Quango action pleases M.P.

Press, 13 May 1986, Page 4

Quango action pleases M.P.

By

MARTIN FREETH

in Wellington

The Minister of Justice, Mr Palmer, conceded pleasure yesterday at the number of quangos he has been able to “kill off.”

“I thought we would only get about 20,” he said yesterday, announcing the first 56 to be abolished in his review of the usefulness of quangos (quasi-autonomous nongovernmental organisations).

He calls the review “Quangocide.”

"It is actually one of the most curious Inventions of our system of Government that we have the inevitable tendency to set up myriads of committees, sometimes by statute and sometimes not, to do a whole range of func-

tions and then we never look at them again."

Mr Palmer said the first task in the review was to list quangos. Apparently, no-one was sure exactly how many of them there were, he said.

Some of the littleknown entries on the list of 56 are the Miners’ Benefit Appeal Board, the Seed Potato Certification Advisory Committee, and the Congenital Anomalies Advisory Committee.

Mr Palmer indicated the body which surprised him most was the Dothis-

troma Advisory Working Group, set up by a Cabinet decision in 1926 to conduct research related to forestry. Its function will be combined with the Forest Disease Control Advisory Committee. The first quangos to be abolished follow recommendations from Ministers whose portfolios they concern.

"There has been the odd struggle for survival in some areas. Most of those which have been struggling have got themselves on to ‘list B’ of 60 or 70 which are still being examined,” Mr Palmer said.

He gave an assurance that the fate of each body would be weighed against a range of criteria based on the purposes for which quangos were set up.

Earlier report page 3.