 2006, up from £24.1bn in 1998.

 

Research revealed for the first time this weekend shows that over the past two years ministers have created 200 quangos. The new study, which will become available online to the public this week, has been put together by the Economic Research Council, Britain's oldest think-tank. By trawling through a forest of government accounts, the ERC has created a database that allows users for the first time to see how the quango state has grown since 1998 and how its payroll - and its pay - has grown exponentially.

 

1. Cut deep as above.

2. Cancel all new defence procurement and get out of Afghanistan. (Keep nuke subs only).

3. Cut NHS management, hire more nurses and doctors. (Cut GP pay...why are they earning upto £115,000 a year anyway??)

4. Bank tax on profits for all banks in the UK and bank taxes across the EU and mega taxes on bonuses. If you want to fuck off to America go ahead.

5. Scrap all taxes on small business that employ more than 5 people and with a turnover of less than 1 million inc corporation tax.

6. Scrap all but the most necessary liason agencies with the EU (we spend 30 billion on quasi-EU bodies.

7. Set timetable for reimbursment of the public purse from bailout banks.

8. Invest in medium sized industry in high unemployment zones, create tax breaks for foreign private capital to invest in such zones.

 

...for starters...

 

We spend £168 Billion on Quangos? Nearly £3000 per capita (including children)? Common sense says that is complete bollocks.

 

Well you're wrong. EU quangos alone are around 30 billion. You know all that shit about how big your sausage is Renty and whether some car sprayer in Hoxton is using the correct water based paint.

 

Most of those are Daily Mail myths though. You are seriously telling me we spend twice as much on Quangos as we do on Healthcare? Howay man.

 

The torygraph

 

 

Quangos spent £300,000 of taxpayers' money at party conferences

Local quangos have been accused of a "perverse" waste of taxpayers' money after it emerged they spent almost £300,000 of taxpayers' money lobbying MPs at political party conferences.

 

 

By Jon Swaine

Published: 2:27PM GMT 28 Dec 2008

 

Tens of thousands of pounds of the total went on dinners and drinks parties at the autumn conferences, at which officials entertained politicians in an attempt to win more public funding.

 

The money was spent by staff from Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), which were set up by the Government in 1999 to "spread economic prosperity" and "bring fresh vitality" to their areas by encouraging investment.

 

 

Arm the people!

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics...onferences.html

Edited July 15, 2010 by Park Life

[NJS 4411]

It was reported last week that Abdi and Sayruq Nur and their seven children moved into their three-storey property in Kensington, central London, at a cost of £8,000 a month.

 

 

I'm surprised Cameron is pretending to be outraged given the complicity of private landlords in the scam.

 

Of course you could argue that the legal obligation of councils to house people should be exempted in areas like Kensington - I know that would just pass the buck elsewhere but it would save money.

[Happy Face 29]

"Do you agree that Mr Nur and his family, who have moved into a £2,000-a-week house at the taxpayers' expense in Kensington, is exactly the sort of thing the coalition was elected to fight against?"

 

The Prime Minister said: "The housing benefit situation, particularly in central London, has got completely out of control.

 

Worried they'll lower property value in the area.

[Meenzer 15718]

Aye. Relocate them to New Cross, they'll actually raise the tone around here.

[AgentAxeman 189]

It was reported last week that Abdi and Sayruq Nur and their seven children moved into their three-storey property in Kensington, central London, at a cost of £8,000 a month.

 

 

I'm surprised Cameron is pretending to be outraged given the complicity of private landlords in the scam.

 

Of course you could argue that the legal obligation of councils to house people should be exempted in areas like Kensington - I know that would just pass the buck elsewhere but it would save money.

 

 

cant do that. it would be against their human rights. you can limit how much you handout tho. fucking hell, £400 a week for doing nowt? sign me up for that one!

[Park Life 71]

More middle class intelligensia gravy training....Cut the fucking lot of them.

