Think tank says quangos should go

Published on Tuesday 9 February 2010 09:07

ALMOST all of Scotland's 115 quangos should be abolished, a think tank said today.

Reform Scotland claimed arrangements for holding the arms-length government bodies to account was "as clear as mud".

It called for them either to be brought back under direct government control or set up as genuinely independent bodies.

Geoff Mawdsley, director of Reform Scotland, said scrapping quangos would increase transparency and accountability. "It would make it much easier for people to determine where power was being exercised," he said.

And he claimed that would lead to financial savings too.

He said quangos like Scottish Enterprise, Visit Scotland and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency could be brought back "in house" but some others, such as the National Museums of Scotland, should become independent, free to negotiate financial settlements with government.

The think tank said there had been a reduction in the number of quangos since devolution, but staff numbers had increased from 9,900 in 1999 to 14,900 in 2008.

Alison Payne, one of the authors of today's report, said: "New quangos have been created every year since devolution."