davieG Posted 19 May 2008 Posted 19 May 2008 Whilst there is concern over spending £16billion a year on incapacity benefit (laughingly compared to the £10billion spent on staging the Olympics) this pales into insignificance when compared to the £101billion spent on Quangos Source - Daily Express - Online Monday May 19,2008 By Macer Hall Political Edito The unelected bureau-crats of Britain are costing us more than £100billion a year. Researchers uncovered 1,162 quangos set up by the Government, including obscure bodies such as the Potato Council and the Government Hospitality Advisory Committee for the Purchase of Wine. The quangos employed an army of more than 714,000 pen-pushing staff and are receiving grants worth more than £63billion: £2,550 for every household in the UK. The cost of Britain's unelected "hidden state" was revealed by the TaxPayers' Alliance. Policy analyst Ben Farrugia said: "Government in the UK is now so large, diverse and complex it is impossible for anyone to manage effectively, let alone ministers." The research showed total expenditure by UK quangos – quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations – and other unelected bodies was £101billion last year, with nearly two-thirds coming directly from the Treasury. The rest – more than £40billion – came from other sources, particularly charges to businesses. Many oversaw huge budgets. The Housing Corporation had a 2007 budget of £1.64billion. The Carbon Trust employs 126 staff and pays its chief executive £200,000 a year, more than Gordon Brown. Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, is said to earn more than £150,000 a year at the body, which boasts Thames-side offices and an annual budget of £70million. The Energy Savings Trust, which advises home owners on insulation and cutting energy use, had 142 staff and costs £43million a year to run. Forty-nine staff are employed by the Potato Council, which has a £6million annual budget for initiatives including "national chip week". One of the biggest employers is the BBC, with 23,037 staff and expenditure of around £4.3billion a year. The expenditure comes despite a vow by Gordon Brown a decade ago that Labour would hold a "bonfire of quangos". At the last official count, there were 827 such bodies last year, costing around £32billion. However, the Cabinet Office list failed to include the BBC and the Royal Mail. A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said: "The report Public Bodies 2007, published by the Cabinet Office, shows the number of non-departmental public bodies has fallen from 857 in 1997 to 827 in 2007." Their annual accounts are open to scrutiny.
Webbo Posted 19 May 2008 Posted 19 May 2008 Some of these 'quasi autonomous non governmental organisations' are obviously necessary, but in a great many cases they just seem to exist to provide income for former politicians, the families of politicians and their cronies.
lildave3 Posted 19 May 2008 Posted 19 May 2008 Mangos are much better, in my opinion. Juan Arango is better.
skinnydipper Posted 19 May 2008 Posted 19 May 2008 Quangos are good for .... a rather good score in Scrabble, especially if placed on a triple word score.
lookwhaticando Posted 20 May 2008 Posted 20 May 2008 I definitely want to be on the potato council. Settle down, spud.
lookwhaticando Posted 20 May 2008 Posted 20 May 2008 Tell me when you will be mine... Tell me quango, quango, quango
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