Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Classification Of Public Bodies: Guidance For Department, published on 27 April 2016, whether it is his policy that setting up new public bodies should be a last resort.

It is for the relevant Ministers to decide if policy within their portfolio should be delivered through the creation of a new public body. The Cabinet Office and the Treasury have a detailed process in place for the approval of new public bodies to ensure there is sufficient due diligence to establish a clear rationale and fiscal viability of a proposed body.