Slow down

Today we have seen further evidence of the governments rush to make cuts failing in it's aims.

Last year we were told that the bonfire of Quangos would save £1billion, but after some sombre reflection a cross party parliamentry committee says these reforms have been "botched".

In some ways the report is quite shocking, the report Shrinking the Quango State, the cross-party Commons public administration select committee said the tests used to judge the quangos were "hopelessly unclear".

"The current approach is not going to deliver significant cost savings or result in greater accountability," the report found.

"There was no meaningful consultation, the tests the review used were not clearly defined and the Cabinet Office failed to establish a proper procedure."

So at the time when the cuts were announced, many people told of the dangers of culling quangos as they do an immense amount of good work as economic generators, defenders of consumer and legal rights, environmental champions, and guardians of standards in public life.
The Unite union says "the fact that the government, which has been in office for nine months, is still unable to say how much will be saved by this exercise speaks volumes for its ability to formulate coherent policy. "

Jon Trickett, shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, said: "This proves the chaos theory of government. They are producing an irrational, unaccountable and expensive mish-mash of proposals, which will do nothing to improve the quality of services to the British public."