СТРАНОВЕДЕНИЕ ВЕЛИКОБРИТАНИИ КУРС ЛЕКЦИЙ ЧАСТЬ 2

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ РЕСПУБЛИКИ БЕЛАРУСЬ

УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

Quot;ГОМЕЛЬСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ

УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ИМЕНИ ФРАНЦИСКА СКОРИНЫ"

 

 

Л.Д. Акулич

 

 

СТРАНОВЕДЕНИЕ ВЕЛИКОБРИТАНИИ

КУРС ЛЕКЦИЙ ЧАСТЬ 2

Для студентов

специальности I-020306-01 “Английский язык”

 

Гомель 2005

УДК 802. 0 (075. 8)

ББК 81. 432. 1 – 923. 5

Рецензенты:

Л.С. Банникова, доцент, кандидат педагогических наук

C.И. Сокорева,доцент, кандидат педагогических наук

 

Рекомендовано к изданию научно-методическим советом учреждения образования “Гомельский государственный университет имени Франциска Скорины” “____”_______ 2005 г., протокол № __

 

Акулич Л.Д.

  Настоящий курс лекций представляет собой систематическое изложение широкого…  

Ethnic identity: the native British

However, the feeling of being Scottish is not that simple. This is partly because of the historical cultural split between highland and lowland…  

What does it mean to be Scottish?

Here are two opposing views of this way of celebrating Scottishness. The people of Wales do not have as many reminders of their Welshness in… However, there is one single highly-important symbol of Welsh identity - the Welsh language. Everybody in Wales can…

Geographical identity

A sense of identity with a large geographical area is a bit stronger. Nearly everybody has a spoken accent that identifies them as coming from a… Many English people see themselves as either 'northerners' or 'southerners'.…  

Class

Historians say that the class system has survived in Britain because of its flexibility. It has always been possible to buy or marry or even work your way up, so that your children (and their children) belong to a higher social class than you do. As a result, the class system has never been swept away by a revolution and an awareness of class forms a major part of most people's sense of identity.

People in modern Britain are very conscious of class differences. They regard it as difficult to become friends with somebody from a different class. This feeling has little to do with conscious loyalty, and nothing to do with a positive belief in the class system itself. Most people say they do not approve of class divisions. Nor does it have very much to do with political or religious affiliations. It results from the fact that the different classes have different sets of attitudes and daily habits. Typically, they tend to eat different food at different times of day, they like to talk about different topics using different styles and accents of English, they enjoy different pastimes and sports , they have different values about what things in life are most important and different ideas about the correct way to behave. Stereotypically, they go to different kinds of school.

An interesting feature of the class structure in Britain is that it is not just, or even mainly, relative wealth or the appearance of it which determines someone's class. Of course, wealth is part of it - if you become wealthy, you can provide the conditions to enable your children to belong to a higher class that you do. But it is not always possible to guess reliably the class to which a person belongs by looking at his or her clothes, car or bank balance. The most obvious and immediate sign comes when a person opens his or her mouth, giving the listener clues to the speaker's attitudes and interests, both of which are indicative of class.

But even more indicative that what the speaker says is the way that he or she says it. The English grammar and vocabulary which is used in public speaking, radio and television news broadcasts, books and newspapers (and also - unless the lessons are run by Americans - as a model for learners of English as a foreign language) is known as 'standard British English'. Most working-class people, however, use lost of words and grammatical forms in their everyday speech which are regarded as 'non-standard'.

Nevertheless, nearly everybody in the country is capable of using standard English (or something very close to it) when they judge that the situation demands it. They are taught to do so at school. Therefore, the clearest indication of a person's class is often his or her accent. Most people cannot change this convincingly to suit the situation. The most prestigious accent in Britain is known as 'Received Pronunciation' (RP). It is the combination of standard English spoken with an RP accent that is usually meant when people talk about 'BBC English' or 'Oxford English' (referring to the university, not the town) or 'the Queen's English'.

