School Food Trust among the 177 quangos 'facing axe'

24th September 2010, 9:30am

The School Food Trust could be at risk from the so-called "bonfire of the quangos" by the Coalition Government after The Telegraph discovered a list of plans to scrap 177 of the tax-payer funded bodies.

The future of quangos has been in question for some time now - with there being continual concern about what will happen to these bodies as the new government repeatedley suggests a "cull" on them.

In an interview with School Caterer magazine this month, Judy Hargardon, chief executive of the School Food Trust (SFT) told us: "Until the government announces the outcome of its comprehensive spending review we simply don't know what the funding situation will be."

Sandra Russell, chairman, Local Authority Caterers Association says the School Food Trust should be recognised for its "significant contribution" to the school meals service: "The School Food Trust has been highly effective in establishing a framework for the introduction of an intensive improvement programme, launched by the previous Government, for the provision of food in schools.  

"The Local Authority Caterers Association has worked closely with the School Food Trust in many areas since its inception and believes that it should be acknowledged for having made a significant contribution to the transformation that has taken place over the past five years within the school meals service in this country.  Thousands of children and young people nationwide are now enjoying highly nutritious, freshly prepared school meals and in the past year, school meal uptake has risen in both Primary and Secondary schools for the first time since 2005.

"However, in the current economic climate and with public spending cuts affecting every corner of society, we all have to be realistic about where savings can be made.  The School Food Trust was set up to implement the new Standards, a job that has largely been fulfilled.  A firm foundation has been created for the school meals service of the future and it is those at the frontline of services that must now ensure the standard and quality of school meals continues, despite ever tightening Local Authority budgets."

Russell believes "pulling the plug" on the Trust will raise big concerns for the future: "Whilst the future of the School Food Trust is at this point uncertain, LACA's resolve is strengthened in its drive to ensure that the hard work of the past five years is not undone.  The School Lunch Grant is scheduled to end in March 2011 and with the news of the threat of so many public bodies being axed, there is even greater concern over the potential impact on Local Authorities and their ability to sustain a quality school meals service should funding be severed in 2011."

"School meals have an important contribution to make to altering eating habits.  With emerging evidence that healthier school meals are contributing to improved learning and behavior, it would be very short-sighted to pull the plug on funding now.  

"What children eat at school represents one small step on the road to improving their health, reducing the bigger obesity problem and in the longer term by decreasing the NHS costs, this country's national debt.  LACA strongly believes cutting funding to the school meals service would be one cut too many and too big a price to pay in terms of the future health and prosperity of this nation."

And as well as The SFT, The Telegraph has revealed that a further 94 of these bodies are under threat of being scrapped, four will be privatised and 129 will be merged.

The details emerged after The Telegraph found a Cabinet Office list compiled this week, while 350 other bodies have won a reprieve.

The list discloses for the first time the extent of the new government's plans for the "bonfire of quangos" designed to save the taxpayer billions of pounds. Thousands of jobs will go as part of the reforms.

The biggest cuts concern the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with more than 50 bodies to be abolished and the Department of Health, where about 30 bodies will be cut or have their functions transferred back to department.

These include the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the Health Protection Agency and the Commission for Rural Communities.

The list shows that 350 quangos and public bodies have been reprieved. Some that had been under threat but will be retained include Acas, the mediation service, and the Food Standards Agency.

As already announced, the Audit Commission and UK Film Council will be scrapped along with eight regional development agencies, the list shows. The Commission for Integrated Transport, the School Food Trust and the Sustainable Development Commission are to be abolished.

The BBC World Service, the British Council and the Environment Agency are among the 94 publicly funded bodies whose fate has yet to be decided.

The Competition Commission, the Design Council, the Energy Savings Trust, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Forestry Commission and the Office for Fair Trading are also still at risk. Whitehall insiders expect the majority to be abolished, removed from public funding or radically reformed.

In addition, the future of the publicly funded National Museums and Galleries service, which offers the public free admission to some of the country's best-known cultural venues, is still in doubt.

According to the list, at least 70 more bodies will be lost as a result of mergers. Postcomm, the postal regulator, will be brought under the remit of Ofcom, the communications watchdog. Of the 129 bodies that will be either merged or consolidated are a number of sporting bodies. Heritage groups – English Heritage, the National Memorial Fund and the National Lottery Fund – will come under one single heritage body.

The National Lottery Commission will be merged with the Gambling Commission as one single regulator, according to the document.

Four bodies – the Film Industry Training Board, the Construction and Skills Training Board, the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board and the Tote Board – will be privatised. The sweeping abolition or merger of hundreds of other bodies will see thousands of job losses.

However, ministers will point to the billions of pounds that are likely to be saved after the number of taxpayer-funded quangos soared under Labour to cost an estimated £65billion a year and employ more than 100,000 people.

A senior Whitehall source said: "These reforms represent the most significant rolling back of bureaucracy and the state for decades. Our starting point has been that every quango must not only justify its existence but its reliance on public money."

In these cases the quango has been shown to perform a technical role that cannot be better discharged by government, or sufficiently demonstrated their independence from government.

Related Articles:

• 15 Jun 2011 - The School Food Trust's chief executive awarded OBE
• 14 Oct 2010 - Quangos update – School Food Trust continues as charity but loses its NDPB status
• 29 Sep 2010 - Continue the School Food Trust's good work
• 24 Sep 2010 - Suffolk vote today on plans to become “enabling” authority
• 14 Jul 2010 - Health Secretary's plan to scrap Food Standards Agency stalled

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