 

The rise of the quangocracy

 

The Tories are targeting the soaring cost of public bodies

 

By Nigel Morris, Deputy Political Editor

 

Thursday, 19 March 2009

 

 

 

The amount of taxpayers' money spent on quangos – short for quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations – soared last year by an inflation-busting 12 per cent. Almost 800 such groups, mostly funded by handouts from the state or from levies, have a central role in the administration of the country.

 

These unelected public bodies range from massive employers including the Environment Agency, the Defence Procurement Agency and the Housing Corporation to little-known committees such as the Home Grown Cereals Authority and the British Hallmark Council. Spending on the major quangos – the executive agencies – leapt from £30.8bn in 2006-07 to £34.5bn last year.

 

But they would face severe cutbacks under a Conservative administration determined to reduce levels of public spending, The Independent can disclose. In a speech today, David Cameron, the Conservative leader, will promise to tackle levels of public debt if the party wins the election expected next year. He has already called for the £139.50 BBC licence fee, to rise by £3 on 1 April, to be frozen for the next year in an effort to force public bodies to "deliver more for less".

Related articles

 

* Leading article: Addicted to quangos

* Search the news archive for more stories

 

The party is working on plans for a massive audit of Britain's "quangocracy" amid suspicions that controls on some of their budgets are lax and that some quangos duplicate the work of others. One shadow cabinet minister said: "The quango state has grown, like Topsy, under Labour. We believe there is substantial scope for real savings in this area, this will be an early priority for an incoming government."

 

Despite promises by ministers to get to grips with Britain's burgeoning collection of unaccountable organisations, their number has fallen only slightly over the past decade.

 

When Labour came to power in 1997 there were 857 "non-departmental public bodies". According to the Cabinet Office, that number fell to 827 in 2007 and 790 last year. But their expenditure is soaring, from £37bn in 2006-07 to £43bn last year, with the taxpayers' contribution rising from £30.8bn to £34.5bn.

 

The largest and most powerful agencies – the so-called executive non-departmental public bodies – employ 92,500 staff. The biggest spender is the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, which is responsible for such organisations as the Construction Industry Training Board, the Design Council and the Learning and Skills Council.

 

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said the rising budgets reflected "the Government's increasing investment in education, skills and research during difficult economic times" as well as increasing spending on preparations for the 2012 Olympics in London. Critics accuse the Government of keeping details of spending by quangos under wraps in an attempt to limit political embarrassment.

 

There is widespread disagreement over how much money they get through because of the problem in defining exactly what constitutes a quango. According to one calculation, they administered budgets of £167bn in 2006, including the £112bn budget allocated to the National Health Service.

 

Tory sources accept that the amount of "low-hanging fruit" in Whitehall budgets is limited, but believe quangos could be the most productive area of spending to scrutinise. They also insist that there would be public support for economies, particularly if inefficiencies in quangos' expenditure can be uncovered. One potential area for savings could be the high salaries paid to chief executives of some of the bigger quangos.

 

Dan Lewis, the research director of the Economic Research Council think-tank, said: "The quango was a late 1990s Blairite policy solution. You give it a good name, you set up a fancy website, people are given good titles, it starts off well. And then it starts to lose its way."

 

He said quangos offered a "tremendous reform opportunity" for a Tory government. "We need to look closely – if we are going into a nasty recession – [to check whether] they are engaging in activities which private companies are doing already or whether they are even crowding private sector activity."

 

He added: "I hope very much that David Cameron, soon after taking office, orders that the Cabinet Office quickly restore a full annual quangos report in a clear and accountable break from the past." Mr Lewis said the 400 pages of details published by the Government about quangos' spending had been slashed to 30 pages in recent years.

 

Fat cats: What the bosses earn

 

Alf Hitchcock

 

The outgoing Deputy Assistant Commis-sioner of the Met will join the National Policing Improvement Agency next month. The agency is funded by the Home Office. As its head of leadership programmes, he will be paid an estimated £120,000.

