Earlier this week, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude announced the results of the review of arm’s length public bodies (quangos). The coalition government believes that people are fed up with important decisions being made about their lives by people they can’t elect, they can’t hold to account and they can’t vote out. The aim is not to save money, but to give power to the people and make politicians more accountable for the decisions they make.

The full list is here (a 28-page pdf file, for which you will need a reader, such as Adobe Acrobat).

In principle, I agree with the philosophy. Too often, governments set up quangos for the worst of reasons: to take numbers of civil servants “off the books”, to dissociate themselves from awkward decisions, to give jobs to cronies, or maybe all three. Also, history shows that major surgery is best taken early in a parliament and performed thoroughly, or the moment is lost. It should be stressed that, in the vast majority of cases, the responsibility for what the quangos do is not going to be abandoned, merely transferred to other bodies.

However, there is one matter at least which  needs spelling-out in detail: consumer protection. The government proposes to abolish Consumer Focus and transfer its function to Citizens Advice Bureaux. Consumer Focus itself was a merger of functions of the National Consumer Council, Energywatch and Postwatch. The passing of these individual components under Labour was regretted, but Consumer Focus has had its successes. Much of its effectiveness derives from its legal power to demand information from companies, regulators and government. It is hard to see parliament being willing to transfer these powers to a charity, which Citizens Advice Bureaux are.

According to this morning’s Financial Times, the government is also considering transferring Consumer Focus functions to local authority trading standards officers. This suggestion is my main reason for posting these observations here. If TSOs, which already do a great job, are to be given CF’s legal powers, then they will have the clout they deserve and there will be yet more confirmation of the government’s belief in decentralisation. Along with the responsibility must come the money, though. Size of investigation is not a problem, as TSOs have shown in the past that they can cooperate, but if they are to tackle extra work in the form of, e.g., mis-selling of power, then they will need extra staff. The position of TSOs in Scotland & Wales, funded through devolved government, will also have to be considered.

The decision is not cut-and-dried. The government will “consider the outcome of ongoing sectoral reviews” and consult early next year on their proposal. Legislation will also be required, and, it is to be hoped, will be refined in parliamentary committees.

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