Thursday's figures cover those working in central government and public quangos but not local authorities.
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But it is unlikely that those who sit on quangos are being entirely selfless.
They include the usual boilerplate about wringing efficiencies from the bureaucracy and getting rid of quangos.
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Quangos - which stands for quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations - are semi-independent publicly-funded agencies used by the assembly government.
There should be more consultation and stronger powers for Parliament to object to ministerial proposals on quangos, he argued.
Ministers dodge responsibility for decisions delegated to quangos, often appointed by ministers themselves, or to the Bank of England.
When the Labour party was in opposition, it often criticised the Conservatives for packing quangos with its own supporters.
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In July this year, First Minister Rhodri Morgan said that most Welsh quangos would be abolished within two years.
Alun Cairns (Conservative, North Wales) asked why the First Minister has not implemented a bonfire of quangos as promised.
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Quangos - quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations - are semi-independent agencies of the assembly government.
The School Food Trust is losing its status as a public body, as part of ministers' drive to cut quangos.
Mr Byrne said the Conservative proposals included the creation of at least another 17 quangos, a claim rejected by the Tories.
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) said it was pleased that the number of quangos would be reduced through the merger.
The first minister told him to get himself straightened out before asking to burn quangos and protect them at the same time.
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The Hospitality Advisory Committee for the Purchase of Wine was abolished last year - one of 192 quangos to be axed by the government.
One virtue of the Ferry affair is that it has exposed the messy tangle of quangos and commissions in France, many of which do little.
It also abolishes a number of education quangos, including the the QCDA (Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency), which Mr Blunkett described as "very worrying factor".
The powers of the Welsh Office were extended and a host of new quangos were set up to monitor and govern Thatcher's free market state.
Will quangos ever be a good thing or should we take a leaf out of Alan Sugar's book and tell some of them "You're Fired"?
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Every month over a thousand surveillance operations are carried out, not just by law enforcement agencies but by other public bodies like councils and quangos.
The problem now is how to give regional quangos democratic legitimacy.
He added that this could delay the abolition of some of the quangos, as could the fact that some of them were protected by royal charter.
The RDAs were one of the first casualties of the incoming coalition government's spending cuts and its drive against what many Conservatives dismissed as "unaffordable quangos".
Culling a few quangos may seem like one of the easier decisions the coalition will have to make as it tries to reduce the public deficit.
Meanwhile the National Museums and Galleries of Wales, along with seven other quangos, have begun questioning whether the assembly government has the power to abolish them.
Maniffesto, broadcast on S4C on Sunday, pointed out that two of the quangos that are under threat were actually established by under the present assembly government.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne said the government would review quangos to try to "make sure every penny of public money goes to frontline services".
But despite this, government supporters say the main shift of power is away from un-elected quangos and remote town halls towards individual schools and teachers in the classroom.
Quangos, or "quasi autonomous non-governmental organisations", are unelected public bodies.
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