 

Sir Michael Pitt

 

The chairman of the new Infrastructure Planning Commission will receive an annual salary of £184,000 this year. A former council chief executive, Sir Michael will work four days a week to speed up decisions on major planning applications.

 

David Gavaghan

 

The chief executive of the Strategic Invest-ment Board, which oversees public works in Northern Ireland, took home a salary and bonus of £213,000 in 2007.

 

The wonderful world of quangos

 

British Hallmarking Council

 

Oversees the hallmarking of gold, silver and platinum. Funded by a levy from the Assay Offices.

 

Coal Authority

 

The successor to British Coal, it regulates the licensing of mines and deals with subsidence damage claims. Had £27.1m government funding in 2006.

 

DairyCo

 

The former Milk Development Council, a fast-growing body promoting the drink and advising dairy farmers. Raises about £7m a year from levies, equivalent to 0.06 pence per litre of milk produced.

 

Darwin Initiative

 

Offers money and advice on wildlife conservation projects in developing countries. Latest initiatives include work protecting chameleons in Madagascar.

 

The Potato Council

 

Funded by levies on potato-growers and seed merchants. Promotes the health benefits of eating potatoes. Raised almost £6m in 2006.

 

Government Hospitality Advisory Committee for the Purchase of Wine

 

Made up of senior wine experts who advise officials on buying wine for the huge Whitehall cellar holding thousands of bottles. The members are unpaid.

 

Herbal Medicines Advisory Committee

 

Advises the Department of Health on the regulation of herbal products. Meets about six times a year.

[AgentAxeman 189]

Aye. Relocate them to New Cross, they'll actually raise the tone around here.

 

 

how much are rental values in london Meenz?

[Happy Face 29]

It was reported last week that Abdi and Sayruq Nur and their seven children moved into their three-storey property in Kensington, central London, at a cost of £8,000 a month.

 

 

I'm surprised Cameron is pretending to be outraged given the complicity of private landlords in the scam.

 

Of course you could argue that the legal obligation of councils to house people should be exempted in areas like Kensington - I know that would just pass the buck elsewhere but it would save money.

 

I don't mind Cameron capping how much they'll pay towards rent. Seems very reasonable.

 

Of course, that's the kind of costly bureaucratic regulation that they're insisting they'll put an end to.

[NJS 4411]

It was reported last week that Abdi and Sayruq Nur and their seven children moved into their three-storey property in Kensington, central London, at a cost of £8,000 a month.

 

 

I'm surprised Cameron is pretending to be outraged given the complicity of private landlords in the scam.

 

Of course you could argue that the legal obligation of councils to house people should be exempted in areas like Kensington - I know that would just pass the buck elsewhere but it would save money.

 

I don't mind Cameron capping how much they'll pay towards rent. Seems very reasonable.

 

Of course, that's the kind of costly bureaucratic regulation that they're insisting they'll put an end to.

 

They could cap the actual rent but that's a whole other can of worms.

[Renton 22001]

More middle class intelligensia gravy training....Cut the fucking lot of them.

 

The rise of the quangocracy

 

The Tories are targeting the soaring cost of public bodies

 

By Nigel Morris, Deputy Political Editor

 

Thursday, 19 March 2009

 

 

 

The amount of taxpayers' money spent on quangos – short for quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations – soared last year by an inflation-busting 12 per cent. Almost 800 such groups, mostly funded by handouts from the state or from levies, have a central role in the administration of the country.

 

These unelected public bodies range from massive employers including the Environment Agency, the Defence Procurement Agency and the Housing Corporation to little-known committees such as the Home Grown Cereals Authority and the British Hallmark Council. Spending on the major quangos – the executive agencies – leapt from £30.8bn in 2006-07 to £34.5bn last year.

 

But they would face severe cutbacks under a Conservative administration determined to reduce levels of public spending, The Independent can disclose. In a speech today, David Cameron, the Conservative leader, will promise to tackle levels of public debt if the party wins the election expected next year. He has already called for the £139.50 BBC licence fee, to rise by £3 on 1 April, to be frozen for the next year in an effort to force public bodies to "deliver more for less".

