Four more business quangos axed

The Government is to save £600,000 a year by axing four more business quangos, it was revealed today.

The Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property policy (Sabip), Sitpro (Simplifying International Trade), the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Advisory Body (Wab) and the British Shipbuilders Corporation are all being abolished.

Announcing the move, the Business Department (BIS) said the annual cost of the bodies was £8.62 million. However, officials later confirmed that the savings from scrapping them would only be £603,000 a year.

The functions of Sabip will pass to the Intellectual Property Office, while BIS will take on the work of the remaining organisations.

The number of BIS quangos to be abolished, merged or receive no more funding has now reached 17.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "We are absolutely committed to reducing the number and cost of quangos that we no longer need.

"I have already said that I want to reduce the number of these bodies by a third and we've achieved a lot in a short space of time."