Local quangos remain subject to inadequate, haphazard and usually voluntary mechanisms of accountability and openess

Local Government Information Unit report

When this government came to power in 1997 there were, according to official figures, some 1100 quangoes with a further 7000 bodies disposing of public money at local levels such as Police Authorities.

Quangoes range from the recently created Strategic Rail Authority to the Schools Funding Agency.

The report says: "Local quangos in England and Wales remain subject to inadequate, haphazard and usually voluntary mechanisms of accountability and openness."

Public access

The report wants local councils to be given powers of scrutiny over local quangoes and for a public right of access to quango board meetings and information.

A government spokesman said: "In fact the numbers of quangos are at a 20-year low at just over a thousand. The Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly have taken over the powers of hundreds of them."

The government also points out that local authorities already have the power to take a greater role in examining matters of concern to the populations they serve.

However the report from the Local Government Information Unit maintains: "The danger for local democracy and public participation is that the emphasis on new quango regimes and more direct government intervention is likely to involve the removal of yet more functions and services from local authorities."

In particular local councils in England are concerned about any further erosion of their responsibilities for education, with fears that control of local schools might be taken out of their hands altogether.