David Cameron speech on reforming quangos David Cameron speech continues SOT The third area where there is likely to be a need for independent action...
{"Image ImageDescription": "David Cameron speech on reforming quangos; David Cameron speech continues SOT\nThe third area where there is likely to be a need for independent action is when facts need to be transparently determined. We have seen how information, once in a politician's hands, can be distorted to score a political point. A freeze becomes a zero percent rise. Cuts in capital expenditure become increases. \n\nSo there is a role for independent bodies here. By determining nationally important facts clearly and transparently, they can help bring honesty and responsibility to government. That's why we need a fully independent Office for National Statistics that gives precise figures on important issues like productivity, violent crime and air quality. And it's why we need a new Office for Budget Responsibility that will produce the country's budget forecasts and a full audit of the national balance sheet.\n\nSo in these three areas: where there is a need for technical expertise; where impartiality is required, and where transparency really matters it is likely that our overriding test for quangos - that an action, decision or service should be protected from political influence - will be met. In all other circumstances, any task undertaken by government should be carried out directly through a department of state and the apparatus of accountable government.\n\nBut I want to make one thing very clear. With a Conservative Government, any delegation of power by a minister to a quango should not mean a corresponding delegation of responsibility. I have said that our goal is democratic accountability, not bureaucratic accountability - and I mean it. So even when power is delegated to a quango, with a new Conservative government, the minister will remain responsible for the outcomes.  They set the rules under which the quango operates. And they have the power to ensure that the people operating the quango are qualified to do the job.\n\nSo there will be no more hiding behind the cloak of ...", "Image Copyright": "POOL"}