Form a queue...

Which quango shall we scrap first?

All merry japes and all, and big up to the likes of the TA and yourself for stirring the pot a tad, but I would dearly love to understand how these entities came to be, how they are different from government departments, who pays for them, what they spend, what they deliver, how they are accountable, etc.

Just so I can at least be fair in any critique.

Take just one, WRAP - http://www.wrap.org.uk/ - in a sphere I am interested in: the environment.

They seem awash with directors and premises and regional reps on all manner of things, but I am having a lot of trouble figuring out where the money they get comes from and why, and where it then gets spent and how well.

I recall a few tabloids getting excited about board level bonuses at one stage, but can't for the life of me figure out how anyone in such a place could be entitled to one. They have a comms budget that runs to multi-millions, but then if rewards are based on public awareness then surely shunting money into ad campaigns rather than tangibles is almost a dead cert, if not a slight conflict of (my kids' future) interest?

Is there anywhere such oversight, in a sensible way, is carried out? And if it is not by my elected representatives in government and an already well-stocked, paid and pensioned collection of first tier civil servants... why the heck not!???