Investors in People, the national Standard which sets a level of good practice for training and development of people to achieve business goals has been branded a ‘useless’ quango.

Dan Lewis, author of the Essential Guide to British Quangos 2005, said at least 111 of the non-departmental public bodies are a waste of public money. The UK has 529 quangos financed by taxpayers' funds.

His report published by the Efficiency in Government Unit lists the following nine quangos as useless:

• the British Potato Council


• the Milk Development Council


• the Energy Savings Trust


• agricultural wages committees


• the Wine Standards Board


• the Westminster Foundation for Democracy


• the Football Licensing Authority


• Investors in People UK


• the Economic and Social Research Council

Lewis called for a public inquiry into spending totalling £1.8bn a year on regional development agencies, which he said ‘appears almost entirely wasted’.

As reported by TrainingZone, Investors in People relaunched its standard last November. At the time the organisation said that further simplification of the scheme placed greater emphasis on employee involvement and maximising potential.

Over 37,000 organisations have achieved the standard.