And this is just the 'A's...

There was a fine set of articles in today's FT showing a breakdown of taxpayer-funded jobs. The lead article is here and fun interactive charts here.

A nice pie chart shows, for example, that there are 1,419,000 working in education. Given that a fair pupil-to-teacher ratio is about 20:1, and there are approx. ten million school age children (OK, 7% go private, but let's stick to round numbers), that makes around half a million teachers, plus let's say half again for admin and caretakers and so on, or 750,000. What on earth do the other 669,000 do all day long? (and don't tell me 'HE and FE' because they'd net off with teachers in private sector).

Anyways, the best sub-article is titled "And this is just the 'A's...", where they have cheerfully cut and pasted the following list from the DCA's index of public bodies subject to Freedom Of Information requests:

The Adjudication Panel for Wales.
The Adjudicator for the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise.
The Administration of Radioactive Substances Advisory Committee.
The Adult Learning Inspectorate.
The Advisory Board on Restricted Patients.
The Advisory Board on the Registration of Homoeopathic Products.
The Advisory Committee for Disabled People in Employment and Training.
The Advisory Committee for the Public Lending Right.
The Advisory Committee on Advertising.
The Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs.
The Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances.
The Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment.
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments.
The Advisory Committee on Conscientious Objectors.
The Advisory Committee on Consumer Products and the Environment.
The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens.
The Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards. [This organisation is now known as the Advisory committee on Clinical Excellence Awards]
An Advisory Committee on General Commissioners of Income Tax.
The Advisory Committee on the Government Art Collection.
The Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances.
The Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites.
An Advisory Committee on Justices of the Peace in England and Wales.
The Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food.
The Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes.
The Advisory Committee on Organic Standards.
The Advisory Committee on Overseas Economic and Social Research.
The Advisory Committee on Packaging.
The Advisory Committee on Pesticides.
The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment.
The Advisory Committee on Statute Law.
The Advisory Committee on Telecommunications for the Disabled and Elderly.
The Advisory Council on Historical Manuscripts.
The Advisory Council on Libraries.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
The Advisory Council on National Records and Archives.
The Advisory Council on Public Records.
The Advisory Group on Hepatitis.
The Advisory Group on Medical Countermeasures.
The Advisory Panel on Beacon Councils.
The Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information
The Advisory Panel on Standards for the Planning Inspectorate.
The Aerospace Committee.
An Agricultural Dwelling House Advisory Committee.
An Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales.
An Agricultural Wages Committee.
The Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission.
The Air Quality Expert Group.
The Airborne Particles Expert Group.
The Alcohol Education and Research Council.
The All-Wales Medicines Strategy Group.
The Animal Procedures Committee.
The Animal Welfare Advisory Committee.
The Architects Registration Board.
The Armed Forces Pay Review Body.
The Arts and Humanities Research Council.
The Arts Council of England.
The Arts Council of Wales.
The Audit Commission for Local Authorities and the National Health Service in England and Wales.
The Auditor General for Wales.
The Authorised Conveyancing Practitioners Board