RP is not associated with any particular part of the country. The vast majority of people, however, speak with an accent which is geographically limited. In England and Wales, anyone who speaks with a strong regional accent is automatically assumed to be working class. Conversely, anyone with an RP accent is assumed to be upper or upper-middle class. (In Scotland and Northern Ireland, the situation is slightly different; in these places, some forms of regional accept are almost as prestigious as RP).

During the last quarter of the twentieth century, the way that people wish to identity themselves seems to have changed. In Britain, as anywhere else where there are recognized social classes, a certain amount of 'social climbing' goes on; that is, people try to appear as if they belong to as high a class as possible. These days, however, nobody wants to be thought of as snobbish. The word 'posh' illustrated this tendency. It is used by people from all classes to mean 'of a class higher than the one I (the speaker) belong to' and it is normally used with negative connotations. To accuse someone of being posh is to accuse them of being pretentious.

Working-class people in particular are traditionally proud of their class membership and would not usually wish to be thought of as belonging to any other class. Interestingly, a survey conducted in the early 1990s showed that the proportion of people who describe themselves as working class is actually greater than the proportion whom sociologists would classify as such! This is one manifestation of a phenomenon known as 'inverted snobbery', whereby middle-class people try to adopt working-class values and habits. They do this in the belief that the working classes are in some way 'better' (for example, more honest) than the middle classes.

In this egalitarian climate, the unofficial segregation of the classes in Britain has become less rigid that it was. A person whose accent shows that he or she is working class is no longer prohibited from most high-status jobs for that reason alone. Nobody takes elocution lessons any more in order to sound more upper class. It is now acceptable for radio and television presenters to speak with 'an accent' (i.e. not to use strict RP). It is also notable that, at the time of writing, none of the last five British Prime Ministers went to an elitist school for upper-class children, while almost every previous Prime Minister in history did.

In general, the different classes mix more readily and easily with each other than they used to. There has been a great increase in the number of people from working-class origins who are houseowners and who do traditionally middle-class jobs. The lower and middle classes have drawn closer to each other in their attitudes.

 

Men and women

In terms of everyday habits and mannerisms, British society probably expect a sharper difference between the sexes than most other European… As far as roles are concerned, most people assume that a family's financial… In general, the sharpest distinction between the expected roles and behaviour of the two sexes is found in the lower…

Attitudes

The British, like the people of every country, tend to be attributed with certain characteristics which are supposedly typical. However, it is best to be cautious about accepting such characterizations too easily, and in the case of Britain there are three particular reasons to be cautious. The first three sections of this chapter deal with them in turn and comment on several stereotyped images of the British.

Stereotypes and change

However, in their private everyday lives, the British as individuals are probably less inclined to follow tradition than are the people of most… There are many examples of supposedly typical British habits which are simply… Even when a British habit conforms to the stereotype, the wrong conclusions can sometimes be drawn from it. The…

English versus British

Among many people in Britain, there exists a suspicion of intelligence, education and 'high culture'. Teachers and academic staff, although… Anti-intellectual attitudes are held consciously only by a small proportion of… Evidence of this attitude can be found in all four nations of the British Isles. However, it is probably better seen…

Multiculturalism

These 'new British' people have brought widely differing sets of attitudes with them. For example, while some seem to care no more about education… However, the divergence from indigenous British attitudes in new British… It is therefore still possible to talk about British characteristics in general (as the rest of this chapter does). In…

Conservatism

In general, the British value continuity over modernity for its own sake. They do not consider it especially smart to live in a new house and, in… Moreover, a look at children's reading habits suggested that this attitude is…  

Being different

Developments at European Union (EU) level which might cause a change in some everyday aspect of British life are usually greeted with suspicion and… Systems of measurement are another example. The British government has been… British governments sometimes seem to promote this pride in being different. In 1993 the managers of a pub in Slough…

The love of nature

Some history connected with the building of the Channel tunnel provides an instructive example of the British attitude. While the 'chunnel' was… Perhaps this love of the countryside is another aspect of British… Even if they cannot get into the countryside, many British people still spend a lot of their time with 'nature'. They…

