FERGUS EWING: Tango the quangos in Scotland to save taxpayers’ money

The return to Holyrood has been dominated by the financial problems that are currently facing Scotland and the wider UK.

All agree that times are tough and savings need to be made.

That’s easy... but there are few suggestions where the cuts should fall so let me suggest some.

First, much of public life in Scotland is not run from London, Holyrood or the local council chamber but by quangos - quasi non governmental departments.

They are almost entirely beyond political scrutiny and behave very much as they choose - and always apparently with the full backing of the Government and the civil service.

In the last column I highlighted the example of the Forestry and Land Management Scotland body advertising for an ‘equalities, diversity and inclusion manager’ at a salary of up to £54,000.

I wrote them to ask for an explanation. The reply I got from FLS justifying this was woolly and weak.

If advice is needed why don’t all quangos get it from a centrally appointed person in the Scottish Government? They don’t need their own person.

In response to that article I received a further example from a constituent, this time listing a whole series of senior management posts advertised by SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency).

Here are some of them… “head of engagement and insight, head of function (regulatory transformation) and head of data and analysis - each with a salary of up to £85,352.

There were then several more - all for SEPA. What are these jobs for? What do they do? Do we really need them?

The Daddy of them all is the BBC where there are nearly 450 people earning more than £100,000

Many years ago I met the boss of a major Scottish PLC now an international company.

He told me about his management structure.

“Fergus, there’s me - I’m the boss. There’s my finance director and each depot has a manager.

“And I keep an eye on them all at random. That’s it.“

If a public limited company can be run in this way, is it not time that we pruned quangoland?

In fact I think they would be more accurately named ‘tangos’ not ‘quangos’ with tangos standing for ‘Totally autonomous non-governmental bodies’.

And we learn in the Scottish Government there are now 66 civil servants who earn more than £100,000.

Shouldn’t they do the work that has been farmed out ?

The Daddy of them all is the BBC where there are nearly 450 people earning more than £100,000.

None of them are in the BBC Highland department which does a great job on a shoestring.

But then the BBC are as accountable to the people as the average Russian oligarch.

I have heard not one cheep from the Scottish Government about reining in these quangos.

Why on earth not?

If any readers have any examples of such waste by these bodies, please send them to me. I will write to the body in question in each case.

Fergus Ewing (SNP) is MSP for Inverness and Nairn (including Strathspey).

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