Related articles

 

* Leading article: Addicted to quangos

* Search the news archive for more stories

 

The party is working on plans for a massive audit of Britain's "quangocracy" amid suspicions that controls on some of their budgets are lax and that some quangos duplicate the work of others. One shadow cabinet minister said: "The quango state has grown, like Topsy, under Labour. We believe there is substantial scope for real savings in this area, this will be an early priority for an incoming government."

 

Despite promises by ministers to get to grips with Britain's burgeoning collection of unaccountable organisations, their number has fallen only slightly over the past decade.

 

When Labour came to power in 1997 there were 857 "non-departmental public bodies". According to the Cabinet Office, that number fell to 827 in 2007 and 790 last year. But their expenditure is soaring, from £37bn in 2006-07 to £43bn last year, with the taxpayers' contribution rising from £30.8bn to £34.5bn.

 

The largest and most powerful agencies – the so-called executive non-departmental public bodies – employ 92,500 staff. The biggest spender is the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, which is responsible for such organisations as the Construction Industry Training Board, the Design Council and the Learning and Skills Council.

 

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said the rising budgets reflected "the Government's increasing investment in education, skills and research during difficult economic times" as well as increasing spending on preparations for the 2012 Olympics in London. Critics accuse the Government of keeping details of spending by quangos under wraps in an attempt to limit political embarrassment.

 

There is widespread disagreement over how much money they get through because of the problem in defining exactly what constitutes a quango. According to one calculation, they administered budgets of £167bn in 2006, including the £112bn budget allocated to the National Health Service.

 

Tory sources accept that the amount of "low-hanging fruit" in Whitehall budgets is limited, but believe quangos could be the most productive area of spending to scrutinise. They also insist that there would be public support for economies, particularly if inefficiencies in quangos' expenditure can be uncovered. One potential area for savings could be the high salaries paid to chief executives of some of the bigger quangos.

 

Dan Lewis, the research director of the Economic Research Council think-tank, said: "The quango was a late 1990s Blairite policy solution. You give it a good name, you set up a fancy website, people are given good titles, it starts off well. And then it starts to lose its way."

 

He said quangos offered a "tremendous reform opportunity" for a Tory government. "We need to look closely – if we are going into a nasty recession – [to check whether] they are engaging in activities which private companies are doing already or whether they are even crowding private sector activity."

 

He added: "I hope very much that David Cameron, soon after taking office, orders that the Cabinet Office quickly restore a full annual quangos report in a clear and accountable break from the past." Mr Lewis said the 400 pages of details published by the Government about quangos' spending had been slashed to 30 pages in recent years.

 

Fat cats: What the bosses earn

 

Alf Hitchcock

 

The outgoing Deputy Assistant Commis-sioner of the Met will join the National Policing Improvement Agency next month. The agency is funded by the Home Office. As its head of leadership programmes, he will be paid an estimated £120,000.

 

Sir Michael Pitt

 

The chairman of the new Infrastructure Planning Commission will receive an annual salary of £184,000 this year. A former council chief executive, Sir Michael will work four days a week to speed up decisions on major planning applications.

 

David Gavaghan

 

The chief executive of the Strategic Invest-ment Board, which oversees public works in Northern Ireland, took home a salary and bonus of £213,000 in 2007.

 

The wonderful world of quangos

 

British Hallmarking Council

 

Oversees the hallmarking of gold, silver and platinum. Funded by a levy from the Assay Offices.

 

Coal Authority

 

The successor to British Coal, it regulates the licensing of mines and deals with subsidence damage claims. Had £27.1m government funding in 2006.

 

DairyCo

 

The former Milk Development Council, a fast-growing body promoting the drink and advising dairy farmers. Raises about £7m a year from levies, equivalent to 0.06 pence per litre of milk produced.

