WNC part of review of quangos

7 Jul 2010

The government has announced that the future of all quangos will be reviewed and the Women's National Commission will be part of this.  Please see the following letter from Baroness Gould and if you write to either of the government ministers please send a copy to the WNC Scottish Commissioner Ann Henderson at a.henderson@stuc.org.uk 

Dear Partner,

Review of the Women’s National Commission and Annual Report

I am delighted to be able to enclose the WNC Annual Report for 2009-2010 which sets out the Commission’s activities during the last financial year.

It has been a tremendous year where we have actively been engaged in a broad and challenging programme of work to inform Government thinking. As you will see, our Board of Commissioners has been busy influencing policy development at all levels and increasing our partnerships to nearly 650. We have increased awareness of our role through all parts of the UK and have consolidated our activities across the four nations.

As you may be aware, the new Coalition Government announced its intention to review all Quangos as an efficiency measure and as a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) of the Government Equalities Office (GEO), the WNC is currently being reviewed as part of this exercise and a decision is likely to be made about our future by the end of the month.

The Board of Commissioners of the WNC fully believes that the Commission meets all of the retention criteria set by the Cabinet Office as part of the Review and considers that the WNC performs a unique role that could not be replicated through other measures. As a WNC Partner, you contribute to the Commission’s work in many different ways and influence our future work programmes.

Following the establishment of WNC as an independent Commission in 1969, it has performed the unique role of providing impartial advice to the Government of the day from across the four nations. This role has become particularly important since devolution, as the WNC works with women in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales to ensure their views are not overlooked in Westminster. No other agency has the capacity to reflect women’s views in this way and we have created the context in which our partners can participate in the development of policy and through which women’s views in all their diversity and at the local, national and international levels, can be shared with the Government.

We have also maintained an important dialogue with women through international mechanisms such as the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, to improve women’s equality and providing women with a voice on the UK’s progress on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) during the four yearly treaty monitoring process. Much closer to home, the WNC has frequently been identified as the partner of choice by the Government to conduct wide-ranging consultations and focus groups and this is a measure of the high regard in which WNC is held historically by Ministers and by women themselves.

I have just set out a few key areas to which the WNC has actively contributed but from our activities outlined in the Annual Report, you can judge for yourself the sheer scale of our work over the last year. I hope you will be able to see the significant progress that has been made and the impact that we have had in ensuring women’s interests are promoted and protected in every sphere of life.

As a Partner, we believe it is important that you are aware of recent government developments and have the opportunity to contribute to the discussions about our future. There is no formal consultation exercise, but if you feel that you would like to share your own experiences as a Partner and would like to highlight the important role we play and wish to support the retention of the Women’s National Commission, please write to the Ministers for Women as I understand the decision will be taken at the end of July.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Secretary of State for the Home Department
and Minister for Women and Equality
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF

Lynne Featherstone MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Equalities)
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF

I would like to thank all our Partners for their continued support and those organisations supporting women’s rights with whom we work in close collaboration to advance the cause for women’s equality.

Yours sincerely,



Baroness Joyce Gould of Potternewton
Chair, Women’s National Commission