Assembly Finance Minister Andrew Davies says the years of plenty have come to an end for the foreseeable future. Agonising decisions are going to have to be made about where the axe will fall to protect frontline services, but there’s at least one that shouldn’t be that painful.

Take the National Leadership and Innovation Agency for Healthcare (NLIAH).

This quango spent nearly £100m of public money last year “to support and share best practice in the NHS”. Its acting chief executive was paid £93,604. He and his senior executives cost the taxpayer more than £500,000 – enough cash to pay for 25 nurses.

For several months, doctors and other health professionals have been calling for a review of NLIAH because of concerns about its transparency and value for money. Very few have heard of it, those who have, roll their eyes. Yet it has somehow emerged unscathed from last week’s NHS reorganisation, whose main aim we’re told is to streamline management and cut costs.

The Assembly Government which created NLIAH four years ago (when other quangos were being abolished) insists the agency plays an important role. Some £88m of its budget it says, is spent on “supporting workforce planning” and commissioning non-medical professional training in the NHS. But people I have spoken to with experience of its services say they have been “far from impressed”.

Given that Edwina Hart also had to bring in two of her new Health Board chief executives from outside Wales, there is enough evidence to question whether it is fit for purpose. 

There is no reason why its functions can’t now be absorbed by the new Boards under an already expensive tier of management.

We’re in tough times.  There’s no room anymore for bodies that are reluctant to divulge how they spend millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money or whose outcomes and benefits remain unclear.

Let NLIAH now justify is executive salaries while public sector workers face losing theirs, or go to the top of the list for disposal.