 

Darwin Initiative

 

Offers money and advice on wildlife conservation projects in developing countries. Latest initiatives include work protecting chameleons in Madagascar.

 

The Potato Council

 

Funded by levies on potato-growers and seed merchants. Promotes the health benefits of eating potatoes. Raised almost £6m in 2006.

 

Government Hospitality Advisory Committee for the Purchase of Wine

 

Made up of senior wine experts who advise officials on buying wine for the huge Whitehall cellar holding thousands of bottles. The members are unpaid.

 

Herbal Medicines Advisory Committee

 

Advises the Department of Health on the regulation of herbal products. Meets about six times a year.

 

Can't really be arsed to read that but I take it it doesn't back your claim we spend twice as much on Quangos as on the NHS?

 

Some Quangos should undoubtedly go or be cut back but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, some are good value. I'd list NICE and the BBC as examples of this.

[Park Life 71]

I would scrap housing benefit for anybody who hasn't paid UK tax for at least 5 years.

[AgentAxeman 189]

It was reported last week that Abdi and Sayruq Nur and their seven children moved into their three-storey property in Kensington, central London, at a cost of £8,000 a month.

 

 

I'm surprised Cameron is pretending to be outraged given the complicity of private landlords in the scam.

 

Of course you could argue that the legal obligation of councils to house people should be exempted in areas like Kensington - I know that would just pass the buck elsewhere but it would save money.

 

I don't mind Cameron capping how much they'll pay towards rent. Seems very reasonable.

 

Of course, that's the kind of costly bureaucratic regulation that they're insisting they'll put an end to.

 

 

well i would guess that the bureaucratic regulation is already in place so there would be no extra cost, against a saving of £1600. its a winner!!!!

 

EDIT: in this particular case

Edited July 15, 2010 by AgentAxeman

[Park Life 71]

More middle class intelligensia gravy training....Cut the fucking lot of them.

 

The rise of the quangocracy

 

The Tories are targeting the soaring cost of public bodies

 

By Nigel Morris, Deputy Political Editor

 

Thursday, 19 March 2009

 

 

 

The amount of taxpayers' money spent on quangos – short for quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations – soared last year by an inflation-busting 12 per cent. Almost 800 such groups, mostly funded by handouts from the state or from levies, have a central role in the administration of the country.

 

These unelected public bodies range from massive employers including the Environment Agency, the Defence Procurement Agency and the Housing Corporation to little-known committees such as the Home Grown Cereals Authority and the British Hallmark Council. Spending on the major quangos – the executive agencies – leapt from £30.8bn in 2006-07 to £34.5bn last year.

 

But they would face severe cutbacks under a Conservative administration determined to reduce levels of public spending, The Independent can disclose. In a speech today, David Cameron, the Conservative leader, will promise to tackle levels of public debt if the party wins the election expected next year. He has already called for the £139.50 BBC licence fee, to rise by £3 on 1 April, to be frozen for the next year in an effort to force public bodies to "deliver more for less".

Related articles

 

* Leading article: Addicted to quangos

* Search the news archive for more stories

 

The party is working on plans for a massive audit of Britain's "quangocracy" amid suspicions that controls on some of their budgets are lax and that some quangos duplicate the work of others. One shadow cabinet minister said: "The quango state has grown, like Topsy, under Labour. We believe there is substantial scope for real savings in this area, this will be an early priority for an incoming government."

 

Despite promises by ministers to get to grips with Britain's burgeoning collection of unaccountable organisations, their number has fallen only slightly over the past decade.

 

When Labour came to power in 1997 there were 857 "non-departmental public bodies". According to the Cabinet Office, that number fell to 827 in 2007 and 790 last year. But their expenditure is soaring, from £37bn in 2006-07 to £43bn last year, with the taxpayers' contribution rising from £30.8bn to £34.5bn.

