What statutory and non-statutory services are, how they differ and what support they provide to public. Actual examples of services both statutory and non-statutory that are needed to public and or government.
The difference between statutory and non-statutory Public services
Public services break down into couple of categories. First category is whether the service is uniformed or non-uniformed and the second category is whether the service is statutory or non-statutory. Statutory public services are required by the law and there are legislations in place that government set for them to be in place to keep peace and order within the country and or sometimes abroad. The Non-statutory public services are not required by the law, but are still needed for public in practical situations and sometimes even crucial help is provided by these non-statutory services.
Non-uniformed and non-statutory services can be: electricity, gas, water suppliers, public transportation and other which are not required by law and many of them are owned by private businesses and are run for profit. But as long as they provide fair and needed service to public it is acceptable. Non-uniformed statutory services can be: schools and education, council services and other legal aid are required by law to be in place. Usually they are self-funded organisations, but sometimes they can receive money from government or donations.
Uniformed statutory services can be: police, fire brigade, ambulance and army. These services are required by law to maintain law and order in the country and some places abroad for armed forces. They are usually financed by government, but sometimes receive help from charities like The Royal British legion that helps veterans and soldiers that served overseas.
A Non-statutory service also splits into two groups – voluntary Non-statutory service and Non-statutory service that is funded by government. Non-statutory public service can be ran for profit and voluntary services main objectives are to fill in gaps that statutory services cannot or are not able to cover. Non-statutory services support statutory services, some of them are voluntary and are not funded by the government, so they have to cover their expenses by donations from people.
How these services support the public and citizens?
They support the public by giving them assistance in whatever the issue is. We have Public services that cover most of the problems that society could confront, from emergency situations to information, utilities and legal help. Each service specialises in specific areas and people that work there are professionals with adequate equipment, so they could be efficient and effective. People that work in the services have needed training and knowledge in the area they specialise and when these services work together they can control the situation effectively.
Examples of actual services
The Highways Agency
Highway agency is non-statutory agency, but is funded by government. They are in place to maintain main A roads and motorways in good condition, solve problems that may occur on the road like helping to clean the road after a lorry has accidentally dropped his cargo on the road. They also manage variable road signs that close roads and changes line speed. They monitor CCTV cameras for suspicious or dangerous behaviour on road and report it to police.
They carry out their duties by watching live feed from CCTV cameras and observing roads. Also they have centralised control room where they can operate all the road variable signs and report all suspicious or dangerous behaviour to police, so they could act quickly and effectively.
They support public services by helping them to manage a roads and motorways. They observe and control traffic flow by using variable road signs, inform drivers about collisions ahead and new speed limits. By this reducing level of danger on the roads and making other public services work more effective, so other public services could take care of more important things.
They were mainly created to support police service, but they also support other services like fire brigade and ambulance when they need help by managing and closing roads also helping to remove/sweep debris after collisions.
More information about Highways Agency here: http://www.highways.gov.uk/
Victim Support
Victim support is a non-statutory organisation that is partly funded by government and partly from donations to support victims and witnesses of crime in the UK. If you’ve been a victim of any crime or have been affected by a crime committed against someone you know, victim support organisation can help you find the strength to deal with what you’ve been through. They can also provide information about legal system and explain you your rights.
They provide information about legal system to witnesses, explain them their rights and what the next step that they should do is. Also they provide emotional support and if victim or witness is afraid to confront with the criminal, because he/she was threatened they will arrange glass cabinet so victim won’t have direct contact with the criminal or the court procedure could be modified to suit victim/witness needs.
It supports citizens by providing all the information about legal process that victim/witness will be going through, takes care of victims and witnesses by providing psychological and mental help, so victim/witness would not be afraid to give statements against the criminal and by this supporting police investigation teams to collect evidence faster and sentence the criminal.
They mainly support police service and all the legal system including courts. They deal with the victims and witnesses so police or courts do not need to hire additional staff and police officers could do jobs that are more important and urgent.
