Public sector

• Central government organisations

  • Usually national services that would be difficult to rely on the private sector to provide
  • Aim to provide a quality service
  • Individual departments are controlled by civil servants 
  • Control of policy surrounding the organisations is held by elected politicians 
  • Paid for through taxation
  • Examples include defence provided by the armed forces, healthcare provided by the NHS and transport infrastructure through the road network
• Nationalised companies

  • Private sector businesses that have been bought in part or in full by the government 
  • e.g. the UK Government bought shares in the Royal Bank of Scotland during the recession to stop it going bust
• Privatised companies

  • Public sector organisations sold to the private sector
  • e.g the Royal Mail was floated onto the stock market in 2013.
• Local government organisation

  • used to provide essentials services to the public, such as schools, refuse collection and street lighting, free of charge.
  • Decision making surrounding these organisations is carried out by elected councillors, while the day-to-day running of the organisations involves managers and council employees
  • Financed by taxation collected by central government, local council tax and local business rates
  • Aim to provide a quality service, stick to their budget and not overspend.
• Public sector objectives

  • To provide a service
  • To provide an efficient service
  • To stick to an budget
  • To rasie revenue