Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt announces cuts.
And so it begins. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has today announced plans to abolish the Museums, Libraries and Archives council (MLA) as part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's review of public bodies. 55 similar organisations face being merged, abolished or streamlined as part of the coalition government's attempts to reduce the budget deficit.
In a statement today outlining the government's professed desire to “increase transparency, accountability and efficiency” Mr Hunt also proposed to abolish the UK Film Council – a move condemned by its chairman Tim Bevan – and to merge UK Sport with Sport England.
Hunt is quoted in the Guardian as saying, “Many of these bodies were set up a considerable length of time ago, and times and demands have changed. In the light of the current financial situation, and as part of our drive to increase openness and efficiency across Whitehall, it is the right time to look again at the role, size and scope of these organisations."
Other organisations under examination include the Advisory Council on Libraries, the Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites, the Advisory Committee on National Historic Ships, the Theatres Trust, English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, the Churches Conservation Trust, Visit England, Visit Britain and the national Lottery Commission.
Reaction, typically, has been mixed, with many on Twitter suggesting that the Culture Secretary's name now be used as Cockney rhyming slang for, um, you can probably guess. But if indeed some of these organisations are outdated and unwieldy then perhaps a bit of streamlining won't go amiss.
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