The working of the Local Government

Local councillors are elected for four-year term. In May if every year some local elections take place. Each councillor represents a ‘ward’. Within each council’s area the wards are supposed to be as far as practicable equal in population, so their boundaries have to be revised from time to time. There is no proportionality in the voting. As with the House of Commons the candidate with most votes wins the seat. In rural districts several small parishes may together form a ward. A big town is divided into wards.

Every local council has its presiding officer, chosen by the whole council for one year only. In metropolitan and London boroughs the presiding officer has the title Mayor or Lord Mayor. So too it is so in those districts which are called ‘boroughs’ or ‘cities’. In other districts and in counties the presiding officer is called ‘chairman’. The title Lord Mayor is used in the seventeen most important English cities and in Cardiff (Wales). But a Lord Mayor does not receive any title personally by virtue of the office.

It is only for ceremonial and social purposes that a mayor is first citizen. The office, being held only for a year, does not give its holder any significant position of political leadership. The mayor’s main task, apart from ceremony, is to preside over full meetings of the council, which are not frequent, during his one-year term of office.

Each county is divided now into districts of between 60,000 and 100,000 people. The District Councils are responsible for housing, especially for the building and renting of council houses. It is their job to keep the district clean and to inspect the food shops. And it is they who employ the dustmen who go from house to house to collect rubbish. In districts which are not ‘boroughs’ or ‘cities’ the chairman of the council usually has a similar status but less ceremonial. Mayors and chairmen are chosen each year by vote of the whole council. Often there is no need for a vote because the choice has been agreed in advance through private discussion between the parties. In some cases these offices are held by the councillors of the different parties in turn. All local councils work through committees. Each council has a committee for each of the main section of its work: general management of the schools - education committee. Meetings are generally open to the public.The local authorities appoint their own staff. At the middle and higher levels of the local government service the local government officers are usually ready to move from one place to another. It is often necessary to move in order to get promotion. The chairman of a committee (e.g. on social services or education) has to work closely with the departmental chiefs and senior officers.

Each council estimates its costs for the next year, and then decides how much it needs to collect from its residents after taking account of grants from the central government and other revenues. So the amount to be paid by each person depends on the expenditure of the borough or county and district where she or he lives. But the amount no longer depends on the value of the house. Thus, as it is clearly described above,

Parliament in London is responsible for deciding national policy, but many public services are provided by local government. The United Kingdom is divided into administrative areas known as ‘ counties’ and each county has a county town where the offices of the local government are located. The most important unit of local government is the County Council. It is in charge of the county as a whole. Nobody can plan anything - shopping-centres, factories, parks, race courses - without the permission of the County Council. Its other responsibilities include local roads, transport, the police, the fire service, education. It build the schools, pays the teachers, personal social services including old people homes, child welfare, etc.

Notes*

a ward, n. - (тут) адміністративний район міста a parish, n. - церковна парафія, парафіяни a presiding officer – головуючий by (or in) virtue of - завдяки чомусь apart from - на стороні, окремо, осібно to rent a house - винаймати житло to let a house - здавати житло

to employ a dustman - наймати сміттярa to collect rubbish - збирати сміття in turn - по черзі, в свою чергу to estimate costs -оцінювати затрати revenues, n, pl. - доходи (особл. державні) to take account - брати до уваги welfare, n. - добробут

Talking Points*

How are local councillors elected?

What is the structure of the local council?

What’s the task of a Mayor?

What’s the present division of a county?

What are the duties of the district council?

How are the costs for the next year estimated?

Whom are public services provided by?

Still more about education in Great Britain…

· Public schools in the UK. A public school, in common British usage, is a school which is usually prestigious and historic, which charges fees, does not arbitrarily restrict admissions, and is financed by bodies other than the state, commonly as a private charitable trust. Often but not always they are boarding schools. Confusingly to a non-native English speaker a public school is actually a private school! In British usage, a government-run school (which would be called a 'public school' in other areas, such as the United States) is called a state school. Many of the independent schools in the UK do not refer to themselves as public schools. Many choose to use the term independent school. In part this is due to a sense that some 'minor' public schools have many of the social associations and traditions of public schools but without the quality of teaching and extracurricular activities. The term 'public' (first adopted by Eton) historically refers to the fact that the school was open to the paying public, as opposed to, a religious school that was only open to members of a certain church, and in contrast to private education at home (usually only practical for the very wealthy who could afford tutors).

Public schools often relied heavily on the maintenance of discipline by older boys, both to reduce staffing costs and as preparation for military or public service. While under the best circumstances the Victorian public schools were superb examples of education, the reliance on corporal punishment and the prefect system could also make them awful. The classics-based curriculum was criticised for not providing skills in sciences or engineering. Today most public schools are highly selective on academic grounds, as well as financial grounds (ability to pay high fees) and social grounds (often a family connection to the school is very desirable in admissions).

· Private education is for the children from 5 to 18 years. Some parents choose to pay for private education in spite of the existence of free state education. Private schools are called by different names to state schools: the preparatory (often called “prep”) schools are for pupils aged up to 13 and the public schools are for 13-18 year-olds. These schools are very expensive and they are attended by about five per cent of the school population.

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