DCMS plans superquango by merging Cabe and EH

The proposal would see a number of heritage groups, including the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Churches Conservation Trust, all put under one roof to save millions of pounds of running costs.

Both Cabe and English Heritage are funded by the Department for Culture Media & Sport, which spends 90% of its annual £2.1 billion budget on quangos.

A DCMS source said the super-quango idea was being considered by culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, who this week told his department’s 600 staff that around half of them can expect to lose their jobs this autumn in order to make efficiency savings of up to 50%.

The source said: “If you have bodies with competing functions that produces overlap, they are being looked at.

“The objective is to reduce running costs and make bodies more efficient. Merging them is one way of doing it. It’s not the only consideration but either way it’s going to be messy.”

The idea to merge groups such as Cabe, which receives £4.6 million from the DCMS, and EH, which picks up £200 million, is to cut duplication of functions such as human resources and payroll, and reduce costs of separate offices.

Cabe chief executive Richard Simmons, who has agreed to take a £20,000 pay cut from his £130,000-a-year salary, said the organisation employed just over 120 staff but would be able to survive cuts of up to 40%.

But asked if this meant the group was overstaffed, he replied: “No, it doesn’t have too many people working for it. We are the size we are because we’ve been asked to be this size.”

An EH spokeswoman said it had made plans for dealing with the cuts and added it was in “ongoing” discussions with the DCMS about the savings it had to make.

Heritage groups have been busily lobbying ministers. Media personality Loyd Grossman, chairman of Heritage Alliance, again met the DCMS this week to press his case that heritage should not be cut to protect the arts and sport.

Grossman said the review was being conducted at a breakneck speed and added: “They’ve had to go in with all guns blazing. There’s definitely a sense of urgency and realism.”

Chancellor George Osborne will announce the cuts on October 20.