Public Bodies
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)
I would like to inform the House that an additional four of the public bodies for which my Department is responsible are to be abolished. The Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property Policy (SABIP), SITPRO (Simplifying International Trade) and the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Advisory Body (WAB) will all close in the next year. The British Shipbuilders Corporation will be abolished next summer.
The functions carried out by these organisations will be passed to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.
This reflects the Government’s commitment to reducing the number and cost of quangos and builds on the 13 abolitions, mergers or termination in BIS funding I have already announced.