My Lords, I add my congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, on his excellent speech.

My noble friend Lord Forsyth has today given us the opportunity to discuss the burgeoning number of quangos with their increasing costs. There are many concerns. Local democracy is being crushed by the explosion of quangos, with nine unelected regional assemblies imposed throughout the country, including the north-east in spite of the 78 per cent "no" vote to a North-East Regional Assembly in 2004.

They have vast budgets—£400 million for the London Development Agency alone, under the control of Ken Livingstone, where fraudulent funding of various organisations is now the subject of police inquiries. Why does the regional development in Northern Ireland have offices in 12 foreign cities? The Minister may not have the answer tonight, but can the Government let me know the figures for running these offices compared with the funds that they bring in on an annual basis?

Can the Government deny that there is an emerging pattern between the growing role for quangos, the taxpayer forced to fund them and their declining accountability—which is extremely important—in the accessibility of information?

The Sector Skills Development Agency has 25 sub-quangos, with their own websites, branding and staff premises. Do these not constitute an unfair tax-funded threat to private sector providers? Also, local quangos are wholly or largely self-appointing and very few are subject to ministerial or departmental oversight. Why should flood defences not be the responsibility of local authorities? The Milk Development Council, in 1997, had four officials. It now has 44 staff and spends £700 million taken from dairy farmers plus £5 from you and me. How many quangos have been closed down? There are now 94 different organisations and officials inspecting hospitals. The story grows. On the Olympics, why are there so many departments and agencies that cost £170 billion, which is five times the defence budget? The mind boggles.

On another note, I appreciate that we all want a cleaner environment, but the duplication of the Countryside Agency, Natural England and the Environment Agency creates higher costs, with separate websites, stationery and separate premises. Who decides what quangocrats—an awful word—should earn?

My noble friend Lord Forsyth mentioned Dan Lewis who, over a number of years, has made an in-depth study of quangos, which I have also studied. The list is endless. No doubt I have repeated some of what other speakers have already mentioned, but I feel very strongly that many quangos could be consigned to the dustbin, as I believe Mr Blair promised years ago. No matter who made that promise, perhaps it could now be carried out.