Impact of government policies

Civilianisation – is a process where public service officers are released from doing repetitive administrative work and instead can concentrate on the job they were trained to do. This is really effective as employing civilians on non-operational duties is very cheap and doesn’t require specialist expertise or training.

Environment - The environment is a very worrying issue disturbing all parts of public life as we are constantly harming the environment with our actions. The government will have no choice but to to tackle the environmental problems that face us as a society and so the public services are required to become more conscious of the need to recycle resources and move towards actions that limit damage to the environment. In addition, certain animals are at risk of extinction and so to prevent this some MOD areas of land have been set aside to safeguard species that may not have a chance to thrive elsewhere.

Policies affecting the armed services

Declarations of war - Will have a huge and immediate impact on the military services. They will begin to be deployed almost instantly to a specific battle zone, along with their resources and equipment. They will be fighting for an aim or set of aims specified by the government.

The armed services can only go in to military action if ordered by the government. As they are under strict orders they are unable pick and choose where they serve or when they serve. The risks the services have are far reaching as there is a great chance of soldiers who are in combat or in an area of global uncertainty losing their lives. They may be killed or seriously injured by the enemy, by civilians who resent the military presence or even by friendly fire. There is also an effect on the relatives of military personnel who may experience extreme worry and stress about their loved one. When going to war it is an enormous expensive prospect and requires a variety of resources which includes ammunition and defensive equipment.

Reserve forces - Until the late 1990s military reserve forces were rarely used on active duty. In 2006 reserve forces numbered 36,000 with the majority of these coming from the Territorial Army plus around 52,000 regular reserves (former full-time army personnel who can be called up to serve). As the commitments of the armed services has grown over the last 10 years with operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, reserve forces have had to be used as an important factor of the UK fighting force. The National Audit Office report on reserve forces in 2006 notes that over 12,000 reservists have been deployed in Iraq since 2003 and they contribute approximately 12 per cent of the fighting force.

Reservist medical recruits have been very important in the army as they have operated up to 50 per cent of the field hospitals in the conflict. There are pros and cons of using reserve forces. Commanding officers have indicated that reservists may be less physically fit to handle with the demands of conflict and frequently they had not received satisfactory training or had the chance to be deployed with a regular unit. On the plus side, they bring a wealth of experience from their civilian lives which can improve the service greatly. The government is dedicated to preserving reserve forces although they are considering policy changes on how they are trained and organized to try to bring them in line with their regular counterparts.

Use of technology - The armed services have always been in the forefront with the use of technology. They have provided the incentive for the development of many areas of technology with war and conflict improving productive procedures. This has become predominantly true in the war against terrorism where cutting-edge technology and surveillance equipment have been used by both military and civilian counter-terrorist experts to protect the public. Military aviation and missile guidance are examples of modern military technologies.

Links with international services - As a result of the coordinated policy of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), of which the UK is a founder member, we are able to endure collective defence capabilities. This means that NATO forces must be able to integrate into operations faultlessly where possible. To this end UK troops often train with NATO troops from allied nations in combat simulations. This guarantees they can be more ‘combat-effective’ should a situation arise where they have to cooperate. Our own three armed services, the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force and the Army, also frequently train and exercise together since they are dependent on each other for a variety of roles.

Policies that affect the emergency services

Fire station closures - There has been a recent sequence of fire station closures, particularly in smaller more rural areas due to stations not being utilised enough by the area. This is despite fears from local residents that if local stations are closed it could take longer for a fire crew to reach the area in periods of emergency.

Target setting – T        he government sets objectives for all of the public services. Public services also set their own aims on a variety of tasks such as 999 response times, ethnic minority recruitment, female recruitment, budget spending, reductions in crime or fires, patient survival rates and many more. This can lead to an incredible amount of pressure on all levels of the public services as they work to meet the targets and avoid the possible consequences if they are not met.  For example, the reason for closing the Ringinglow fire station was that the brigade was not meeting 999 response times in certain other areas of South Yorkshire and so it needed to move the under-utilised resources to a place where they would have a better impact on targets. In this case, the corporate plan put forward by the South Yorkshire fire authority involved a new Dearne Valley fire station which would assist to meet the target set for response times in that area. This shows how government and local targets have a real impact on the operation of the services.

Social responses to UK government policies on the public services

Although many features of government policy are open to public discussion there will be choices made that some of the public do not agree with and feel so strongly about that they are willing to have their say. There are several ways a society or an individual can make a response to a policy: