Central Government

Areas of importance such as education and health are divided into departments. These are headed by government ministers, most of who are in the Prime Minister's Cabinet.

• The Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) deals with sustainable development, including sustainable rural communities, which promotes social inclusion and reducing deprivation in rural areas. DEFRA have accountability for bodies such as the Environment Agency and British Waterways.

• The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) promotes opportunity and aims to help people achieve their potential through employment. It works closely with the Home Office in its everyday business. It is responsible for benefits, and runs services including Jobcentre Plus and the Rent Service.

• The Department of Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) aims to improve the quality of life through cultural and sporting activities. It also champions the tourism, creative and leisure industries. DCMS has accountability for bodies such as the Arts Council, English Heritage and Sport England.

• The Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG) is responsible for national policy in local government in England. The Housing Corporation works closely with this department. The CLG has responsibility for tackling homelessness .

• In June 2007, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was replaced by two new departments: The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) brings together education and children's services. The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) is responsible for post-19 year old's learning and skills.

• The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) replaced the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in June 2007.

• The Home Office (HO) deals with crime, including drug related crime, anti-social behaviour and terrorism. They also regulate entry into, and settlement in, the UK. More Home Office information on passports and immigration In 2007 the Home Office split to form the Ministry of Justice, which deals with criminal justice, prisons and probation.

• The Department of Health (DH) is responsible for health, social care and the NHS. Services are often delivered through arm's length bodies and other public and private sector organisations. They are increasingly paying particular attention to the needs of disadvantaged groups and areas.

• Click here for a completed list of government departments and their respective ministers

Quangos

There is some disagreement over what the acronym 'QUANGOS' actually stands for, but it is generally accepted as 'quasi non-governmental organisation' or 'quasi-autonomous national government organisation', or even 'quasiautonomous non governmental organisation'. The Cabinet Office describes them as:

• A body which has a role in the processes of national government, but is not a government department or part of one
• They operate at arm’s length from Ministers, and so they work independently but ministers are ultimately accountable for them
• These bodies are formally classified as NDPBs (non-departmental public bodies)
• There are now over 1000 NDPBs in the UK.

NDPBs usually:

• Are not staffed by civil servants
• Have their own budget, drawn down from the 'sponsor' central government department
• There are four different types: Executive, such as the Environment Agency and the Arts Council; Advisory, such as Royal Commissions; Tribunal, such as the Tribunals Service; and other bodies, such as Boards of Visitors.

Housing Corporation

The Housing Corporation is an NDPB which funds and regulates Housing Associations in England. Its London office is the biggest of its five regional offices. It works closely with London Councils, the GLA and the National Housing Federation. There are proposals to bring the Housing Corporation's delivery functions together with English Partnerships and parts of the CLG to make a unified housing and regeneration agency. It plans to deliver £1billion worth of new homes, infrastructure and community facilities by 2014. Communities England plans to be up and running by April 2009.

Other types of quangos include:

• Government Public Bodies, which include Public Corporations, such as the BBC, and National Health Service Bodies, the most obvious of which being the NHS.
• Agencies, which include Executive Agencies, such as Child Support Agency, and Local Public Spending Bodies, such as the Further Education Institutions or colleges and Registered Social Landlords.

GOL

Who are they?

• The Government Office for London is one of nine regional offices within England. It is the administrative arm of central government in London, it delivers policies and programmes for eleven different government departments 'in a joined up way'. It represents central government across the capital, whilst also 'making London's case' in central government.

What do they do?

• Lead the negotiation of the Local Area Agreements in London
• Ensure the delivery of Every Child Matters in London
• Ensures the delivery of policies on crime reduction, reducing drug misuse
• The London Resilience Team, set up after 9/11, works to make sure London is prepared for an emergency
• Their Resettlement Team delivers the first co-ordinated pan-London approach to reducing re-offending
• Assist in the implementation of the sports and activity agenda in London
• Link up initiatives on crime reduction and community regeneration, for example with culture and sport initiatives

Funding

• It directly allocates around £308m, mostly for New Deal for Communities
• It grants the Greater London Authority (GLA)'s running costs of approximately £61 million (which comes from the CLG)
• It administrates £339m of funds, such as Neighbourhood Renewal Funding on behalf of the CLG and the Sustainable Development Innovation Fund on behalf of DEFRA.
• Over £2.4b in grants to the GLA and Transport for London are paid via the Government Office to the GLA, from its sponsor department, the Department for Transport.
• It provides the London Development Agency (LDA)'s annual funding of £400m a year

Who else do they work with?

• London Councils and the boroughs to identify and tackle pan-London issues
• Jobcentre Plus, the Learning and Skills Council, the GLA and the LDA to maximise opportunities of the 2012 Olympics
• Whitehall departments to inform government policy and influence the way it is delivered in London.
• London boroughs, in helping them meet the Government’s Decent Homes target and to bring their housing strategies and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) business plans up to a 'fit for purpose' standard.

GLA

Who are they?

