Dozens of government quangos could be shut down in the coming weeks as part of the prime minister’s efforts to cut civil service ‘waste’.
Pat McFadden, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, is reported to be drafting legislation that could shut down quangos – including the Migration Advisory Committee – in a single act of parliament.
Last month it was announced that NHS England, the “world’s largest quango”, would be shut down and NHS operations brought back into government control.
The government has also indicated it needs to cut around 10,000 civil service jobs to reduce government running costs.
Government cuts
Reports indicate that the legislation could lead to the reorganisation of more than 300 arms-length bodies that between them spend more than £350 billion in public money.
McFadden has written to every Whitehall department asking them to justify the existence of quangos that advise them, or risk being closed, merged, or powers brought back into the department.
Quangos with significant powers over policies of national importance will be brought back under departmental control, after Keir Starmer told his cabinet last month that ministers should stop “outsourcing” decisions.
Those with a regulatory function, that scrutinise government or protect the rule of law should remain unaffected.
Mike Clancy, the general secretary of the Prospect union, said: “Specialist civil servants working around the country in arm’s-length bodies do incredibly important work that is often underappreciated in Westminster.
“If these functions are to be brought back into central departments then there need to be clear objectives and rationale for doing so.
“Many arm’s-length bodies have advisory roles and important safety functions, which require independence from central government. There must be clarity on how this would be maintained if organisations are merged.
“Above all, any reorganisation must not jeopardise the essential expertise and specialist skills contained within arm’s-length bodies, and must make it easier to recruit and retain the specialists the civil service needs.”
According to government figures, the number of central government public bodies (or quangos) has grown from 474 in January 2015 to 555 in January 2020 and 603 in January 2025.
In December, Starmer set his sights on drastic Whitehall efficiencies, saying he thought “too many people in Whitehall are comfortable with the tepid bath of managed decline”.
A 2021 report by the Public Accounts Committee into the coalition government’s “bonfire of the quangos” in 2010 found that the big cut in the number of ‘quangos’ that was promised had “been limited”.
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Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the PAC until last year, said at the time: “The famous ‘bonfire of the quangos’ of a decade ago notably failed to spark and in fact we’ve seen government wave through half-baked business cases for arms-length bodies too often since. The public appointments to lead these bodies lack transparency and accountability to an extent that poses a real risk to the reputation of the organisation and so to how government delivers objectives using them.”
