Bonfire of the quangos

Following the 2010 United Kingdom general election, the UK Government announced plans to curb public spending through the abolition of a large number of quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations (quangos). On 23 May 2010, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne unveiled a £500million plan to reduce the budget deficit by abolishing or merging many quangos. This was styled in the national press as a "bonfire of the quangos", making reference to Girolamo Savonarola's religiously inspired Bonfire of the Vanities ("falò delle vanità"). The cuts and closures received criticism in some quarters, but was generally welcomed by the business community.

On 14 October, the government released a document entitled Public Bodies Reform –– Proposals for Change outlining plans for each quango. The document broadly classified each quango into one of four groups, viz. –

The document also contained a description of which ministry of state or government department the organisation was part of.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The Cabinet Office

The Department for Communities and Local Government

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The Department of Energy and Climate Change

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Department for Education

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Ministry of Justice

The Department for Transport