Councils in context
Local government, fire, politics and housing partnerships.
A half day on councils in context: how local government developed, types of council, fire and rescue governance, the wider public sector, the political landscape, where housing sits and multi-agency working.
- Level
- Explore
- Learning time
- 5 hours 30 minutes
- Where
- Serving the public
- Price
- £129
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion, or Certificate of Completion and Assessment with a short assessment
Overview and Outcomes.
Who It's For
Officers and managers in councils and partner bodies who work across public service boundaries
Overview
Officers who understand only their own organisation can give residents confident but wrong answers. Part of the one-day Knowing the public landscape, this course traces local government from 1835 to the Localism Act and maps types of council and governance models. It compares three fire and rescue governance models and the intervention at South Wales Fire and Rescue, then how the wider public sector differs, including Avanti's work with a district council. The political landscape and the reorganising state follow, with Greater Manchester as the model being copied. It concludes with where housing sits, Awaab's Law, and multi-agency working under the Civil Contingencies Act and JESIP.
Aims
It is designed to help officers explain who decides and who is accountable across the bodies they work with, route residents to the tier that owns their issue, and cross organisational boundaries with confidence, so that partnerships do not fail because nobody knew who owned what.
In summary, you will be able to:
- Compare the accountability models of local government, policing, NHS bodies and fire and rescue, including how funding shapes accountability.
- Route a resident's enquiry to the right tier and elected representative, and brief members accurately on a paused reorganisation.
- Apply practical questions about duties, handovers and a shared picture when your work crosses an organisational boundary.
What you'll develop
Across this Explore, you will develop the ability to:
- Explain the scale and breadth of what English councils deliver, using the four service categories of caring, educating and housing, shaping places and everyday essentials.
- Distinguish two tier, unitary, combined authority and parish arrangements and identify which council delivers a given service in each.
- Distinguish the combined fire authority, single authority and commissioner led models by who governs and how directly each is accountable to the public.
- Compare the accountability models of local government, policing, NHS bodies, NHS England's functions and fire and rescue.
- Describe the tiers of government in England and in Wales and explain how the Senedd changes the shape of the Welsh system.
- Describe the types of local authority in England and explain what a combined authority and its mayor can and cannot do.
- Distinguish council housing from housing associations by ownership, decision-making and the rules that apply.
- Describe how MAPPA, integrated health and social care and joint emergency response bring separate bodies together around shared work.
Built from 8 modules.
5 hours 30 minutes of learning.
- 01What Local Government Is and How It Got HereFoundations of Local Government43 min
- 02Types of Local Government and Models of AuthorityFoundations of Local Government39 min
- 03Fire and Rescue: Three Governance ModelsThe Public Sector42 min
- 04How the Public Sector Differs from Local GovernmentThe Public Sector45 min
- 05The Wider Political LandscapeWorking in a Political Environment43 min
- 06The Reorganising State: Combined Authorities, Devolution and LGRWorking in a Political Environment42 min
- 07Where Housing Sits in the LandscapeThe Public Sector44 min
- 08Working Across the Landscape: Multi-Agency Delivery and Statutory DutyThe Public Sector43 min