Title : Government and public services.

Aim : We will think about whether or notGovernment is the best organisation toprovide public services.

Key Words

Public Service = A service provided by governmentor local government.

Private service provider = A private service providedby private business. Example rail transport is nowprivately run.

What are Public Services?

Public Services are organisations that are directly run by the National or Local Government.

An example of a Public Service include Schools, Hospitals, local parks etc.

The Public Sector as it is also known as is used to provide services to the public.

There are some public services that are now private including Rail travel.

Advantage of Public Services

Advantages: The public controlled the service and therefore the profit margins are kept low

The costs of using Public Services are covered from the Taxpayer therefore cannot go too much into debt

They are directly controlled by the Government and therefore cannot be used inappropriately.

All the essential services will be free and wont charge the public to use them

Examples include: Schools, Hospitals

Disadvantages of Public Service

All the money that is used comes from the Taxpayer therefore would not be getting best value for money

There is less competition for the Private Sector therefore not allowing private sector growth

Some Organisations are very expensive to run and could cause a lot of money being used from taxpayers

Here are a list of public services.... Can you divide them into either Central Government or Local Government Control?

The armed forces

Recycling

JusticeService

ProvisionOf parksOr open spaces.

Housing

SocialService

NHS

Prison Service

Local Library

Police

What are Private Services?

The private sector consists of business activity that is owned and run by private individuals. These businesses can be small firms owned by just one person, or large multi-national businesses that operate around the world (globally). In the case of large businesses, there might be many thousands of owners involved. The goal of businesses in the private sector is to make a profit.

Advantages of Private Sector

Private services are owned by Private companies and therefore are seen to be cheaper to run

Private sector have more control in terms of wages and costing of the service

They can use their companies to invest for the future to improve sustainability

Disadvantages of Public Services

If the company does not make money than it might have to backed by the Public Taxpayer

Example of Private Sector not working include the recent case of the Northern Rock bank when the company went into too much debt and therefore was backed by the Government to make sure people were still able to use the bank

Prices can be increased for services according to the company

In the U.K many public services are provided by government and localGovernment. We are known as a social democracy because the state( government ) look after a lot of things for us. People pay for publicservices by paying high direct and indirect tax.

In the U.S.A , many public services are provided by private companieswho charge people directly for services or charge the government forservices. In the U.S.A government taxes are lower but people have to pay the service providers or pay into insurance policies to make surethey can afford services. The U.S.A relies on private provision of servicesit is more of a capitalist democracy than Britain.

The U.S.A still controls its own armed services.

Everyone receives equal treatment.

People receive a servicebased on their needs not rather than theirAbility to pay.

Elected politicians canMaintain control of publicservices. They can e heldaccountable.

Rates of pay andworking conditionsare same acrossthe country.

Service does not haveto make private share holders profit and businessowners

People can choose theservice they want.

People have pay forOwn services so theyare more responsible.

Competition between businessesdrives up standards, brings innew ideas and can lowerscosts.

Companies lose business ifservice is poor. This encouragesThem to provide good services.Elected politicians can

Spend time checking onHow services are doingRather than running them.