Quangos must go says minister

There have been calls for quangos to be accountable to MSPs

The Scottish Executive has announced that almost one third of all quangos will be abolished.

Henry McLeish promised a "bonfire of the quangos" when he took over as First Minister in November.

An extensive review of the public bodies which run a large part of the services in Scotland has resulted in 52 quangos being scrapped.

A further 61 of the 183 Scottish non-government public bodies will come under extra scrutiny, "with a presumption in favour of abolition".

Angus Mackay: Slimming down quangos

The outcome of the review was unveiled to MSPs by the Finance Minister Angus Mackay.

He said all 183 Scottish quangos had been challenged to justify their existence.

Under the programme, the Scottish Hospital Trust will be abolished as will the Valuation and Rating Council and the Agricultural and Biological Research Institute.

The 43 separate board structures of health boards and trusts are to be rationalised into 15 new NHS boards, while the water authorities will be merged into a single body.

And he said that those quangos which remain will have to change their method of operation.

The appointments process will be reformed, better training will be given to quango members and meetings will be open and accountable.

A quango is a body which has a role in the processes of the Scottish government, but is not an executive or Westminster department.

Directly accountable

They are groups such as visitscotland, sportscotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Qualifications Authority, and the Scottish Arts Council, which operate at arm's length from ministers.

Scottish National Party MSP Alex Neil is also set to introduce a members' bill at Holyrood next week which would make all quangos directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament.

The Public Appointments (Approval) (Scotland) Bill calls for ministerial appointments on quangos to be approved by MSPs.

Mr Neil, the regional MSP for Central Scotland, said the Bill had widespread backing and would restore public confidence in quangos by preventing accusations of cronyism and "jobs for the boys".