The Greater London Authority (GLA), created in 2000, came after a 14-year absence of a pan-London governing body. In 1986 the Greater London Counil (GLC), headed by Ken Livingstone, was abolished by Margaret Thatcher. As outlined in a Conservative white paper, Streamlining the Cities, the GLC was abolished to devolve power to the Local Authorities and increase efficiency.

The GLA is made up of two main parts: the Mayor and the London Assembly. They have different roles but are fundamentally linked. Both the Mayor and the London Assembly Members are directly elected, and the London Assembly elects the Mayor’s officials.

Ken Livingstone (Indpendent, then Labour) was the first Mayor of London, form 2000 to 2008. In may 2008 Boris Johnson (Conservative) was elected Mayor of London.

The Mayor has a decision-making role, and the Assembly holds the Mayor to account. It does this by examining his strategies, questioning him at Assembly meetings and through committee investigations. However, most Mayoral decisions do not have to be voted through by the Assembly; the most notable exception of this would be the approval of the budget. The Mayor has power limited to areas in the remit given to him by government, which are detailed below. Outside of these areas, the Mayor has to influence government and other agencies to implement his strategies, and so the Mayor and the boroughs need to work together to achieve policy goals.

How are people elected?

For Mayoral elections, voters have to record a first and second choice. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, then the second choices for the two leading candidates are then taken into account.

The Assembly elections see London divided into 14 constituencies, and a first-past-the-post system is used. The other 11 seats are distributed among political parties in proportion to the votes each party receives.

What do they do?

After its 2000 inception, several pan-London bodies were transferred to the GLA such as the London Planning Advisory Committee, the London Research Centre and the London Ecology Unit. In July 2006 it was announced that the Mayor was to have his powers increased in strategic areas such as waste, climate change, culture and sport, health, housing and adult skills in London, planning in the capital and appointments to the boards of functional bodies. For more information on the GLA bill see Homeless Link's summary

The Mayor sets key strategies on a range on London-wide issues such as transport, economic development, policing, fire and emergency planning, urban regeneration and environment, arts and culture and strategic planning. He is responsible for the maintenance of Trafalgar and Parliament Square.

GLA Group

The Mayor is responsible for:

• London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority LFEPA - sets the strategy for the provision of fire services among other things

• London Development Agency LDA - roles include enhancing and developing skills of local people and contributing to sustainable development

• Transport for London TfL - roles include having a say in how commuter railways are run

• Metropolitan Police Authority MPA - roles include publishing a policing plan

The above are part of the GLA group but are run independently of the Mayor. His main responsibility for them is the appointment of their board members. He also works with a range of organisations and areas including the business community, local authorities, service providers and voluntary organisations to develop strategies for London.

Funding

The GLA sets the budget for the pan-London organisations listed below. In 2006/07 the GLA has a budget of £122.5m to spend on itself and ‘mayoral priorities’ such as his strategies, which includes an Olympic and Paralympic funding agreement. In 2006/2007 the GLA's estimated expenditure will be approximately £3 billion; £2.5billion of which will go to the Metropolitan Police Authority. The LDA is set to receive approximately £420 million. The GLA funds organisations such as London TravelWatch, and grants (limited) money to specific projects. In 2006/07 among other things the GLA granted money to 'an energy supplier' for a home insulation scheme, and to GLADD for their Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health summit in 2006. For a more detailed breakdown of what the GLA does with its money, see this report

The Mayor's Housing Forum

As part of the summer 2006 review of the Mayor's powers, the roles and responsibilities of the London Housing Board was transferred to his office. It is now the Mayor's jurisdiction to decide how public money for new affordable homes is spent. This includes preparing a Mayor's Housing Strategy , together with a Strategic Housing Investment Plan, which will put forward a series of recommendations for the allocation of housing investment from the £2.2279 billion London Regional Housing Pot.

The Mayor's Housing Forum supports the development of the Mayor's Housing Strategy. The Forum has a numebr of sub-groups that are not directly involved with the Strategy but play an advisory role; such as the Homelessness & Housing Need sub-group, attended by a range of stakeholders including Homeless Link and Shelter. For more information see the editor’s notes of this press release

London Skills and Employment Board

The Mayor chairs the London Skills and Employment Board , which is an employer-led group responsible for the long term strategy for adult skills and employment in London. The members of the Board are mainly key employers, but the voluntary sector is represented by LVSC . The Board sets the strategic direction for the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) adult skills budget in London (around £560m annually).

More information

• More detailed information on the GLA's structure

• Some brief, concise information on the GLA's functional bodies

London Councils

Who are they?

London Councils (formerly the Association of London Government (ALG) up until Ocotber 2006) was formed in 2000, at the same time as the GLA came into existance. London Councils merged with several borough-funded London-wide bodies such as the London Borough Grants and the London Housing Unit that did not form part of the GLA.

London Councils is an umbrella organisation for the 33 London boroughs. They are a part think-tank, part lobbying organisation, negotiating with central government on behalf of London's local government as a unified body. It is a cross-party organisation, having to reflect the political makeup of London, which at the end of the May 2006 elections had fourteen Coservative-led boroughs, eight Labour, three Liberal Democrat, and seven boroughs with no overall control.

