Cabinet Office announces quango cuts
The Cabinet Office has today published a document announcing that 192 quangos will be abolished and a further 118 will be merged as part of the coalition governments public bodies reform.
Amongst those to be abolished is the Commission for the Compact, the body that oversees the contract between the government and the voluntary sector known as the Compact. The Compact itself will however live on under the Cabinet Office and Compact Voice.
A particular blow to the social enterprise sector will be the abolishment of Capacitybuilders, the body that provides funding for social enterprises and voluntary organisations.
Stephen Dunmore, Chair of Capacitybuilders, said:
"I regret that we will not now have the opportunity to build on the very significant improvements we have made in the development and delivery of our programmes over the past three years.
"We will work closely with the Office for Civil Society to ensure that the closure process and any transition to new funding programmes are as smooth as possible."
Capacitybuilders will honour all grant payments and commitments until March 2011. The coalition government has said it will look into alternative means for capacity building activity.
Some quangos to be cut are considering alternative routes. NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) will become an independent charity.
"A move into the voluntary sector means NESTA will be able to strengthen its vital mission, tackling some of the UK's most important social and economic challenges. We look forward to getting on with the job," said NESTA Chief Executive, Jonathan Kestenbaum.
The Community Development Foundation, a quango that currently has charitable status, will also lose its public body status. The Foundation, which oversees funding programmes such as Grassroots Grants, will however be supported by the government to become a social enterprise.
The forward thinking of such bodies as NESTA and the Community Development Foundation may mark a trend amongst cut public bodies. Peter Holbrook, Chief Executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition, has said many could still exist operating as social enterprises.
"The days of being funded solely by the government are over but organisations can survive and build a sustainable future if they generate some of their income through trading. By seeking to trade, thereby diversifying their income streams, they will have a much safer future as a social enterprise.
"We would be very keen to work with government to support the transfer of some quangos into businesses with a strong social purpose", stated Peter.
View the full list of quango cuts.