The love of animals

But the love of animals goes beyond sentimental attachment to domestic pets. Wildlife programmes are by far the most popular kind of television… Perhaps this overall concern for animals is part of the British love of…  

Formality and informality

On the other hand, when people are not playing a public role - when they are being themselves - there seem to be no rules at all. The British are… This difference between formalities and formality is the key to what people… It is probably true that the British, especially the English, are more reserved than the people of many other…

Public spiritedness and amateurism

This characteristic, however, is on the decline. In all the areas mentioned above, 'professionalism' has changed from having a positive one.…  

The Culture of Sport

Modern sport in Britain is very different. 'Winning isn't everything' and it's only a game' are still well-known saying which reflect the amateur…  

A national passion

The British are only rarely the best in the world at particular sports in modern times. However, they are one of the best in the world in a much… The British are so fond of competition that they even introduce it into…

Gentlemen and players

The middle-class origins of much British sport means that it began as an amateur pastime - a leisure-time activity which nobody was paid for taking part in. Even in football, which was has been played on a professional basis since 1885, one of the first teams to win the FA (Football Association) Cup was a team of amateur players (the Corinthians). In many other sports there has been resistance to professionalism. People thought it would spoil the sporting spirit. Not until 1968 were tennis professionals allowed to compete at Wimbledon. In cricket there was, until 1962, a rigid distinction between 'gentlemen' (amateurs) and 'players' (professionals), even when the two played together in the team. These days, all 'first class' cricketers are professionals.

 

The social importance of sport

Sometimes the traditions which accompany an event can seen as important as the actual sporting contest. Wimbledon, for instance, is not just a… The long history of such events has meant that many of them, and their venues,…  

Cricket

When people refer to cricket as the English national game, they are not thinking so much of its level of popularity or of the standards of English… Cricket, therefore, the national English game in a symbolic sense. However, to…  

Football

British football has traditionally drawn its main following from the working class. In general, the intelligentsia ignored it. But in the last two… Many team sports in Britain, but especially football, tend to be men-only,… Attendances at British club matches have been falling for several decades. Many stadiums are very old, uncomfortable…

Rugby

There are two versions of this fast and aggressive ball game: rugby union and rugby league. They are so similar that somebody who is good at one of them can quickly learn to become good at the other. The real difference between them is a matter of social history. Rugby union is the older of the two. In the nineteenth century it was enthusiastically taken up by most of Britain's public schools. Rugby league split off from rugby union at the end of the century. Although it has now spread to many of the same places in the world where rugby union is played, its traditional home is among the working class of the north of England, where it was a way for miners and factory workers to make a little bit of extra money from their sporting talents. Unlike rugby union, it has always been a professional sport.

Because of these social origins, rugby league in Britain is seen as a working class sport, while rugby union is mainly for the middle classes. Except in south Wales. There, rugby union is a sport for all classes, and more popular than football. In Wales, the phrase 'international day' means only one thing - that the national rugby team are playing. Since 1970, some of the best Welsh players have been persuaded to 'change codes'. They are 'bought' by one of the big rugby league clubs, where they can make a lot of money. Whenever this happens it is seen as a national disaster among the Welsh.

Rugby union has had some success in recent years in selling itself to a wider audience. As a result, just as football has become less exclusively working class in character, rugby union has become less exclusively middle class. In 1995 it finally abandoned amateurism. In fact, the amateur status of top rugby union players had already become meaningless. They didn't get paid a salary or fee for playing, but they received large 'expenses' as well as various publicity contracts and paid speaking engagements.

 

Animal in sport

Killing birds with guns is known as 'shooting' in Britain. It is a minority pastime confined largely to the higher social classes; there are more… The only kind of hunting which is associated with the working class… The one kind of 'hunting' which is popular among all social classes is fishing. In fact, this is the most popular…

Foxhunting

Foxhunting works like this. A group of people on horses, dressed in eighteenth century riding clothes, ride around with a pack of dogs. When the dogs pick up the scent of a fox, somebody blows a horn and the dogs, horses and riders all chase the fox. Often the fox gets away, but if not, the dogs get to it before the hunters and tear it to pieces. As you might guess in a country of animal-lovers, where most people have little experience of the harsher realities of nature, foxhunting is strongly opposed by some people. The League Against Cruel Sports wants it made illegal and the campaign has been steadily intensifying. There are sometimes violet encounters between foxhunters and protestors (whom the hunters call 'saboteurs').