How are people appointed?

The Leaders’ Committee, which meets monthly with leaders of each Local Authority, is when main policy decisions are taken. A cross-party Executive discusses more detailed policy development.

In 2006 London Councils and the Greater London Authority jointly published a report calling for greater accountability in local government.

What does London Councils do?

• Represents London boroughs' views to central government, co-ordinates response to pan-London issues and shares best practice
• Allocate more than £28 million in grants to voluntary organisations which serve more than one borough
• From 2009, run Capital Moves which helps council housing tenants move across London
• Manage the freedom pass for the over 60s
• Runs the appeals service against fixed-penalty tickets
• Runs a Taxicard scheme that arranges door-to-door service for seriously mobility-impaired people
• More of London Council's services

Funding

It currently invests approximately £28 million a year, ranging from £5000 to £500 000 to voluntary organisations, funding more than 400 in total. This is done on behalf of all London boroughs. The grants are given to cover things like regeneration, homelessness and health, which are all designed to ‘tackle disadvantage and tackle social exclusion’. See our page for more information on London Councils' funding

Local Government Association

The Local Government Association LGA is a national body similar to London Councils; it represents all boroughs on a national level. London boroughs are both members of London Councils and the LGA.

Local Authorities/Boroughs

Who are they?

London is a large area, covering 609 square miles, and containing between 12 and 14 million people. It is divided into boroughs which was reorganised into their present form in 1965. Of the 33 boroughs, thirteen are classed as inner London and twenty are outer London. Local decision-making is done in various ways; some are reserved for the full council, but it is often done by the leaders of the decision-making group (executive). Meetings and papers are open to the public in nearly all instances.

What do they do?

Boroughs have a wide variety of powers, particularly in relation to planning and service delivery and local planning. Councils run many of the services that their constituents interact with on a daily basis, and have a combined expenditure of approximately £12 billion a year. These include:

• Processing planning applications
• They pay into the scheme that allows free travel for pensioners and disabled people
• Delivering arts and leisure services, and environmental services such as refuse collection and consumer protection.
• Administering housing benefit and council tax benefit
• Boroughs must take into account other pan-London strategies, for example, boroughs will have to take into account and work with the Mayor's Housing Strategy. They work in partnership with other various pan-London bodies such as the NHS to cover such services as mental health and occupational therapy.

Housing Obligations

Each council has a duty to provide advice and assistance to everyone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless in their borough, and to provide housing for people classed as in priority need as set in government guidelines.

The 2002 Homelessness Act saw an extension of Local Authorities' responsibilties; each council must produce their own homelessness strategy to prevent homelessness in the borough, ensure adequate accomodation for those who are homeless or for those for whom homelessness is imminent, and provide support for these people.

Funding

Boroughs receive some of their income from levying council tax, but the majority of their income comes from central government. Other nominal amounts are accrued through fees, fines and grants. Supporting People is a central government funding stream, allocated by the boroughs on the basis of a local need, to provide supported accomodation. Homeless Link's page on Supporting People

How are people appointed?

• In all but one authority (the Corporation of London - see below) Local Authorities consist of elected councillors. Most whole council elections are held every four years. Local councillors are paid a basic allowance.
• Local government – elections are ‘all out’ – each seat is contested. Boroughs are divided into wards, of which have three councillors each.
• For decision making, a ‘cabinet system’ is operated: there is an Executive, which would be the majority group or coalition in full council, a leader (elected by the Executive), a number of councillors who are responsible for individual departments and factions (appointed by the leader) and other councillors, who are akin in the system to backbenchers, who represent their constituents and scrutinise the work of the Executive. However, in some local authorities the Mayor is directly elected. Boroughs that have directly elected mayors are Hackney, Newham and Lewisham.
• Scrutiny committees exist to monitor council departments and conduct investigations when is necessary.
• There are 1861 elected members in the London boroughs, excluding the City of London.

The Corporation of London

• The Corporation or City of London is the oldest local authority in the world, having been administered separately since the year 886. Rather than be called a council, it is known by the Court of Common Council.

• People are elected on a non-party political basis. Councilmen are elected in proportion to the size of their ward. They debate and make decisions on the City’s many committees’ findings, which are like committees in any other borough. The committees work with City of London Police, which is a separate body from the Metropolitan Police. As well as councilmen in each ward an alderman is elected, which sits on the Court of Aldermen, and carry out limited ceremonial and administrative functions. They must be magistrates, and are up for re-election every six years.
• Both businesses and residents have a vote in the borough. Recently legislation was passed which meant that all types of business have a vote, as before outdated legislation favoured law and accountancy firms, excluding newer types of business. Subsequently the city borders were changed to bring City residents back into the balance.

Further Links

More government information:

direct.gov.uk guide

GOL guide

London Councils guide

GLA Young London guide

Operation Black Vote guide