Axing quangos ‘will save £40m a year’

REDUCING the number of quangos and improving public services will save £40million a year, the Scottish Government claimed last night.

The number of public bodies has been cut from 199 to 162 since the end of 2007.

Only 11 of them were instigated by the SNP government, with the remainder created by the previous administration.

Ministers claimed they were on track to shrink the number of public bodies by a quarter by 2011.

The Public Services Reform Bill, which was published yesterday, and the forthcoming Children’s Hearing Bill, should reduce the number of public bodies to about 120 over the next two years.

Finance Secretary John Swinney said: “This government is acting to make our public services simpler, sharper, better co-ordinated and more responsive – all the more crucial if we are to support economic recovery.

“We are on track to exceed our target to reduce the number of bodies by 25%, making the improvements and saving the money that people rightly demand.”

The government said its updated “simplification” programme showed an estimated £127million in taxpayers’ money would be saved between 2008 and 2013, with a projected annual saving of £36million for each subsequent year.

Proposals in the Public Services Reform Bill should increase annual savings to £40million.

The bill calls for a new arts body, Creative Scotland, merging The Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen.

It would also create a new health watchdog, Health Improvement Scotland.

Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland will also take over scrutiny of those services.

CBI Scotland, which believes the public sector is too large, welcomed the simplification programme.