Bonfire of the Quangos

Hundreds of arm's length non-governmental organisations will discover their fate under the new government today.

Months of work by Tory ministers will culminate in hundreds of the quangos being reformed in some way.

Some will be brought back under ministerial control, others devolved to local government - while others will be abolished altogether and their functioned farmed out elsewhere.

There is outcry from many of the organisations which claim to save more money than they spend and perform vital functions in society.

Labour has characterised the government's 'bonfire of the quangos' as fundamentally ideologically driven, while the coalition claims the move will save huge amounts of 'wasted' public money and increase accountability.

The government will implement the changes by introducing a public bodies bill to parliament.