I welcome this Report, which summarises for the first time the main objectives and achievements of the larger executive on-Departmental Public Bodies, charting their performance against key targets. It will be the first of a series of annual publications that will improve the measurement of the performance of these Public Bodies.

The Report forms part of a wider Government programme to make quangos more efficient, transparent and accountable. We are developing proposals to achieve this and they are set out in our Consultation Paper on Quangos, which is being published at the same time. The results of the Consultation Paper will then feed into the forthcoming Government White Paper on Better Government.

We shall also be enhancing the appointments' procedures to public bodies with a view to opening up these appointments to a wider field of candidates.

Our future policy on quangos will be set in the context of our programme of reform to deliver accountable, accessible, efficient and responsive Government.

This Report will make an important contribution to that process.

November 1997