Local Government

Although the UK is a unitary state, not a federal one, a very large part of the public services is administered by elected local councils. They are called local authorities. They are about two million people. The central government employs only one-third of this number. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own systems. They are not quite the same as that of England and Wales. But the differences are only superficial. All local authorities derive their existence and their powers as well as their functions from Parliament and the central government. Parliament takes power away or adds to them. It can even abolish any particular authority, or group or class of authorities, if it wants to. The Local Government Act of 1972 reorganised the whole system, bringing a new structure into effect in 1974 which later was partly revised.

Parliament has those powers over local authorities, and has used them recently. It does not exercise any detailed supervision through any office of the nature of prefect or local governor. Many of the activities of local authorities are in fact supervised, advised or controlled by the central government. But there is no single agency of control for any particular local authority or class of authorities. In each area the elected council and its officers have direct relations with the central government departments.

Traditionally, the most important local area is the county. England has been divided into counties for more than 1,000 years. Most of them, except those near the outer edges of England, have the old word ‘shire’ in their names, for instance, Yorkshire. In each county the Queen appoints a Lord Lieutenant as her representative, now only for ceremonial purposes.

Except around London these ancient (or historic) counties kept their boundaries unchanged until 1970s. Then some of them lost territory to newly created counties. Within the counties the older units are the parishes. These are the local communities or villages which became established in the Middle Ages, each with a church as its focal point. They have their equivalents all over Europe, such as French communes and German Gemeinden (Gemeinde – нім. - 1) община (юридична особа) 2) місцеве самоуправління). Until 1888 they were important units of administration.

From the early Middle Ages, as some villages grew into towns, the Crown gave them “ charters of incorporation” as ‘boroughs’ or ‘cities’ with their own mayors and councils. But from the late nineteenth century successive changes have been imposed by the Parliament.

There are now two types of structure. One created in 1974 and changed in 1986. It applies to Greater London and the six other largest urban areas. Sometimes they are called conurbations. The other applies to all the rest of England, with most of its area and three-fifths of its population, and to the whole of Wales.

Greater London with nearly seven million people, consists of thirty-two ‘London boroughs’ and the City of London. Most of these boroughs[3] have between 150 000 and 300 000 people. The best known of these is the City of Westminster. At the centre the City of London survives as an independent unit, with less than 10 000 resident inhabitants. The Lord Mayor of London is concerned only with small area. In all other parts the boroughs elected councils run all the services except a few which necessary concern them all. The buses and underground railways are now run by the London Transport Executive, responsible to the central government. And the Home Secretary is in charge of the Metropolitan Police (the Police Force in London).

Conurbations. These are extended urban areas, typically consisting of several towns merging with the suburbs of a central city. The six main city areas in the midland and the north of England have local systems similar to London’s. These areas around Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle upon Tyne, have between one and three million people each. Now each county’s area consists of boroughs, one of which is the central city. The others are based on the surrounding satellite towns, each expanded so as to include the areas between. The borough councils run all the local services except police, public transport and a few others which have joint agencies.

Shire counties. These are a non-metropolitan county (in existence since 1974). England outside London and these ‘conurbations ‘consists of thirty-nine ‘shire’ counties. Most of these are the old historic or geographic counties. However, the smallest pairs have been joined together. Some others lost territory and population to the metropolitan counties. The thirty-nine ‘shire’ counties are responsible for the main local functions, such as education, social services and police. Each divided into districts (typically about seven per county) which provide housing, refuse collection, other services best managed on a smaller scale. In general, most towns with more than about 80 000 people within these counties have become districts.

In 1974 Wales was reorganized more thoroughly than England. Twelve of the counties with small populations were managed into five. All were given new Welsh names. The thirteenth, Glamorgan in the industrial south, with half the Welsh population, was divided into three. Some old counties became districts of the new merged counties. Other districts became new creations, among them Ognwr, Dwyfor, Glyndwr.

Notes*

to merge, v. - поглинати, зливатися, об’єднуватися conurbation, n. - велике місто з приміськими зонами; [kɔnɜ:'beiʃ(ə)n] 1) конурбація, велике місто з пригородами; міська агломерація 2) укрупнення міста за рахунок приєднання до нього інших міст, сіл; включення пригородів у міста a borough, n. - [ˈbʌrə] місто, яке має самоврядування; містечко, населений пункт; місто, що вибирає одного або більше представників до парламенту

on a small scale - в малому масштабі to refuse collection - відмовитися від збирання чогось charter of incorporation - статут об’єднання, корпорації a focal point - фокус, центр to supervise, v. - наглядати supervision – нагляд urban, adj. - міський rural, adj. - сільський superficial, adj. - поверховий

Talking Points*

What are the functions of the local authorities?

What does the local government mean?

Is the system of local government the same in Scotland and Northern Ireland as it is in England and Wales?

What body supervises the work of the local government?

How is Great Britain administratively divided?

What’s the administrative structure of Greater London?

What are conurbations?

What’s the difference between conurbations and shire counties?

What’s the purpose of the countries (England, Wales) periodical administrative reorganization?

Something to know more about the secondary education…

Secondary education in Great Britain is provided for the pupils from 11 to 16 or 18 years. Since the 1944 Education Act of Parliament, free secondary education has been available to all children in Britain. Indeed, children must go to school until the age of 16, and pupils may stay on for one or two years more if they wish. Secondary schools are usually much larger than primary schools and most children - over 80 per cent - go to a comprehensive school at the age of 11. These schools are not selective - you do not have to pass an exam to go there. In 1965 the labour Government introduced the policy of comprehensive education. Before that time, all children took an exam at the age of 11 called “the 11+”. Approximately the top 20 per cent were chosen to go to the academic grammar schools. A lot of people thought that this system of selection at the age of 11 was unfair on many children. So comprehensive schools were introduced to offer suitable courses for pupils of all abilities. LEAs have now changed over completely to non-selective education in comprehensive schools.

Comprehensive schools want to develop the talents of each individual child. So they offer a wide choice of subjects, from art and craft, woodwork and domestic science to the humanities and sciences, modern languages, computer studies. Pupils at comprehensive schools are often put into “a set”. Sets are formed according to ability in each subject taught in the school. All pupils move to the next class at the end of the year.

Unit 4

Дата добавления: 2015-08-18