The Cabinet Office has published the latest figures on quango numbers and spending.

The document reveals that spending by non-departmental bodies reached £46.5bn in 2008/09, up from £37bn in 2006/7, the last time figures were made available.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude attacked the lack of transparency surrounding non-departmental public bodies.

"This whole tier of bureaucracy lacks proper accountability and transparency over how they spend our money,” Maude said.

“Conservatives would require all public bodies to publish more information on their expenditure, transfer powers from unelected bodies to local communities, and make administrative savings whilst protecting frontline services like hospitals."

The Public Bodies 2009 report defined non-departmental bodies as those which have "a role in the processes of national government, but is not a government department or part of one, and which accordingly operates to a greater or lesser extent at arm's length from ministers".