In 1942 after world war two, when Britain was suffering with poverty Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness, the government ordered a report to help rebuild Britain; they approached William Beveridge to write the report. The report was to ease poverty and help treat poor people who were ill the same as the rich, Williams report contained the establishment of a national health service this was free medical treatment for all, national insurance and assistance i.e. family allowances, and stressed how important full employment was because then people of working age should pay a weekly national insurance contribution. In return, benefits would be paid to people who were sick, unemployed, retired or widowed.
In 1948 the NHS (National Health Service) was set up this was to provide health care to people based on illness not how much money people had. This was funded by employed people who paid taxes which was a contribution deducted from their weekly pay. It is managed by the department of health
Originally the NHS was a single organisation and had 14 regional hospital boards and split into 3 parts;
- Hospital services
- Family doctors, dentists, opticians
- Local health services including community nursing and health visiting
Since 1948 the NHS has gone through major changes including the way it is run and the way it treats patients.
1979 Thatcherism
Margaret Thatcher became prime minister in 1979 this lead to her attempting to control public spending she introduced the governments first white paper on public spending; she blamed the state of the british economy on public spending with this in mind she introduced the cheap policy basically the cheapest tender got the job;
- reduced the money that went to councils for housing
- and increase the rent charges to council tenants
- there were also cuts in the health systems she did this by cutting the cash for caring for the elderly; residential and home care,
- She introduced higher taxes to pay for more spending on the education and health.
Privatisation of state owned industries was another of the items on Margaret Thatcher agenda; she introduced the right to buy where over 1.7 million council houses were sold to tenants and council housing was given to other non- profit housing associations. There were also influences for people taking private pensions rather than relying on the state pension, also NHS saw changes such as GP’s getting their own budgets and the introduction of the ambulance service, people were encouraged to use private health care by taking out insurance to cover them.
Targeting was introduced to means test people to see their entitlement for benefits and council homes; it was those needier into the council properties. Tax awards were put into place for lower earners this was family credit.
Inequality based on the costs incurred with wages and the costs of living, this increased the need for trade unions and wage councils, there was a increase in unemployment and people on benefits the was slow increase in wages and a big increase in taxes
Ref.
New labour-best value
In 1997 labour won the general election and came into power with this their agenda to improve Britain in all aspects they promised to improve;
Industry – to make employers and employees work with better relationships,
Economic management-recognise the state of the economy and to improve it, they would not increase income tax and they would reduce unemployment
Education- it was promised that all pupils would be treated the same and recognising each child different abilities
Health- they would shuffle costing by improving the caring for people rather than using the money on the administration
Improving crime- they would take responsibility for crime, they would look at the cause of crime and the punishment of crime,
- After election the first thing new labour did was to give the bank of England control of interest rates
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On the 10th april 1998 the good Friday agreement was an agreement between most of the northern irish parties and britian for exclusively peaceful and democratic
- We then saw the human rights ACT 1998
- The Scottish parliament and the welsh assembly were set up
- In 2000Greater London authority and the mayor of London was started
- In 1999blair planned the Kosovo war
- Blair was awarded the Charlemagne award by the german city of Aachen
- Also in 2000 we got the freedom of information ACT
- Blair also lifted the ban on gay men in the army and reduced the age of consent to gay sex to 16
- The civil partnership act was processed
In the second term of being in charge blair promised to improve the public service mainly the NHS and the education service. New labour won the second term,
- Blair raised taxes in 2002- this was to improve education and the health service
- Blair introduced foundation hospitals to relieve financial pressure from NHS hospitals
- Pay for medical staff was increased and expensive drugs were causing financial difficulties
- In October 2002 the good Friday agreement was suspended
Tony Blair became a close ally of the president of USA after there were attacks on the world trade centre in sept 2001, he was quick to offer support and unite with president Bush, he received the congressional gold medal for being a staunch and steadfast ally of the United States of America, he also was the first non- American to receive the Ellis island medal of honour for is support in the 9/11 in 2003
He gave support to the Iraq war in 2003 – he lead people to believe there were weapons of mass destruction,
Ref. www.number10.gov.uk
Parliament
Parliament is an essential part of UK and how the country works. The queen will open and close parliament.
Its main roles are:
- Examining and challenging the work of the government (scrutiny)
- Debating and passing all laws (legislation)
- Enabling the government to raise taxes
It is made up of 2 houses: the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
House of Commons
The role of the House of Commons is to scrutinise the policies of the government the will make the government account for all decisions they make. MPs will also question Ministers directly during question time in the House of Commons. Written questions are also put to Ministers and the answers are included in the published Official Report of proceedings.
They also pass new laws and bills, when bills have been passed through both the House of Lords and the House of Commons they will then become Acts of parliament.
House of Lords
Unlike MPs, Lords are unelected and are not paid, they will only receive expenses and certain allowances they are all volunteers. There are four different types: life peers, Law Lords, bishops and elected hereditary peers.
Life peers- Appointed for their lifetime only, these Lords’ titles are not passed on to their children. The Queen formally appoints life peers on the advice and recommendation of the Prime Minister.
Law Lords-The Law Lords are salaried, full-time judges who carry out the judicial work of the House of Lords.
Bishops- A limited number of twenty-six Church of England archbishops and bishops sit in the House, passing their membership on to the next most senior bishop when they retire. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York traditionally get life peerages on retirement.
