The UK government has “botched” its attempt to axe many of the current non-departmental public bodies known as quangos, failing to save much money or improve accountability, MPs are claiming.

MPs on the parliamentary select committee on public administration published a report on 7 January that heavily criticises the process to cut the number of these arm’s length bodies.

The government announced in October last year that it would axe 192 public bodies and that 118 would be merged. Those axed included the National Patient Safety Agency, the Health Protection Agency, and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisations. They will cease to exist as quangos, with their work subsumed within the …