The Public Sector

This module builds a shared map of the wider public sector, starting with the Office for National Statistics classification and the principle that every public body exists through a statutory duty and specific powers granted by Parliament or the Senedd. It compares five landscapes, three routes into leadership and the lines of accountability in each, and shows how devolution and 2026 reforms are redrawing the map.

This module looks at how the House of Commons makes law and holds government to account. It covers the two roles of an MP, the layout of the chamber, the stages of a bill from First Reading to Royal Assent and statutory instruments, then select committees, the Public Accounts Committee with the National Audit Office and the Liaison Committee: no power to compel, real power to expose.

This module explores the House of Lords as a revising rather than a governing chamber, and why it cannot block the elected government under the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 and the Salisbury Convention. It compares Lords and Commons committees, traces reform from 1911 to the House of Lords Hereditary Peers Act 2026, and asks what gives an unelected chamber standing to shape national law.

This module looks at how the machinery of British government is run: the scale and top roles of the Civil Service, its functions of advice, delivery and continuity, the four Civil Service Code values and merit based recruitment. It compares the constitutional theory of ministerial accountability, including the Carltona principle, with committee practice, then examines Number 10, the Cabinet Office, the 2026 Civil Service review and No.10 North.

This module looks at how Wales makes decisions differently from Westminster. It sets out the reserved powers model introduced by the Wales Act 2017, the policy by policy map of devolved and reserved areas, and how the settlement grew from 1999 to a ninety six Member Senedd. It then explores the Senedd's single chamber, the weight its committees carry, how the Welsh Government is led and the Sewel convention.

This module looks at how the NHS in England is organised and governed, and how that structure is changing. It explains the arm's length body concept, the history from Monitor to the merger of NHS Improvement into NHS England, Integrated Care Boards and the Secretary of State's powers of direction, then examines the Health Bill, which would abolish NHS England, and the King's Fund caution about structural reform.

This module explores how NHS Wales gives a genuinely different answer to the accountability question. It covers the machinery of Welsh health policy, seven Local Health Boards that plan, commission and deliver care as one organisation, the national trusts and special health authorities, the Joint Commissioning Committee and direct oversight by Welsh Government, before comparing England and Wales and drawing out implications for leaders working across the border.

Policing in England and Wales rests on a deliberate separation: the public elects who holds the police to account, not who does the policing. This module sets out the roles of Police and Crime Commissioners, chief constables and Police and Crime Panels under the Policing Protocol, then examines the November 2025 announcement to abolish commissioners by 2028 and the January 2026 Police Reform White Paper.

Every fire and rescue authority prevents fires, enforces fire safety law and responds to emergencies, but how it is governed varies sharply. This module compares the combined fire authority, the single authority fire service and commissioner led fire, examines the Welsh Government intervention at South Wales Fire and Rescue, and traces the move towards mayoral oversight in England, while showing why the statutory duty stays constant.

Councils, 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.

Not every social landlord is the council. This module sets out how council housing differs from independent, not-for-profit housing associations, places both within a wider market that includes private renting, and compares regulation in England, through the Regulator of Social Housing and the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, with direct Welsh Government regulation. It covers Awaab's Law, the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.

Most serious public service work crosses organisational lines, and failures open at the boundary. This module looks at Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements, integrated health and social care and joint emergency response, draws on Avanti's Leading Partnerships material and its four conditions, and examines why inquiries find everyone assumed someone else was responsible. It sets out the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and JESIP, with practical questions for crossing boundaries.

Holding England and Wales side by side, sector by sector, shows that devolution has produced no single pattern. This module compares the NHS, policing, fire and rescue, social housing and central government, using three patterns of difference and the reminder that today is not tomorrow. It offers four checks, a whole landscape grid and four common mistakes, so you can check rather than assume when working across the border.

This capstone tests a toolkit of roles and powers, arm's length bodies, operational independence and the England and Wales comparison against three live cases: the Health Bill and its slipping timetable, the abolition of Police and Crime Commissioners, and the Manchester Arena Inquiry. It draws out what the cases share, from the Carltona principle to Wales rarely simply following, and turns them into four practical moves for your own work.