 

Other sports

The British have a preference for team games. Individual sports such as athletics, cycling, gymnastics and swimming have comparatively small… There seem to be two main exceptions to this tendency to prefer team games.…  

Religion in Britain

It therefore seems that most people in Britain cannot strictly be describes as religious. However, this does not mean that they have no religious or… The general picture, as with so many aspects of British life, is of a general…  

Religion and politics

The religious conflicts of the past and their close relationship with politics have left only a few traces in modern times, and the most important… However, the privileged position of the Church of England (also known as the… The Anglican Church used to be half-jokingly described as 'the Conservative party at prayer'. This reputation was…

Anglicanism

The doctrine of the Church of England was set out in the sixteenth century, in a document called the Thirty-Nine Articles. However, the main… Three main strands of belief can be identified. One strand is evangelical, or…

Women priests

About eighteen months afterwards, the first women priests were ordained. Those who support this development believe that will help to give the… But to many, perhaps most, of its members, it is the 'Englishness' of the… At present, this national distinctiveness is emphasized by the Anglican Church's position as the official religion. It…

Catholicism

A large proportion of Catholics in modern Britain are those whose family roots are in Italy, Ireland or elsewhere in Europe. The Irish connection is… Partly because of its comparatively marginal status, the Catholic Church, in… This comparative dedication can be seen in two aspects of Catholic life. First, religious instruction is taken more…

Episcopalianism

The Anglican Church is the official state religion in England only. There are, however, churches in other countries (such as Scotland, Ireland, the USA and Australian) which have the same origin and are almost identical to it in their general beliefs and practices. Members of these churches sometimes describe themselves as 'Anglican'. However, the term officially used in Scotland and the USA is 'Episcopalian' (which means that they have bishops), and this is the term which is often used to denote all of these churches, including the Church of England, as a group.

Every ten tears the bishops of all the Episcopalian churches in the world gather together in London for the Lambeth Conference, which is chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Despite the name 'Canterbury', the official residence of the head of the Church of England is Lambeth Palace in London.

 

Keeping the sabbath

In the last two centuries, the influence of the Calvinism tradition has been left in laws relating to Sundays. These laws have recently been relaxed, but shop opening hours, gambling and professional sport on Sundays are still all restricted in small ways. In some places in rural Wales, where nonconformism is traditionally strong, Sundays are still 'dry'; that is, the pubs stay closed.

 

Other conventional Christian churches

When Protestantism first took root in Britain, there were many people who rejected not only Catholic doctrine but also 'Romish' style. These people… This is the origin of the Puritan/Calvinism tradition in Britain. The first… In England, those Protestants who did not accept the authority of the Anglican Church were known as 'dissenters' and…

Other religions, churches and religious movements

The number of followers of all the traditional Christian churches have been slowly but steadily declining in the second half of the twentieth… The fastest-growing type of evangelical Christianity, however, places less… Some people are turning even further afield, beyond the bounds of the Christian tradition. The term 'New Age' is used…

The media

British people watch a lot of television. They are also reported to be the world's most dedicated home-video users. But this does not mean that they have given up reading. They are the world's third biggest newspaper buyers; only the Japanese and the Swedes buy more.

