Local and Devolved Government, Voting and Public Money

Three questions, one section

This is the longest part of the section and it looks like several unrelated topics: bins and councillors, devolution and the four nations, who is allowed to vote, and how taxes are spent. It is not. Every one of them answers one of three questions. Which level of government takes this decision. How were the people taking it chosen. And whose money pays for it. Hold those three apart and the whole of this material becomes a framework you can apply to a situation you have never seen, which is exactly what the exam gives you.

Levels and who sits on them

Six terms for the first of the three questions: which level decides.

Level to what it decides

Whose decision is this?

Residents want a new pedestrian crossing outside a primary school. Which level of government would they approach first, and why?

• The local authority, because roads and local planning are delivered at that level
• The United Kingdom government, because road safety is a national concern
• A devolved administration, because education is involved and a school is affected
• None of them, because a crossing is a matter for the school itself

Reserved and devolved

Devolution transfers some powers and keeps others. Knowing which is which matters more than knowing a list, because the distinction is what exam questions turn on.

True of devolution

Select the TWO statements about devolution in the United Kingdom that are correct.

• A devolved matter can be decided differently in different nations
• The powers transferred are not identical for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• England has its own devolved administration in the same way the others do
• Devolution transferred all powers away from Westminster

The English question

Because England has no separate devolved administration, a question arises that the specification expects you to be able to set out. On a matter that is devolved elsewhere but decided at Westminster for England, members representing the other nations can vote on it while members representing England cannot vote on the equivalent matter for those nations. Those who wanted a change argued this is unfair to English voters and that the votes on such matters should be restricted accordingly. Those who opposed it argued that creating two classes of member in one chamber would weaken the union and that the difficulty is better solved another way. Set out both, name no party, and do not tell the examiner which is right.

Words for taking part

Six terms for the second question: how the people deciding were chosen.

Who can stand, who can vote

Which statement about taking part in elections is correct?

• There are rules setting out who may vote and separate rules setting out who may stand
• Anyone entitled to vote in an election is automatically entitled to stand in it
• A candidate can only stand if a party has selected them
• Everyone living in an area is automatically part of its electorate

Votes at sixteen

Whether the voting age should be lowered is a real argument, and the specification expects you to be able to set out both sides rather than to pick one.

Getting people to the polls

Select the TWO suggestions for increasing turnout that are about making voting easier or more relevant rather than about compelling it.

• Making it easier to register and to cast a vote
• Teaching more about how decisions are actually taken and by whom
• Requiring everyone to vote and penalising those who do not
• Holding fewer elections so that each one matters more

Public money in a paragraph

Services have to be paid for, and the money is raised through _____ collected both locally and nationally. Deciding how to divide it between competing demands is called _____, and it always involves choosing, because the demands together exceed what is available. Allocating public funding also means managing _____, since a service that fails costs more than one that is maintained. Debates about provision for welfare, health, the _____ and education are arguments about that division, and they are political rather than technical because people _____ about what matters most.

From tax to service

Put the stages by which public money reaches a local service into order.

• Taxes are collected, some locally and some nationally
• Government decides how much will go to each area of spending
• A local authority learns what funding it will have for the year
• The authority sets a budget, dividing that funding between its services
• The service is delivered, and councillors answer for the choices made

A decision, explained

Question: a group wants a local library kept open. Explain how they should go about it and what constrains the decision. Model answer: the first question is which level decides. Libraries are a service delivered by the local authority, so that is where the decision sits and where the group should direct their case, rather than to national government. The second question is how the people deciding were chosen. Councillors are elected by the residents of their wards and are accountable to them, so the group can approach their own councillor and can raise the matter at an election. The third question is whose money pays. The authority sets its budget from the funding it has, and keeping the library open means either finding money elsewhere in that budget or reducing something else, so the group is more likely to succeed if they can say what should give way. Notice that the answer never asserts that the library should stay open. It explains where the power sits, who is accountable, and what the decision is constrained by, which is what the question actually asked.

Budgeting under pressure

A council must fund several services from a fixed budget and cannot fully meet every demand. Which statement best describes what budgeting involves?

• Choosing between competing demands, since together they exceed what is available
• Dividing the money equally so that no service is treated unfairly
• Obtaining more funding so that every demand can be met in full
• Always choosing the cheapest option available for each service

Setting out or asserting

On contested questions this paper rewards setting out a position rather than asserting a verdict. Select the ONE sentence that asserts.

• Those who support lowering the voting age argue that it builds a lasting habit.
• Those who oppose it argue that the line has to sit somewhere and moving it solves nothing.
• Anyone against votes at sixteen simply does not want young people to be heard.
• Both sides accept that turnout among the youngest voters is comparatively low.

Which level, chosen how

A community wants a decision changed. Work through it using the three questions from this module.

• The decision concerns bin collections in one town. Which level holds the power?
• Who is accountable for that decision, and how were they chosen?
• The council says it cannot afford to restore the previous service. What does that mean?
• The group asks whether the same decision could be different in another nation of the United Kingdom. What is the answer?

Explain who decides

A local hospital service is under threat and residents want it kept. Explain who takes the decision, who is accountable, and what constrains them.

• State which level of government the decision sits with, and say how you know
• Explain how the people taking that decision were chosen and to whom they answer
• Explain what limits what they can do, using the idea of a budget
• Explain why choosing between services is political rather than merely administrative
• Explain one way residents could take part in the decision besides voting
• Name one contested question raised by this and set out both sides without saying which is right