Understanding The Public Sector
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Assignment 1.1
In this assignment I am researching into the structure and the role of the public sector today. The Public Sector is services which are funded from the government via taxation. The services consist of many services the main services consist of the Fire service, the Armed Forces, the National Health Service and the Education System. These services are publicly owned and paid for by taxation, which means that the services are accountable to the public. These services are meant to aim to provide a good quality and effective service, rather than making profit. The services run because society needs the services. There are two other sectors in Englands economy; the Private and Voluntary sectors. The Private Sector is services that are owned by individuals and businesses, which sell goods, such as supermarkets, and services such as airlines. Their main aim is to make profit. The Voluntary Sector is services where most of the workers are unpaid; the sector includes charities and voluntary organisations such as the Red Cross, Mountain Rescue and St. Johns. However, the Voluntary Sector occasionally receives grants from the government; the organisations can get money through membership fees and still be included in the sector.
There is an increase in partnerships between the Private and Public Sectors. A modern day example of this would be in the Armed Forces, where the Armed Forces are a Public Service but the company that caters for the Forces are a Private Company. Another example of this would be in HM Prison Service, again the HM Prison Service is a public service but the Prison Transport services are a privately owned business.
In this part of my assignment I will be looking at the development of the Public Services. I will split the development into four main categories, from the early days to the present. I will be looking at the developmental stages with detail; I will be looking at how and why the public services have changed.
Section One / Pre 1800
Before the 19th century there was an established Parliament, Law courts, Army, Navy, Customs also we had a few Prisons. However, most criminals where either killed or sent abroad. Compared to the present, the public services then were limited and provided a small area of services. For example the Police Force and the National Health Service were not formed and these services are often seen as the foremost important and key Public Services into days society, society would not run without theses services today. In the Pre 1800, people had to provide and help themselves, for example, if you where ill, then you or your family had to pay for medical attention, where as today, the National Health Service are paid via modern taxation. At the present time public services are “free”, although people pay through taxation; this means that the modern public services are accountable to the public / tax payers.
The Military services consisted of just the Army and the Naval Forces, both services where poorly run and organised. The public had just started to recognise the need for public services. At this stage has no professional police, fire and ambulance services that are vital for the smooth running of todays society; people had to just help themselves.
Section Two / 1800 Ð- 1899
This period of time is very important in many aspects of British history. During this period of time the Industrial Revolution occurred, this had a major affect on many aspects, including the public services. Some sources state that industrial growth happened from 1740, however the major changes to society and the growth of industries occurred later in the 19th century. Industrial Revolution refers to the development that transformed Britain from being mainly agriculturally based nation to a “town centred” society and leaning to more factory manufacturing.
During this period of time the police service was formed. In 1829 Robert Peel established the police force. The service was tried out in Metropolitan London, the success of the force lead to many other parts of the country setting up their own police service. It was only until 1856, 27 years after the Metropolitan was established was it compulsory for other parties of the country to have a police service. As Sir Robert Peel, sponsored the first police service, the police where called ÐPeelers also they had the nickname ÐBobbies which was taken from Sir Robert Peels name, this alternative name is still in common usage. Sir Robert Peel did not want the police service to look like the armed forces, as the army had the image of being ÐThug Like and malicious, they would smash protestors and not ask questions, Sir Robert Peel wanted the police to stop incidents before they occur. To stop the police looking like the army they dressed in top hats and truncheons, this was very different to the armys style of combats styled clothes.
This picture shows the uniform of the police, the uniform was dark blue, similar to the navy rather than red like the army.
The Police service is massive in todays society, their roles and responsibilities and developed. Policing today breaks into two main parts:
Preventing crimes from happening in the first place, and working to make communities safer and more peaceful
Detecting crimes – this means finding out who has committed crimes, and working to stop them.
The police are seen as one of the key public services in todays society. There are 43 police forces in England and Wales formed of more than 143,000 police officers, 13,000 volunteer special constables and 7000 community support officers. They are all working toward one goal: to make you safer.
You can see the development from, being a London based police force to a national service which employees 163,000 people. This large amount of people shows the people needed to police the country.
In 1824 the first Fire Service was established in Edinburgh, the force consisted of 80 part-time fire fighters. The fire services requirements only consisted of them having building trade experience and where fit. The next fire service to be established was in Liverpool in 1833. However, there