 

The importance of the national press

Most local papers do not appear on Sundays, so on that day the dominance of the national press is absolute. The 'Sundays papers' are so-called… The morning newspaper is a British household institution; such an important… Another indication of the importance of 'the papers' is the morning 'paper round'. Most newsagents organize these, and…

The national papers and Scotland

There is an exception to the dominance of the national press throughout Britain. This is in Scotland, where one paper, the Sunday Post, sells well over a million copies. Another weekly, Scotland on Sunday, also has a large circulation. There are three other notable 'Scotland only' papers, but two of these, the Glasgow Herald and the Scotsman, are quality papers with small circulations and the other, the Daily Record, is actually the sister paper of the (London) Daily Mirror. The other national British papers are all sold in Scotland, although sometimes in special Scottish editions.

The two types of national newspaper

However, the broadsheets do not completely ignore sex and scandal or any other aspect of public life. both types of paper devote equal amounts of… The reason that the quality newspapers are called broadsheets and the popular…

The characteristics

What counts for the newspaper publishers is business. All of them are in the business first and foremost to make money. Their primary concern is to… The British press is controlled by a rather small number of extremely large…  

Papers and politics

None of the big national newspapers 'belongs' to a political party. However, each paper has an idea of what kind of reader it is appealing to and a fairly predictable political outlook. Each can therefore be seen, rather simplistically, as occupying a certain position on the right-left spectrum.

As you can see, the right seems to be heavily over-represented in the national press. This is not because such a large majority of British people hold right-wing views. It is partly because the press tends to be owned by Conservative party supporters. In any case, a large number of readers are not very interested in the political coverage of a paper. They buy it for the sport, or the human interest stories, or for some other reason.

 

The characteristics of the national press: sex and scandal

The desire to attract more readers at all costs has meant that, in the late twentieth century, even the broadsheets in Britain can look rather… This emphasis on revealing the details of people's private lives has led to… Complaints regarding invasions of privacy are dealt with by the Press Complaints Commission (PCC). This organization…

Sex and scandal

Sex and scandal sell newspapers. In September 1992, when there were plenty of such stories around involving famous people and royalty, sales of tabloids went up by 122,000. But in October, when stories of this kind had dried up, they fell by more than 200,000. Even the quality Observer got in on the act. On 11 October 1992, its magazine section featured nine pages of photos of the pop-star Madonna taken from Sex (her best-selling book). That week, its sales were 74,000 greater than usual. The next Sunday, without Madonna, they were exactly 74,000 less than they had been the week before.

 

The rest of the press

The Economist is of the same type as Time, Newsweek, Der Spiegel and L'Express. Its analyses, however, are generally more thorough. It is fairly… The New Statesman and Society is the left-wing equivalent of The Economist and… Private Eye is a satirical magazine which makes fun of all parties and politicians, and also makes fun of the…

The BBC

Interestingly, though, this independence is as much the result of habit and common agreement as it is the result of its legal status. It is true… Nevertheless, partly by historical accident, the BBC began, right from the…  

BBC radio

Radio 2broadcasts mainly light music and chat shows. Radio 3is devoted to classical music. Radio 4broadcasts a variety of programmes, from plays and comedy shows to consumer advice programmes and in-depth news…

Television: organization

There is no advertising on the BBC. But Independent Television (ITV), which started in 1954, gets its money from the advertisements it screens. It… When commercial television began, it was feared that advertisers would have… Most importantly for the structure of commercial television, ITV news programmes are not made by individual television…

Television: style

Of particular importance in the ratings war is the performance of the channels' various soap operas. The two most popular and long-running of these,… The British prefer this kind of pseudo-realism in their soaps. In the early… It became obvious in the early 1960s that the popularity of soap operas and light entertainment shows meant that there…

Glued to the goggle box

Television broadcasting in Britain has expanded to fill every part of every day of the week. One of the four channels (ITV) never takes a break (it…  

The ratings: a typical week

The list includes just one representative of 'high culture': the dramatization of the novel Middlemarch, by the nineteenth century author George… The Antiques Roadshow comes from a different location in the country every… Apart from the films, there is only one American programme in the list below (Quantum Leap).

Welfare

Britain can claim to have been the first large country in the world to have accepted that it is part of the job of government to help any citizen in need and to have set up what is generally known as a 'welfare state'.

