Councils in the wider state
Types of local government and the wider public sector.
- Level
- Bitesize
- Learning time
- 1 hour 30 minutes
- Where
- Serving the public
- Price
- £39
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
Overview and Outcomes.
Overview
A council makes most sense when seen alongside the other public bodies it works with. The course maps the types of local government: the two tier system, the three routes to unitary status, combined and mayoral strategic authorities, parish and town councils, and the three governance models, with a Folkestone and Hythe case showing how structure and governance interact. It then compares councils with policing, the NHS and fire and rescue, using Hertfordshire's reorganisation and Avanti's work with a district council to ask who decides and to whom they are accountable, including the chief constable's operational independence.
What you'll develop
In this Bitesize, you will develop the ability to:
- Distinguish two tier, unitary, combined authority and parish arrangements and identify which council delivers a given service in each.
- Compare the accountability models of local government, policing, NHS bodies, NHS England's functions and fire and rescue.
- Compare the leader and cabinet, committee system and directly elected mayor models, including the different position in Wales.
- Explain how the power to raise local tax, or dependence on central funding, shapes where a body's accountability sits.
- Explain how a council changes its governance model and why structural change can shape that choice, using the Folkestone and Hythe case.
- Distinguish the chief constable's operational independence from the officers advise, members decide relationship in councils, and trace the accountability chain before you raise a concern.
The Modules.
1 hour 30 minutes of learning.
- 02Types of Local Government and Models of AuthorityEvery council calls itself a council, yet structure and governance vary widely. This module maps the two tier system, the three routes to unitary status, combined and mayoral strategic authorities, and parish and town councils, then compares the three governance models set by the Local Government Act 2000 and Localism Act 2011. A case study from Folkestone and Hythe shows how structure and governance interact.39 min
- 10How the Public Sector Differs from Local GovernmentCouncils, policing, the NHS and fire and rescue give genuinely different answers to two questions: who decides, and to whom are they accountable. Using local government as the baseline, including Hertfordshire's reorganisation and Avanti's work with a district council, this module compares elected, appointed and ministerial models, local tax raising against central funding, and the chief constable's operational independence, so you can work well with partners whose rules differ from yours.45 min