The number and cost of public bodies has been cut substantially since 2010 but too many are failing to provide adequate transparency, according to the Government’s spending watchdog.
The National Audit Office (NAO) also warned that despite 283 public bodies being either abolished or merged and a further 23 to follow, the resulting landscape would still be complex.
Assessing progress on the public bodies reform programme since its last report in January 2012, the NAO found a quarter of organisations did not provide transparency by publishing annual reports or minutes from board meetings or by making meetings open to the public.
It called on government departments to ‘encourage their public bodies to strengthen the transparency of their operations’. But the watchdog criticised departments for their ‘lack of clarity and consistency’ in the way they managed public bodies, saying this added to the complexity.
The reforms have saved £723m since 2010 – some £62m less than Cabinet Office estimates but nevertheless a ‘substantial’ reduction, the NAO said.
Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said: ‘The public bodies reform programme is making good progress in simplifying the public bodies landscape. A large number of public bodies have been abolished or merged and cuts in administrative spending have been substantial.
‘It will be important to maintain the momentum of reform, and doing this will require the triennial review programme to be much more effective than it has been so far.’
