Will the UK government really save money by axing quangos?
The UK government has announced the reorganisation of 192 publicly funded quangos which will disappear or merge with existing organisations. This has been the largest ever reorganisation of the quango sector which is something of a grey area in the UK being funded by the UK public yet unelected. While there have been many headlines over the years regarding the remuneration packages afforded to some of these quangos there is no doubt that they do have a part to play in the UK economy.
There is concern that the UK government has taken the axe to the sector as a whole and may well have closed down, or is on the verge of closing down, a number of quangos which do actually pay for themselves. Only time will tell whether this reorganisation has been cost efficient and productivity efficient because these two elements are very different. The UK taxpayer has in many ways been kept in the dark regarding quangos in the past and maybe we only heard the relatively negative press comment and much of the good work went unreported?
However, it has to be said that with a £158 billion budget deficit there are few areas of public life and public services which will remain the same.
Share this..
Related stories
Number of people paying top rate tax set to fall
Despite the fact that the UK government is set to introduce a 50% top rate of income tax the government's own figures suggest the next two years will see a significant fall in the number of people caught up in the high rate tax band. It is estimated that the number of people paying 40% tax will fall from 3.89 million in 2007/08 to 2.9 million in 2009/10. This will see a significant fall in the gov...
Read MoreHMRC receives favourable ruling on overseas tax exiles
The UK government has today received a favourable ruling from the Court of Appeal regarding tax liabilities for a businessman who has lived in the Seychelles since 1976. The judges ruled that the gentleman in question, Robert Gaines -Cooper, had never really cut his ties with the UK and was therefore never exempt from UK taxes. This comes despite the fact he had abided by government rules regardin...
Read MoreEU warns UK to cut budget deficit
The European Union's Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner has today warned the incoming UK government that the budget deficit and national debt will need to be addressed sooner rather than later. It is forecast that the UK budget deficit for this year will be 12% of GDP which is four times the euro zone limit of 3%. It is also forecast that UK national debt will be 87% of GDP next year which...
Read MoreSo Mr Brown, Will The Taxpayer Lose Money On Northern Rock?
Those close to the Northern Rock situation have been very vocal over the last couple of weeks with regards to a statement made by Gordon Brown on the 18th February, soon after the troubled Northern Rock bank was nationalised. In his press conference in the aftermath of the move he insisted that the move was not a bad one and could see tax payer actually make a profit as and when the bank was sold...
Read MoreFSA sees sense in liquidity adjustment delay
Thankfully the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has acted in a user-friendly manner in relation to liquidity changes which were first discussed back in October 2009. These changes will eventually see UK financial companies having to put aside more funding to back their operations at a time when business, while recovering, is nowhere near the levels seen in years gone by. There were fears that...
Read More