Uniformed Public Services Unit 1 Assignment 1

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Matthew Woolley        Mr Goode        Uniformed public services Level 3                

12/10/2008

Unit 1 : Government Policies and the Public Services

UK government and the electoral process

The UK is a democracy (rule by the people). It allows us to select people to represent us and run our country. Those people are called our Government.

Our government is made up of 6 layers. For each of the layers of government, there is an electoral process.

The layers of Government are:

  • Central government
  • Devolved parliaments
  • County Councils
  • Greater London Assembly
  • Metropolitan Councils
  • Other Local Authorities

Central Government

Central government (or National Government) is the body that runs the country. It meets at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London. Parliament actually consists of three parts: the Queen, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The Queen is the official head of Parliament but doesn’t have any real power. The House of Lords recommends changes to bills from the House of Commons. The House of Commons is where the MPs sit, debate and vote on policies. A MP is a Member of Parliament. There are 646 MPs of different parties, the main ones being Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat.

The people of the UK vote for a MP to represent their constituency. The country is divided into 646 constituencies. Each constituency has about 70,000 voters. The MP is chosen at the General Election. These are held every 5 years or before that, if the Prime Minister decides. The voting system is a ‘First past the post’ system. Whichever person gets the highest numbers of votes wins the ‘seat’. The Party with the most MPs becomes the governing or ruling party.

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They then choose the Prime Minister who in turn chooses his Cabinet of Ministers from his MPs. Other MPs are called Backbenchers.

A By-election may take place if an MP dies or has to stand down.        

Devolved Parliament (Regional Government)

Before 1997, all-important decisions concerning Scotland and Wales were made in London. But for a time the people of those countries wanted better representation. In that year, Devolution occurred and regional governments were set up in Edinburgh in Scotland and Cardiff in Wales. A year later, the Northern Irish Assembly was set up in Belfast. Now decisions concerning the people of those countries can ...

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