Recommendation 6

Since launching the ongoing public bodies review, government’s efforts have focused on consolidating larger bodies. However, there are also significant benefits in consolidating smaller bodies where appropriate, beyond the potential to achieve efficiency savings and economies of scale. The Government Actuary’s Department and the Office of the Children’s Commissioner have told us that they struggle to develop internal expertise, ensure resilience, and that the standards that they are required to comply with are often ill-suited to small organisations.7