 

The largest and most powerful agencies – the so-called executive non-departmental public bodies – employ 92,500 staff. The biggest spender is the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, which is responsible for such organisations as the Construction Industry Training Board, the Design Council and the Learning and Skills Council.

 

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said the rising budgets reflected "the Government's increasing investment in education, skills and research during difficult economic times" as well as increasing spending on preparations for the 2012 Olympics in London. Critics accuse the Government of keeping details of spending by quangos under wraps in an attempt to limit political embarrassment.

 

There is widespread disagreement over how much money they get through because of the problem in defining exactly what constitutes a quango. According to one calculation, they administered budgets of £167bn in 2006, including the £112bn budget allocated to the National Health Service.

 

Tory sources accept that the amount of "low-hanging fruit" in Whitehall budgets is limited, but believe quangos could be the most productive area of spending to scrutinise. They also insist that there would be public support for economies, particularly if inefficiencies in quangos' expenditure can be uncovered. One potential area for savings could be the high salaries paid to chief executives of some of the bigger quangos.

 

Dan Lewis, the research director of the Economic Research Council think-tank, said: "The quango was a late 1990s Blairite policy solution. You give it a good name, you set up a fancy website, people are given good titles, it starts off well. And then it starts to lose its way."

 

He said quangos offered a "tremendous reform opportunity" for a Tory government. "We need to look closely – if we are going into a nasty recession – [to check whether] they are engaging in activities which private companies are doing already or whether they are even crowding private sector activity."

 

He added: "I hope very much that David Cameron, soon after taking office, orders that the Cabinet Office quickly restore a full annual quangos report in a clear and accountable break from the past." Mr Lewis said the 400 pages of details published by the Government about quangos' spending had been slashed to 30 pages in recent years.

 

Fat cats: What the bosses earn

 

Alf Hitchcock

 

The outgoing Deputy Assistant Commis-sioner of the Met will join the National Policing Improvement Agency next month. The agency is funded by the Home Office. As its head of leadership programmes, he will be paid an estimated £120,000.

 

Sir Michael Pitt

 

The chairman of the new Infrastructure Planning Commission will receive an annual salary of £184,000 this year. A former council chief executive, Sir Michael will work four days a week to speed up decisions on major planning applications.

 

David Gavaghan

 

The chief executive of the Strategic Invest-ment Board, which oversees public works in Northern Ireland, took home a salary and bonus of £213,000 in 2007.

 

The wonderful world of quangos

 

British Hallmarking Council

 

Oversees the hallmarking of gold, silver and platinum. Funded by a levy from the Assay Offices.

 

Coal Authority

 

The successor to British Coal, it regulates the licensing of mines and deals with subsidence damage claims. Had £27.1m government funding in 2006.

 

DairyCo

 

The former Milk Development Council, a fast-growing body promoting the drink and advising dairy farmers. Raises about £7m a year from levies, equivalent to 0.06 pence per litre of milk produced.

 

Darwin Initiative

 

Offers money and advice on wildlife conservation projects in developing countries. Latest initiatives include work protecting chameleons in Madagascar.

 

The Potato Council

 

Funded by levies on potato-growers and seed merchants. Promotes the health benefits of eating potatoes. Raised almost £6m in 2006.

 

Government Hospitality Advisory Committee for the Purchase of Wine

 

Made up of senior wine experts who advise officials on buying wine for the huge Whitehall cellar holding thousands of bottles. The members are unpaid.

 

Herbal Medicines Advisory Committee

 

Advises the Department of Health on the regulation of herbal products. Meets about six times a year.

 

Can't really be arsed to read that but I take it it doesn't back your claim we spend twice as much on Quangos as on the NHS?

 

Some Quangos should undoubtedly go or be cut back but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, some are good value. I'd list NICE and the BBC as examples of this.

 

Why do we pay for the BBC anyway? Scrap the licence fee. Another jobs for the boys middle class cabal. Scarp it. Let it fund itself or fuck off.

[Rob W 0]

Save 100 billion across the EU zone per year by chucking all the global warming crap in the bin.

