Understanding the Public Sector

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 England's 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