Why Scotland's quango culture is undemocratic and has got to go

The Scottish Funding Council spends about £2 billion of public money every year. For those unfamiliar with its work, it is a “Non-Departmental Public Body of the Scottish Government and operates at ‘arms-length’ from the Government”. In other words, a quango.

What does it do? Well, it is the “education and research authority” for universities and colleges, on a mission to ensure these are “world-leading”. As part of that, it provides funding. For example, it recently announced about £1 million for an additional 102 physiotherapy student places.

And, of course, in these modern times, it wants a university and college system that “enables students to flourish, changes lives for the better, and supports social, economic and environmental wellbeing and prosperity”. All that good stuff.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has realised there is a problem with the number of quangos in Scotland (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images

Independent and impartial

What the council does with our money is overseen by the Lifelong Learning and Skills Directorate, a Scottish Government department. And this means there is necessarily some duplication, as the directorate needs people who know what the council is doing. If not, there would effectively be no oversight and ministers would have little idea if it was making the right decisions or not.

Another quango, Education Scotland, which supports “the quality and improvement of education in Scotland”, is also “accountable to the Scottish Government for the standards of our work”. Again, this either means there are civil servants marking their homework or there is limited scrutiny of what they are doing.

So why do these organisations exist? Why are they not all part of a government department? Education Scotland explains that “our status as an executive agency means that we operate independently and impartially”.

But how much is that independence and impartiality actually worth? And can we afford it at a time when many frontline services are crumbling?

For example, the Scottish Funding Council chief executive Francesca Osowska has said it will “look really carefully” at any request for help from Dundee University amid its struggles with a financial deficit of up to £30m. Think about the power involved in that decision, the potential consequences if the funds are not provided. [See editor’s note below]

Failing Quango State

According to figures published last year, Scotland has scores of quangos, 131 to be precise – up from 115 in 2010 (but down from 186 in 1999, when the Scottish Parliament opened).

Normally, the regular calls for a ‘bonfire of the quangos’ come from the political right. For example, in a 2023 report called The Failing Quango State, Dr Richard Norrie of the right-leaning Civitas think tank, made some strong points: “Quangos... are expensive and employ a lot of people. While supposedly ‘independent’ they are actually run by technocrats with their own interests and incentives, as well as a lesser degree of accountability than an elected politician.

“Technocrats may earn more money than elected politicians, but the institutions they lead are prone to capture, both through vested interests and ideological fads, as well as group think. Our discussion around them is dogmatic and assumes they are necessary.

“Technocratic rule is no guarantee of competence – quangos may run well from day-to-day but are capable of extraordinary mishaps. While they are critiqued for a lack of accountability and responsibility, they are never too far away from ministerial direction, meaning their existence serves to let politicians off the hook, decreasing their accountability as well.”

Sarwar alive to problem

However, there are signs that those on the left are starting to realise there’s a problem. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has recently been criticising the number of quangos, promising “a fundamental reorganisation” of the Scottish Government and public sector bodies if he becomes First Minister.

Writing in the Daily Record, he said: “Right now we have soaring levels of children living in temporary accommodation, an NHS that has been plunged into crisis, and falling standards across Scotland’s schools. But while working people are forced to deal with unsafe communities and collapsing services, the SNP government is spending £6.6 billion of public money every year to prop up... government quangos.”

Labour has proposed reducing the number of health boards, a form of quango, from 14 to three to save money. Given the state of the NHS, I would go further, with a Scottish Government department/directorate functioning as a national health board and elected councillors asked to provide local input, in place of unelected health board members.

We need experts

It can seem appealing, to politicians as much as anyone, to put technocrats in charge of public services. I am a fan of experts, dislike their self-appointed amateur rivals, and regard Michael Gove’s Brexit-related quip about the public having had enough of them as a shocking remark.

However, speaking as a staunch Remainer, one of the strongest arguments in favour of Brexit was the lack of meaningful democratic control of the European Union’s institutions. To some, it felt like the dreaded ‘Brussels bureaucrats’ could basically do what they liked with little to no comeback.

The more quangos, the greater the risk of a similar backlash. Except that, with the EU, people were able to vote to leave it. If they think, as many currently do, that voting doesn’t change anything and faceless bureaucrats on lavish salaries run the country, the backlash may be against democracy itself.

More than half of young people already think the UK would be “a better place if a strong leader was in charge who does not have to bother with parliament or elections”, according to a recent poll.

Dangerous consequences

Some quangos are perfectly reasonable – the Scottish Funding Council might well make the cut in the unlikely event I became First Minister. However, their proliferation represents a loss of confidence in democracy that has weakened its power to change people’s lives for the better.

We need experts and technocrats but they also need to be in no doubt that the democratically elected representatives of the people are the ones in charge.

Otherwise, the people will eventually catch on and may decide it’s time for a populist ‘strongman’, with all the dangerous consequences such folly entails. Arms-length quangos must be brought closer into democracy’s warm embrace.

Editor’s note: This article, which incorrectly stated that the Scottish Funding Council had announced emergency cash for Dundee University, has been changed to reflect the actual situation, which is that funding may be offered.