Ben Brown – BBC News Channel, BBC News at One

, which means they are taxpayer-funded but not directly controlled by central government, and include watchdogs as well as the prison service., NHS England, last month and the government is currently reviewing hundreds of quangos in a bid to reduce bureaucratic waste and inefficiency.

John O'Connell, chief executive of the TPA, said there should be more scrutiny of the hundreds of "quangocrats" taking home "massive pay packets" with minimal democratic oversight.As prime minister, Sir Keir is entitled to a salary of £172,153, which is five times higher than the median UK annual salary of £37,430 in April 2024, as measured by the Office for National Statistics.In all, 315 quango chief executives received a higher salary, according to the TPA, with the top three being Channel 4's on £619,000, the chief executive of HS2 on £618,195, and head of Network Rail on £588,000.

The research also found that at least 1,472 quango staff received more than £100,000 in total remuneration, which included salary, expenses and pension benefits.The TPA definition of a quango is wider than others and includes any non-ministerial department, public corporation, agency or other public body included in the government's

, including the Bank of England and the BBC.

Mr O'Connell said the TPA backed the Labour government's review of quangos, and urged more focus on scrapping unnecessary functions and bringing delivery of significant services back under political control."I knew something wasn't quite right," Ms Thomas said.

"My skin seemed a lot worse than anyone I knew, my back pain was crazy. It didn't seem quite normal to me."Three weeks out of every month I was going through that."

Her doctor put her on the Pill to help manage the pain but it gave her migraines, so she came off it in 2018.The pain then grew worse, and her doctor said it must be caused by "anxiety or over-exercise".