Tory quango cull 'a muddle'

The Tories should use their projected £12 billion in tax cuts to reduce either employer National Insurance Contributions or business rates - two of the principal taxes on small businesses, according to the pressure group, the Forum of Private Business (FPB).

But the FPB said while the Tories had rightly identified the dire need to cull Whitehall quangos, the package smacked of a 'muddle'. Recently, the Tories announced that they would 162 quangos if they came to power.

FPB's Chief Executive, Nick Goulding, said: "The Conservatives have cobbled together this package specifically to reach an eye-catching headline figure.

"Some of the bodies, such as the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI), fulfil a valuable function. Transferring its functions to OFSTED, which is concerned with the education of children, would be ill advised. There is a shortage of suitably trained adults who are literate, numerate and IT competent. For a relatively small investment, the ALI does a worthwhile job. It is important."

Mr Goulding said, in many ways, the Tories had failed to go far enough.

He said: "Why not scrap the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in its entirety, or perhaps the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, a monstrous department whose costs have skyrocketed under John Prescott, and slash the bureaucracy of the Department of Health? The DTI has little value to small businesses and bluntly fails to make enough of an impact to justify its enormous cost. Some of its functions need to continue, but not in its present form."

Small Business Service

Meanwhile, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has also attacked the Conservatives for their plans to dissolve the Small Business Service, part of the Department of Trade and Industry.

FSB spokesman, Stephen Alambritis claimed that "it looked like a lack of commitment to small businesses."