Councils should be given greater functions and devolved powers from public bodies scrapped under the Coalition’s bonfire of the quangos, a local government expert has urged.

The call comes after Francis Maude, who is minister for the Cabinet Office, announced at least £2.6bn would be saved by the end of this Parliament from axing 106 of Whitehall’s arm’s length bodies and merging a further 150 into fewer than 70.

Among the quangos – ‘quasi autonomous non governmental organisations’ axed or set for closure are the 9 English regional development agencies – which have been replaced by local economic partnerships - and spending watchdog the Audit Commission.

Francis Maude said: ‘The changes we have already made will save £1.4 billion, but by 2015 the Government will save the taxpayer a total of more than £2.6 billion - that’s more than £150 per working household.’

Maude said the Government would further review all remaining quangos once the current phase of planned closures and mergers has been completed, vowing ‘when it comes to shrinking and streamlining the quango state there’s plenty more to come’.

In response, shadow Cabinet Office minister, Jon Trickett said the coalition’s quango clampdown is not what it seems, and warned the new NHS Commissioning Board, set up following the health reform Bill ‘could turn into the greatest quango in the sky’.

But Laurie Thraves, policy manager at think tank the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) told LocalGov previous research indicates the cost and performance of quangos is not local government’s main concern, since such bodies often work more efficiently with councils and communities than government departments.

Mr Thraves said local authorities are genuinely worried over the democratic accountability of quangos, which he said have been used by successive governments to effectively centralise decision-making about key local services.

‘Quangos that councils work with should be localised as far as possible. Where there's a case for a national body, perhaps because it offers significant efficiency gains, its board should be appointed by a representative group of council leaders rather than the Secretary of State,’ Mr Thraves said.

‘And, where there's no business case for a national body, the functions of a quango should be devolved to local councils or local government-owned regional bodies.’