Quangos should be accountable

2.23.24pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 18th Jan 2007

Cllrs McPhee and Wallace with one households contribution to local quangos

David Ward, Parliamentary Spokesperson for Bradford East issued a cautious welcome to the Government announcement of a for new agency to deliver regeneration and housing in a major shake-up of the way it supports the delivery of new homes and develops mixed, sustainable communities in England..

He said,

"I welcome the proposals to bring together bodies such as English partnerships and the Housing Corporation to plan for housing, decent homes and urban regeneration

"But once again we have the creation of another body that meets in private, handles billions of pounds of public money but the public can't find out who they are, where they meet, how to get them to do things and even more worrying how to get rid of them when things go wrong.

Across the region hard working tax payers are paying £600 a year for each household to fund regional quangos bodies such as Yorkshire Forward, The Learning and Skills Council, with no way of getting to grips with them.

Nationally, the bill for quangos has reached £124 bn.

This new organisation will be spending over £4 billion pounds of public money and should be accountable to more than just a few civil servants and a Government minister."