September 24th, 2010 
davidguide London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – As part of massive spending cuts, the British coalition government will abolish 177 agencies funded by taxpayers.
According to reports, the list of the agencies, known as quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations, or “quangos,” to be cut include the Audit Commission, U.K. Film Council, the Commission for Integrated Transport, the School Food Trust and the Sustainable Development Commission.
The list includes 50 bodies within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and 30 agencies within the Department of Health such as the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, the Health Protection Agency and the Commission for Rural Communities.
The government is still studying the fate of another 94 more quangos such as the British Council, BBC World Service, the Competition Commission and the Office for Fair Trading.
Outside the 177 agencies, four will be privatized, 350 got a second lease of life and 129 will be merged, such as the English Heritage, the National Memorial Fund and the National Lottery Fund, which will become a single heritage unit.
The move will lead to more Britons joining the ranks of unemployed. The quangos – which reached 1,000 agencies during the Labor-led government – have under their payroll thousands of workers and cost British taxpayers $97.5 billion (65 billion pounds) a year to run.
The abolition of quangos was an election promise of the Tories. Prime Minister David Cameron defended the cuts as vital to reduce Britain’s budget deficit and for democratic accountability.
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