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Stupidest QUANGO
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Can anyone trump the British Potato Council a body set up to promote spuds to a public notoriously averse to eating chips? 
http://www.potato.org.uk/
http://www.potato.org.uk/
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Would that make it a QUAVER as opposed to a QUANGO?
That's the thing about targeting things based on their names. Just because to the ignorant they sound worthless doesn't mean that they are. Most people don't have a clue what these quangos do or why so they're happy to see them scrapped. We've already lost a very good scheme yesterday to help children who have reading difficulties before it damages their education simply because the Tories felt safe in scrapping it as most people don't know anything about it.
It's the people who phone radio phone-ins going on about how they should sack all the Equality Officers that make me laugh. If they're questioned it turns out that they don't know what they do and invariably they're white, male and able-bodied. Just because something isn't aimed at you doesn't make it worthless.
They're so versatile.
Including the humble potato.
I agree. A lot of equalities work is 'compliance', ie making sure that employers don't spend their whole lives being ordered to pay out compensation by tribunals. A lot cheaper for a big employer to employ someone with responsiblity for equalitiy than to keep being found in breach of the law.
It might well be but the only way to know that is to ask the growers etc who are forced to pay the compulsory levy.
That's a good point actually. Which are the quangos that people want scrapped and why?
Here's the most up-to-date list I can find. If anyone has a more recent one please post it.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tm4Dxoo0QtDrEOEC1FAJuUg
Like you I've looked through the list and have struggled to find anything that actually receives public money that is obviously bonkers.
Just like the British Cheese Board then
The list you linked to is sourced from the Taxpayers Alliance who compiled it as they say there is bizarrely no official list of quangos let alone what they do and how much they cost.
They are also it seems rather unaccountable to anyone so making a decision on if they are really necessary or provide value for money is not the easiest of things to do.
It can't be that hard, we've had politicians going on about scrapping them for months/years.
Well, if you are a potato grower and you're not paying attention to information about things that affect your crops you're hardly doing your job, are you? It's like setting up a British Ladders Council to stop window cleaners and painters from falling down and hurting themselves.
I was talking about those outside politics and you were the one who said you were struggling to find anything that actually receives public money that is obviously bonkers.
Ministers should of course if they are doing their job properly know wthat they are and what they cost though I daresay when they are asked to cut spending they will find out soon enough if they dont.
Which would hardly be necessary when we have the Health and Safety Executive doing the same job.
EDIT: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2004/jul/25/schoolsports.health
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/7542404/Government-funded-guide-teaches-grandmothers-to-suck-eggs.html
Spending money on promoting physical activity amongst children might well pay for itself in the long run, though, as childhood obesity is currently one of the biggest issues with healthcare in the UK and is estimated to cost the NHS around £2billion a year.
How long has this quango been in existence then? Because if it is any length of time, they are clearly not doing much of a job of it. Rather than having a quango promoting play, wouldn't it just be easier to abolish the laws that prevent children playing in school?
That assume you have the money to pay for it in the first place and we don't. Tbh the track record of such initiatives is hardly good, e.g. teenage pregnancies, and it beggars belief people don't already know what these people spend money telling them.
I have no idea, which is why I said it might pay for itself in the long run.
It just shows why a proper evaluation of what quangos do, why they do it and what impact it actually has is necessary before taking any decisions to scrap them.
As for quangos generally, the best and simplest way to do what they do more openly and cheaply would be to merge their functions into elected regional government. Most of the quangos that exist - NHS boards, tourism boards, waste management and planning authorities exist because most of England doesn't have any appropriate government to run those things accountably.
Sadly the same people who decry the quango would be equally outraged at the idea of devolved democracy.