Cafcass and the Great Quango Cull

Dear House of Commons,

There have been heated discussions in Parliament in September and
October 2010 about the proposed axing of more than a hundred
non-elected quangos in order to save taxpayers' money which has
been wasted by these bodies with no palpable benefit to the public.

One of these quangos is the so-called Children and Family Advisory
and Support Service (Cafcass). Could you please let me know when
the abolition of this incompetent, wasteful body is due to be
implemented and what the coaltion government's plans are to replace
it (since I understand MPs still feel a need to impose paid public
servants on children instead of allowing children to speak for
themselves). Is Cafcass going to be axed only to be resurrected
from the dead under a different name shortly afterwards and when is
this mock abolition going to take place?

Thank you for your answer.

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Daily Mail 11/11/10 by Steve Doughty (Social Affairs
Correspondent):

"The organisation of social workers that is supposed to stand up
for the most troubled children has instead brought chaos to the
family courts, MPs said yesterday.
Its staff do not do their jobs, its managers are weak and it has
failed to cope with the crisis that swept the state child
protection system after the Baby P scandal, they added. A report
from the Public Accounts Committee watchdog said the £131
million-a-year Children and Family Court Advisory Service is 'not
fit for purpose' and that its incompetence harms the hundreds of
thousands of children who need its help.
The MPs' report said that after the Baby P case in November 2008 -
in which 17-month-old Peter Donnelly's mother and two men were
jailed over his death - social workers started taking more children
into care.
But committee chairman, former Labour minister Margaret Hodge, said
the group had a 'lack of readiness' due to 'failure to get to grips
with ... weaknesses in its culture, management and performance'.
Cafcass chief executive Anthony Douglas rejected the claims. The
quango was set up in 2001 during children's services reforms."

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Yours faithfully,

C. Smith-Byrne

Dear Mr Castle,

This is a very original response. Do you seriously want to tell me
that the House of Commons does not have the roughest idea if (and
when) proposed legislation is going to be debated and implemented
by taxpayer-funded Members of Parliament? In other words: Can we
anticipate another year of wasting £131,000,000 on an unelected,
dangerous, incompetent quango because the right hand doesn't know
what the left hand is doing?

I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

C. Smith-Byrne

Dear Mr Castle,

Thank you for your further reply and for providing addresses I can
send my request to.

Yours sincerely,

C. Smith-Byrne