 

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/c...icle4849167.ece

 

 

make a bonfire of it?

[Guest alex]

Danny smashed for 6 again

 

Not really I just don't have time to pick through Matts point. Which really isn't a point, more of a rant based on the idea that the Tories have ignored all sound economic advise to put into place a nefarious plan to dismantle this countries public sector at the detriment of the country as a whole....which is of course as ridiculous as it sounds.

 

I'm sorry, but dismissing any post of Matt's on financial matters as an "anti-Tory rant" just proves that either you haven't read his post or you don't have the mental capacity to understand it.

[Rob W 0]

"Why do we pay for the BBC anyway?"

 

to avoid watching another version of ITV

[AgentAxeman 189]

I would scrap housing benefit for anybody who hasn't paid UK tax for at least 5 years.

 

 

bit harsh on those who cant work because of say, disability Parky!

[Park Life 71]

I would scrap housing benefit for anybody who hasn't paid UK tax for at least 5 years.

 

 

bit harsh on those who cant work because of say, disability Parky!

 

Everyone in Wales has a back problem apparently.

[Park Life 71]

"Why do we pay for the BBC anyway?"

 

to avoid watching another version of ITV

 

Why watch telly anyway? Get rid.

[Renton 22001]

More middle class intelligensia gravy training....Cut the fucking lot of them.

 

The rise of the quangocracy

 

The Tories are targeting the soaring cost of public bodies

 

By Nigel Morris, Deputy Political Editor

 

Thursday, 19 March 2009

 

 

 

The amount of taxpayers' money spent on quangos – short for quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations – soared last year by an inflation-busting 12 per cent. Almost 800 such groups, mostly funded by handouts from the state or from levies, have a central role in the administration of the country.

 

These unelected public bodies range from massive employers including the Environment Agency, the Defence Procurement Agency and the Housing Corporation to little-known committees such as the Home Grown Cereals Authority and the British Hallmark Council. Spending on the major quangos – the executive agencies – leapt from £30.8bn in 2006-07 to £34.5bn last year.

 

But they would face severe cutbacks under a Conservative administration determined to reduce levels of public spending, The Independent can disclose. In a speech today, David Cameron, the Conservative leader, will promise to tackle levels of public debt if the party wins the election expected next year. He has already called for the £139.50 BBC licence fee, to rise by £3 on 1 April, to be frozen for the next year in an effort to force public bodies to "deliver more for less".

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The party is working on plans for a massive audit of Britain's "quangocracy" amid suspicions that controls on some of their budgets are lax and that some quangos duplicate the work of others. One shadow cabinet minister said: "The quango state has grown, like Topsy, under Labour. We believe there is substantial scope for real savings in this area, this will be an early priority for an incoming government."

 

Despite promises by ministers to get to grips with Britain's burgeoning collection of unaccountable organisations, their number has fallen only slightly over the past decade.

 

When Labour came to power in 1997 there were 857 "non-departmental public bodies". According to the Cabinet Office, that number fell to 827 in 2007 and 790 last year. But their expenditure is soaring, from £37bn in 2006-07 to £43bn last year, with the taxpayers' contribution rising from £30.8bn to £34.5bn.

 

The largest and most powerful agencies – the so-called executive non-departmental public bodies – employ 92,500 staff. The biggest spender is the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, which is responsible for such organisations as the Construction Industry Training Board, the Design Council and the Learning and Skills Council.

 

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said the rising budgets reflected "the Government's increasing investment in education, skills and research during difficult economic times" as well as increasing spending on preparations for the 2012 Olympics in London. Critics accuse the Government of keeping details of spending by quangos under wraps in an attempt to limit political embarrassment.

 

There is widespread disagreement over how much money they get through because of the problem in defining exactly what constitutes a quango. According to one calculation, they administered budgets of £167bn in 2006, including the £112bn budget allocated to the National Health Service.

