Government announces reform of public bodies - CfIT and RFA will cease to exist
Fri 15 October 2010
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The Cabinet Office has announced plans to reduce the number of public bodies and to introduce sweeping reforms to others. 192 organisations will cease to be public bodies and 481 will be reformed. Amongst the casualties are the Renewable Fuels Agency, the Commission for Integrated Transport and Cycling England.
The Government intends to introduce a Public Bodies Bill that will enable many of these plans to be implemented.
Of the 192 organisation which will cease to be public bodies their functions will either be brought back into Government, devolved to local government, moved out of Government or abolished altogether. The Renewable Fuels Agency is one of the organisationswhich will be brought under more direct Ministerial control.
Speaking about the changes, Francis Maude the Cabinet Secretary said that the process represents the restoration of political accountability for decisions which affect people’s lives and the way taxpayers’ money is spent.
The RFA was established to administer the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) and to monitor the sustainability of biofuels brought to the UK market using criteria originally prepared by the LowCVP.
Commenting on the Government's announcement and publishe in the form of a letter from RFA Chairman Professor Ed Gallagher, the RFA said: "The Board believes that this decision does not reflect on the good work carried out by the RFA...
"The Board further believes that the reasons given for many NDPB closures, including a lack of accountability or transparency, extravagance and poor value for money, do not apply to us."
The letter continues: "These are uncertain times and the timetable for closure is unclear, but while we remain an NDPB we continue to have responsibility for biofuels and I hope that, despite the current circumstances, we will continue to produce the high quality outputs we have delivered so far."
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