Counting the acronyms

The media’s favourite self-appointed public spending watchdog - aka the Taxpayers Alliance - has recently published ACA-to-YJB: A Guide to the UK Semi-Autonomous Public Bodies (SAPBs) which is worth a scan.

Stated by the TPA to be “the only comprehensive and accurate guide to the UK’s public bodies sector”, it lists the 1152 quangos responsible for £91 billion of public expenditure. We managed to spot a few obvious Welsh omissions which tend to slightly challenge their research and overall claims of omnipotence. There is also a mis-match in a couple of sections which are either typos or evidence that the Audit Commission needs a kick up the accountancy section.

But such minor inconsistencies or even an undercover agenda are unlikely to bother the headline writers who clearly regard the Alliance as a tax-free gift and a lot less inconvenient than an FoI request.