 

Tory sources accept that the amount of "low-hanging fruit" in Whitehall budgets is limited, but believe quangos could be the most productive area of spending to scrutinise. They also insist that there would be public support for economies, particularly if inefficiencies in quangos' expenditure can be uncovered. One potential area for savings could be the high salaries paid to chief executives of some of the bigger quangos.

 

Dan Lewis, the research director of the Economic Research Council think-tank, said: "The quango was a late 1990s Blairite policy solution. You give it a good name, you set up a fancy website, people are given good titles, it starts off well. And then it starts to lose its way."

 

He said quangos offered a "tremendous reform opportunity" for a Tory government. "We need to look closely – if we are going into a nasty recession – [to check whether] they are engaging in activities which private companies are doing already or whether they are even crowding private sector activity."

 

He added: "I hope very much that David Cameron, soon after taking office, orders that the Cabinet Office quickly restore a full annual quangos report in a clear and accountable break from the past." Mr Lewis said the 400 pages of details published by the Government about quangos' spending had been slashed to 30 pages in recent years.

 

Fat cats: What the bosses earn

 

Alf Hitchcock

 

The outgoing Deputy Assistant Commis-sioner of the Met will join the National Policing Improvement Agency next month. The agency is funded by the Home Office. As its head of leadership programmes, he will be paid an estimated £120,000.

 

Sir Michael Pitt

 

The chairman of the new Infrastructure Planning Commission will receive an annual salary of £184,000 this year. A former council chief executive, Sir Michael will work four days a week to speed up decisions on major planning applications.

 

David Gavaghan

 

The chief executive of the Strategic Invest-ment Board, which oversees public works in Northern Ireland, took home a salary and bonus of £213,000 in 2007.

 

The wonderful world of quangos

 

British Hallmarking Council

 

Oversees the hallmarking of gold, silver and platinum. Funded by a levy from the Assay Offices.

 

Coal Authority

 

The successor to British Coal, it regulates the licensing of mines and deals with subsidence damage claims. Had £27.1m government funding in 2006.

 

DairyCo

 

The former Milk Development Council, a fast-growing body promoting the drink and advising dairy farmers. Raises about £7m a year from levies, equivalent to 0.06 pence per litre of milk produced.

 

Darwin Initiative

 

Offers money and advice on wildlife conservation projects in developing countries. Latest initiatives include work protecting chameleons in Madagascar.

 

The Potato Council

 

Funded by levies on potato-growers and seed merchants. Promotes the health benefits of eating potatoes. Raised almost £6m in 2006.

 

Government Hospitality Advisory Committee for the Purchase of Wine

 

Made up of senior wine experts who advise officials on buying wine for the huge Whitehall cellar holding thousands of bottles. The members are unpaid.

 

Herbal Medicines Advisory Committee

 

Advises the Department of Health on the regulation of herbal products. Meets about six times a year.

 

Can't really be arsed to read that but I take it it doesn't back your claim we spend twice as much on Quangos as on the NHS?

 

Some Quangos should undoubtedly go or be cut back but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, some are good value. I'd list NICE and the BBC as examples of this.

 

Why do we pay for the BBC anyway? Scrap the licence fee. Another jobs for the boys middle class cabal. Scarp it. Let it fund itself or fuck off.

 

Wow. Are you completely bipolar or something? You swing from being a communist one day to a free market capitalist the next.

[Meenzer 15718]

Aye. Relocate them to New Cross, they'll actually raise the tone around here.

 

 

how much are rental values in london Meenz?

 

How long is a piece of string? It varies from street to street here, never mind neighbourhood to neighbourhood or borough to borough...

[Happy Face 29]

Parky's so confused.

 

Bitter and angry that money gets stolen from the needy and handed to the banks and big business.

 

Bitter that the needy get a free ride and all the protection that regulation provides them.

 

Are you an old school Commy Parky?

 

EDIT: Great minds eh Renton

Edited July 15, 2010 by Happy Face