PUBLIC SERVICES

Have you ever thought about how the public services you use are provided, or how many public services you come into contact with every week?

 

 This unit will introduce you to the role and work of the public services. The range apd extent of the public services might surprise you. When people think about public services they often think only about uniformed services such as the Police Service or Ambulance Service, but the public services are much broader than this. Many of them do not have a high profile, but without them we could not have the quality of life we enjoy.

 

This unit will help you to explore what the public services do and how they are funded. You will also learn how funding has an impact on the services and how the public services are held accountable. This unit covers a wide range of organisations and you will also be able to see how they depend on each other to deliver their services.

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The Public Sector (often referred to collectively as ‘The Government’) is responsible for providing all Public Services in the UK. From Healthcare to Education, Social Care to Housing, Refuse Collection to International Development, Tourism Promotion to Pensions. Funding comes through various forms of direct and indirect taxation, collected locally and centrally and through revenue earning activities. Budgets are allocated across over 50,000 Public Sector organisations, from Government.

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Departments through to Hospitals and Schools, with Public Services being delivered either directly, through a third partly contractor, or by a Private/Charitable organisation working within Government guidelines. Approximately 1/4 of the working population (over 5 million people) are employed within Public Services and total Government spending in 2017 will exceed £814billion and represents over 40% of GDP. The largest constituent parts of spending are Health, Education and Social Care.