More information about Victim Support agency: https://www.victimsupport.org.uk/
Help for Heroes
Help for Heroes is a voluntary non-statutory charitable organisation that collects money from people and donates them to support wounded and injured soldiers who come back from war with life-changing injuries and life-changing illnesses. National Health Service cannot fund all of the soldiers that came from war with medical condition and Help for Heroes is the bridge that helps those soldiers to get special equipment like wheelchairs or artificial limbs in order to be able to enjoy their life.
Help for Heroes organisation does various different types of events to raise money like: hiking, running, trekking or does ceremonial parades. Also they have recovery centres where wounded soldiers can get financial support, inspiration, sport and adventure training. They provide individual support and rehabilitation at special facilities that has swimming pools, gyms, cafeterias and other special equipment.
It supports by funding people that come back from war with life-changing injuries and life-changing illnesses when people that served in Armed forces needs special equipment or medication witch is expensive and National Health service cannot fund it. It also saves taxpayer money, because National Health Service is funded by taxpayer money. And it is important that they support people that fought against terrorists by that protecting and standing up for us and the society we live in.
They mainly support people from Armed forces including: Army, Navy, and Air Force.
More information about Help For Heroes Organsiation: http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/
The Royal National Lifeboat Institute
They are to save people that got in trouble at sea and provide them first aid if needed. Fishermen, sailors or just people who go swim for entertainment. Situations like faulty engine or out of fuel can lead people trembling in the sea. Sailors can get in storm and that could lead them to drowning. That’s why RNLI are ready to help and they also save people from flooding’s when they get stuck in their homes. RNLI goes to other countries/continents and educates children how to deal with various situations you can get in when dealing with water.
They patrol the sea and rivers in all the UK for people and ships that get in trouble. They have radio communication and they receive emergency calls which they go to. They have special equipment with whom they can drag broken motor boats to coast and save people. They monitor sea conditions and sets up appropriate flag to prevent people from going to danger, watch people on the beach and offer safety advice.
They support public services by preventing people getting in danger. They are specialists that specialise in saving people from the seas and rivers, so public services like river police or ambulance wouldn’t need to save people from water. They can provide first aid to people in beach and save someone’s life before ambulance comes, because they are always available at the coast. RNLI lifeguards have to be very fit and well trained to be able to carry the pressure of this kind of job.
They mainly support river police, because they sometimes help and provide assistance to them if they need any and they also support ambulance with their effective special transportation (all-terrain vehicle) on the beach who can quickly transport them to victim on sand, so they could provide first aid to victim and help ambulance to carry the person to the ambulance, because in emergency every minute counts.
More information about the RNLI: http://rnli.org/
Involvement justified of statutory and non-statutory public services in providing support to citizens
Why do public need statutory and non-statutory services?
Non-statutory and voluntary services are needed, because they fill the gaps in society and in the system. Statutory services are required by the law and government put them in place, because society needs them to keep law and order. Government need someone to specialise and be professionals at certain issues from emergencies to providing utilities like electricity, gas and water. These services whether they are statutory or non-statutory have special equipment and can provide aid for people that need it. Statutory services have some restrictions about their job and their roles are strictly set by a government and non-statutory services can be flexible and there are roles where they can be very useful and helpful. Some of these services statutory or non-statutory works 24/7 and can help you anytime you get in trouble or in emergency situation. And other services provide legal information and their work is office based like citizens advice bureau, council or victim support.
What would happen if society would not have non-statutory and statutory public services?
Without Public services living would be difficult and more primitive for society, everyone would do whatever they want like animals in the wild. It would be dangerous, because no one would control criminals and people would not even get support if they get in trouble. There are countries with no or corrupt Public services where police officers takes bribes from people or beat them for no reason. Life there is violent and you can get shot in any minute. People with mental conditions have firearms, there and no one to control them. If society wouldn’t have any public services chaos would happen in few days and the country could get invaded by terrorists. Crime rate would raise, people could not get medical treatment or any treatment at all. If building would get on fire and it probably would happen at high rate, nobody would take fire off and City would be destroyed in few weeks. That’s why Public service is important and that’s why we need them.
