Shannon W Unit 1: Government policies and public services P4, P5, M3, D2
Government policies that affect public services
Fire station closures- Approximately 40 fire stations in the UK have been forced to close down due
to the lack of staff and as a result, fire engines are being left locked up because there aren’t enough
crew members to man them. The DCLG proposed this hoping it would save money by combining
several smaller forces into larger single forces. The overall effect this has had on some members the
public is an increased response time due to the lack of stations nearby. According to a ‘Daily Mail’
article that was published in 2018, there had been a rise in fire related deaths across the country in
the past 12 months. As a result of the 10 closures in London during 2014, protesters demonstrated
outside one of them hoping they wouldn’t go through with it.
A negative aspect for the closure of fire stations is that many fire fighters have lost their jobs and it
was estimated that it was around 12,000 front line fire fighters who had lost them. As a result of so
many losing their jobs, this means there is less fire fighters to attend emergencies, which could pose
a higher risk of people dying to fires. Statistics from a website called ‘leftfootforward.org ‘have said
‘According to Twycross’s research, Londoners in 223 of the capital’s wards are now waiting longer
than the six-minute response time target for a fire engine to arrive.’ These statistics show how it has
affected London alone when Boris Johnson forced 10 stations to close in London in 2015. Society
may not feel as safe as they did because their local fire station might have been closed which means
they will have to wait a bit longer for the fire service.
A positive for the closures of fire stations is that it will save a lot of money which could then be put
back into the remaining fire stations to get better equipment. It is also an argued fact that since the
fire station closures, the number of fire related deaths and fires in general has decreased due to
better built fire retardant buildings and electrical appliances therefore; there isn’t as much need for
as many fire fighters to be focusing on issues relating to them and as an alternative, they should
spend more of their time focusing on fire prevention, traffic accidents and preparing for disasters or
terrorist attacks.
I personally think that it was initially a bad idea to close many of the fire stations down because it
would mean most people, particularly in rural areas, would have an even longer response time due
to the possibility of not having another station for a few miles. This could pose a higher risk of
people dying if they are trapped inside a burning building. However, this risk has been lowered in
some cases due to the new fire retardant buildings and electrical appliances
Cuts
Since the new conservative government came to power, they cut funding for all public services,
apart from the NHS, hoping it would get the country out of debt and recession. Over the past
decade, the Labour government wanted to contribute more of the taxpayer’s money into the public
services in order to recruit more staff and improve facilities. However; this meant that the country
would probably end up going into debt and recession, which is what ending up happening as a
result. The cuts will save a total of £81 billion although; this will affect the public services negatively
because there will be a lack of staff and facilities will not be improved.
In 2014, fire fighters in both England and Wales joined a one-day strike that was organised by public
sector workers to protest against the government cuts for the public services. A huge total of 40,000
fire fighters joined the protests that included hundreds of thousands of teachers, civil servants and
council workers. They were protesting hoping that the cuts wouldn’t take place and as a result, on
the day of the protest the country lost a lot of available fire fighters for the day putting many lives’ at
risk.
Government policies that affect public services
Fire station closures- Approximately 40 fire stations in the UK have been forced to close down due
to the lack of staff and as a result, fire engines are being left locked up because there aren’t enough
crew members to man them. The DCLG proposed this hoping it would save money by combining
several smaller forces into larger single forces. The overall effect this has had on some members the
public is an increased response time due to the lack of stations nearby. According to a ‘Daily Mail’
article that was published in 2018, there had been a rise in fire related deaths across the country in
the past 12 months. As a result of the 10 closures in London during 2014, protesters demonstrated
outside one of them hoping they wouldn’t go through with it.
A negative aspect for the closure of fire stations is that many fire fighters have lost their jobs and it
was estimated that it was around 12,000 front line fire fighters who had lost them. As a result of so
many losing their jobs, this means there is less fire fighters to attend emergencies, which could pose
a higher risk of people dying to fires. Statistics from a website called ‘leftfootforward.org ‘have said
‘According to Twycross’s research, Londoners in 223 of the capital’s wards are now waiting longer
than the six-minute response time target for a fire engine to arrive.’ These statistics show how it has
affected London alone when Boris Johnson forced 10 stations to close in London in 2015. Society
may not feel as safe as they did because their local fire station might have been closed which means
they will have to wait a bit longer for the fire service.
A positive for the closures of fire stations is that it will save a lot of money which could then be put
back into the remaining fire stations to get better equipment. It is also an argued fact that since the
fire station closures, the number of fire related deaths and fires in general has decreased due to
better built fire retardant buildings and electrical appliances therefore; there isn’t as much need for
as many fire fighters to be focusing on issues relating to them and as an alternative, they should
spend more of their time focusing on fire prevention, traffic accidents and preparing for disasters or
terrorist attacks.
I personally think that it was initially a bad idea to close many of the fire stations down because it
would mean most people, particularly in rural areas, would have an even longer response time due
to the possibility of not having another station for a few miles. This could pose a higher risk of
people dying if they are trapped inside a burning building. However, this risk has been lowered in
some cases due to the new fire retardant buildings and electrical appliances
Cuts
Since the new conservative government came to power, they cut funding for all public services,
apart from the NHS, hoping it would get the country out of debt and recession. Over the past
decade, the Labour government wanted to contribute more of the taxpayer’s money into the public
services in order to recruit more staff and improve facilities. However; this meant that the country
would probably end up going into debt and recession, which is what ending up happening as a
result. The cuts will save a total of £81 billion although; this will affect the public services negatively
because there will be a lack of staff and facilities will not be improved.
In 2014, fire fighters in both England and Wales joined a one-day strike that was organised by public
sector workers to protest against the government cuts for the public services. A huge total of 40,000
fire fighters joined the protests that included hundreds of thousands of teachers, civil servants and
council workers. They were protesting hoping that the cuts wouldn’t take place and as a result, on
the day of the protest the country lost a lot of available fire fighters for the day putting many lives’ at
risk.
