Government, Policies and the Public Services free essay sample

What are the responsibility of the government in the uk The central government is charged with a number of responsibilities including policy making on matters of education, crime and justice, employment and foreign relations. The central government is also charged with delegation of duties to the local government as well as coordination of these local governments. Usual responsibilities of this level of government which are not granted to lower levels are maintaining national security and exercising international diplomacy, including the right to sign binding treaties. Basically, the central government has the power to make laws for the whole country, in contrast with local governments. P2 What is the impact of policies on different public services Public services are provided by various levels of Government some (like pension post office) are federal, while other (like library police) are local so any cutbacks at the national level will mainly impact federal/national services, not town/city services. The politicians decide on overall policies, but once any changes are decided its usually left to the civil service to implement the decisions. Some are specific and there is no room for choice of how the change is made (e. g. decision to decommission an aircraft carrier), but other (e. g. a certain budget cut to a Ministry) can be implemented in different ways. Budgets pay for different things (e. g. salaries, equipment/supplies, contract assistance) and only a portion of any budget cut will directly reduce service levels. Most managers, given the chance, will try to implement budget cuts so as to minimize service reductions. And to a large degree these reductions will usually be in terms of frequency, number of offices, hours of operation or how fast the service is provided .. rather than a complete discontinuation. the budget cuts in the UK are targeted more at some areas of Government operations than others, so impact will vary. Some services may be severely impacted while others are untouched. Given the scale of the savings defined there will unavoidably be significant impact on service levels. The government’s involvements in the public services and there responsibilities. It is the government who pay for the public services so in order to hire people like the police it is the government who pays them in order for them to get the job done the government has many responsibilities when it comes to the public services one being that the worker are not slacking and the job is done to a certain level making sure that the public are happy with what is done. Also the government takes reports from the public in order to see how they could improve the public services so the public services become more useful and can help out more. Ways that the Government is looking to empower people include: extending choice, strengthening accountability, and offering more opportunities for direct control, including for instance through the use of individual budgets. The Government is also committed to transforming public services so they are delivered in the ways and at the times that suit the service user rather than the service provider. Government can only do this by engaging users of public services to learn what really matters to them and by acting on what is learnt. The Government aims to establish across the public sector a culture built upon an understanding of the needs and behaviours of citizens and businesses to create services that are better for citizens, with simpler, more accessible and convenient services. P3 The electron process When Parliament is dissolved every seat in the House of Commons becomes vacant and a general election is held. Each constituency in the UK elects one MP (Member of Parliament) to a seat in the House of Commons. The political party that wins a majority of seats in the House of Commons usually forms the Government. MPs are elected from a choice of candidates by a simple majority system in which each person casts one vote. The candidate with the most votes then becomes the MP for that constituency. Candidates may be from a political party registered with the Electoral Commission or they may stand as an Independent rather than represent a registered party. People go to vote at local centres and schools they have to bring proof for who they are in order for them to be able to vote. What is first past the post? Under First Past The Post (FPTP) voting takes place in single-member constituencies. Voters put a cross in a box next to their favoured candidate and the candidate with the most votes in the constituency wins. All other votes count for nothing. We believe FPTP is the very worst system for electing a representative government. Where do people go to vote In the UK, there are three different ways you can vote. How you vote is up to you. It may depend on what you find easiest or the most convenient method. Most people vote in person at a polling station. However, if you are not able to go to the polling station in person on election day, you can apply to vote by post or by proxy (someone voting on your behalf). P4 If budgets are cut this can effect all the public services. Budgets pay for different things (e. g. salaries, equipment/supplies, contract assistance) and only a portion of any budget cut will directly reduce service levels. Most managers, given the chance, will try to implement budget cuts so as to minimize service reductions. And to a large degree these reductions will usually be in terms of frequency, number of offices, hours of operation or how fast the service is provided.. Rather than a complete discontinuation. One more effect P5 There are many things that the government do that effects the public such as; Privatisation of gas and electric resulting in obscene charges with many people having to choose between eating and heating. Privatisation of rail industry resulting in obscene charges causing people to spend more and more of their income getting to and from work and the government bailing the railways out when they get in trouble. Privatisation of care homes, resulting in them being ripped off for millions and on the brink of bankruptcy, along with employing people for a pittance that have no morals whatsoever who abuse the people they are supposed to care for. Privatisation of cleaning for hospitals resulting in more cases of infection from things like MRSA than there ever was when matrons and hospital staff were responsible for it. Selling of council homes resulting in many family homes now being in the hands of either single or married couples whose children have left home, or the hands of private landlords who let out the rooms to students, the knock on effect being that their is now a huge shortage of family homes in the UK. Less police resulting in more crime. Huge cuts in jobs with no economic plan resulting in far more being paid out in benefits, stiffling of the recovery, despondency for those that lose there jobs and their families and another generation of young people living their life on the dole, the same as when Thatcher was in power. Raising of VAT and employee NI and freezing of pay, along with high inflation, pushing more and more families into poverty and causing them untold distress. Plans to reform the NHS, with no one sure anymore whats going on, resulting in despair for those that work in the health industry and those that care for our NHS. To light regulation of the Banks all over the world, resulting in the recession we have just come out of and the struggle we are going through to recover. Bail out of the banks resulting in the recession not turning into a depression. Smoking ban resulting in stinky sweaty nightclubs where the stench was once masked by smoke and thousands of public houses to close. High cost of alcohol resulting in yet more public houses closing. Trebling of tuition fees, result WILL BE less people going to university. The right to start up a school, result WILL BE less money for schools that already exist as new schools will be paid out of the education budget, they will also most likely end up as schools for the elite who at present pay for private education. Winter fuel allowance for pensioners resulting in less pensioners dying of the cold in winter. However, the inherently political environment within which policies are developed means that these two ideals are not always achievable. The time-pressures under which policies need to be developed do not always allow for the use of experimental methods. The challenge for government researchers is to provide the best available evidence within the timeframes given. This presentation will highlight the findings and lessons learnt from an evaluation of the Conditional Caution, a new initiative which enables adult offenders to be given a caution with rehabilitative or reparative conditions attached.