Elected hereditary peers-The right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords was ended in 1999 by the House of Lords Act but 92 Members were elected internally to remain until the next stage of the Lords reform process. There are 687 Members, the House of Lords will spend 2 thirds of the time on legislation, they will process and revise legislation and before the royal assent on bills from the queen.
The house of lords also acts as the final court of appeal; it also has 7 sub-committees that will deal with passing European legislation.
The cabinet
Central government runs the country it has different departments these are run by ministers there are 22 main departments and the elected prime minister chooses who is in charge of them, this is known as the cabinet. The Cabinet is the committee at the centre of the British political system and is the supreme decision-making body in government, Every Thursday during Parliament, ministers from all departments as well as other ministers - meet in the Cabinet room in Downing Street to discuss the big issues of the day.
- The prime minister – Tony Blair
The prime minister is head of UK government and their duty is to form the Cabinet in order to retain the support of the majority of members of the House of Commons. They are responsibility is to look after the civil service and government agencies, they oversee government activities; the prime minister ensures that the individual responsibilities of the ministers are carried out.
Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State-John Prescott MP
As Deputy Prime minister John Prescott duties as to carry out all the prime ministers duties in their absence
Chancellor of the Exchequer-
The duties of Gordon brown is to look after the HM treasury, he is responsible for putting into effect the UK Government's financial and economy policy.
It aims to raise economic growth, creating economic and employment opportunities for all. The Treasury works to achieve economic stability, low inflation, sound public finances, efficient public services and a more productive economy. The Treasury has a fair and efficient tax and benefit system. Income taxes, value added tax and customs duties are collected from people who work.
Leader of the House of Commons and
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs-
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Secretary of State for Trade and Industry-
Secretary of State for the Home Department-
The role of the Home Office is to focus on its main areas: policing, prisons, probation, fighting crime including anti-social behaviour, immigration and asylum; and terrorism.
Secretary of State for Health-
The aim is to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of England. Its work includes setting national standards and shaping the direction of the NHS and social care services, and promoting healthier living. Health and social care services are delivered through the NHS, local authorities, arm’s length bodies and other public and private sector organisations
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport-
Minister for the Cabinet Office and for Social Exclusion (and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster) -
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and Secretary of State for Wales-
Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council-
Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor
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Secretary of State for International Development -
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Secretary of State for Education and Skills-
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Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and Minister for Women-
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Secretary of State for Work and Pensions-
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Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs-
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Secretary of State for Defence-
The purpose of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces is to defend the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories, its people and interests, and to act as a force for good by strengthening international peace and security
Secretary of State for Transport and Secretary of State for Scotland-
Chief Whip (Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury) -
Chief Secretary to the Treasury-
The Treasury is the department responsible for formulating and putting into effect the UK Government's financial and economic policy. The Treasury's overall aim is to raise the rate of sustainable growth, through creating economic and employment opportunities for all.
The civil service
About half of all civil servants provide services direct to the public. These include paying benefits and pensions, running employment services, staffing prisons, issuing driving licences, and providing services to industry and agriculture. Around one in five are employed in the Ministry of Defence and its agencies. The rest are divided between central administrative and policy duties, support services, and services that are largely financially self-supporting, such as those provided by the Royal Mint. About 80 per cent of civil servants work outside London
Opposition
The strongest opposition in parliament is the more senior politicians, at the moment they are the conservatives, they have a party leader and a shadow cabinet, these ministers will shadow the government they will question the government policies and criticise the work and put their own opinions across.
If the opposition was elected at the next election the new prime minister would select his own minister to run cabinet departments and Tony Blair’s cabinet ministers would then become shadow ministers
Each constituent has a councilor for each of the main parties, if they are elected they win a seat for the house of commons the party with the most seats wins the election.
Local government
Warrington departments
The chief executives unit
The chief executive for Warrington council is Diana Terris her work involves;
Children’s services
Local councillor‘s
The Council is currently made up of 26 Liberal Democrat (L/D), 24 Labour (L), 6 Conservative (C), 1 independent - a total of 57 Members representing 22 wards. Councillors play a vital role in bringing to light, and helping to address, ward issues across Warrington. They can help and advise on a variety of local issues and answer questions about the Council, its policies and its work.
The members of government for Warrington are Helen Jones and Helen Southworth; they will address any issues for Warrington in the commons
Warrington is a county council and is decentralised it has 18 parish councils, and Warrington deals with 22 emergency services which include police, fire, health,
The population in Warrington;
The scale of the public sector
The public expenditure
By paying taxes we fund the government; by paying council tax we fund our local government for any extra services
It is estimated that the government spend about 25% on local governments
I have taken these tables from the web address http://csr07.treasury.gov.uk/spending-by o
From birth to death, public services and government support are available to help every individual through the events and circumstances of their life. The Government spends an average of £8,720 per person each year for every man, woman and child in the UK. The biggest revenue goes to education and training, and health and other social protection
Employees in the public sector
Employees in the public sector
Number of Public Sector Employees 2006/2007
The government employs around 597037 these are split between the four major employers,
- Armed forces around 304,000
- Police services around 199,237
- Fire services around 50,000
- Prison services around 43,800
These services will cost the government £42.6 billion broken down this is
- Armed forces £25 billion
- Police service £12.1 billion
- Fire service £2.3 billion
- Prison service £3.2 billion.
Bibliography
For this report I used the following information resources…….
- Gray, Lockyear and Vause, 2004; page 22