 

The origins of the welfare state in Britain

During the first half of the twentieth century a number of welfare benefits were introduced. These were a small old-age pension scheme (1908),… The mass rush for free treatment caused the government health bill to swell… The health and social welfare system is part of everyone's life in Britain. It provides help for anyone who is raising…

The National Health Service

On a typical day in England, nearly three quarters of a million people will visit their doctor and one and a half million prescription items will be… The NHS which provides all these services has a yearly budget of more than… The principles on which it was founded at its creation in 1948 remain true today: that there should be a free,…

What does the NHS do?

The aims of the NHS are clear. They are to improve the health of the nation as a whole by:

· promoting health

· preventing ill health

· diagnosing and treating injury and disease and

· caring for those with long-term illness and disability.

To achieve these aims, the NHS provides a comprehensive range of care, nearly all of which is free:

· primary carethrough family doctors, dentists and other health care professionals

· secondary carethrough hospitals and ambulance services

· tertiary carethrough specialist hospitals treating particular types of illness or disease.

The NHS also collaborates with social services to provide community care.

 

Primary care

Primary care is provided by family doctors, dentists, opticians and pharmacists, who work within the NHS as independent practitioners. Other… GPsor family doctors are present in every community and they remain the… Visits to doctors or dentists may be for treatment or for preventative advice. Preventing ill-health is an important…

How primary care is developing

From October 1998 pilot schemes began in areas with high levels of illness and where it is often difficult to recruit GPs. There are two types of… · one which will enable NHS trusts or GP practices to employ GPs on a salary… · one to create primary health care 'one-stop shops' where GPs, community nurses and other professionals work as a…

Secondary care

While Primary Care Groups may be the first point of call, secondary care, managed by NHS Trusts, deal with any further treatment or care someone may need. This can range from health advice to some of the most sophisticated treatment in the world.

There are around 300 district general hospitals in England, found in many large towns and cities. They provide a range of services from the care of the elderly to maternity services, supported by services such as anaesthetics, pathology and radiology. Almost all district hospitals have accident and emergency departments for emergency admissions.

Patients either attend as day cases, in-patients for a longer stay or out-patients. There are also patients who attend wards for treatments such as dialysis. The advent of new treatments has meant the trend has been towards more patients treated as day care and fewer long-stay wards.

 

Tertiary care

Some hospitals provide specialist services such as heart and liver transplants, treatments for rare cancers and craniofacial services. These specialist services cover patients over more than one district or region.

There are also specialist hospitals of international renown such as the Hospital for Sick Children at Great Ormond Street, Moorfields Eye Hospital and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. As well as offering highly specialised treatments, these hospitals are also centres for teaching and international research.

 

Hospital building under the Private Finance Initiative

The Government wants to promote a partnership between the public and private sectors in many areas of industry and services. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) was launched in 1992 for this purpose: in the health service it means encouraging private companies to help finance the design, construction and running of NHS buildings and support services.

In May 1997, in order to boots the PFI, the new Government passed legislation which made the powers of NHS Trust clearer when signing PFI agreements. Further schemes costing ₤2,500 million have since been announced, amounting to the biggest hospital building programme in the history of the NHS.

 

Community Care

Social services have the lead responsibility for community care services to meet the needs of older people, people with disabilities, mentally ill people or other vulnerable members of society. The NHS, however, has an important role in providing some services and in collaborating closely with social services to plan and deliver community care.

Here the role of the NHS includes helping to assess people's needs for community care, liaising with social services over hospital discharges to make sure people get the continuing care they need, as well as delivering some services. The NHS makes an important contribution to community care services, for example, district nurses provide nearly 2.5 million episodes of care annually.

 

How is the NHS funded?

The NHS is free at the point of delivery to anyone normally resident in Britain. All taxpayers and employees contribute to its cost.

About 82 per centof the coast of the health service is paid for by general taxes. The rest comes from:

· a proportion of National Insurance contributions (paid by working people and employers) - 12.2 per cent

· charges towards the costs of certain items, such as drugs prescribed by GPs, dental treatment and sight tests - 2.3 per cent. (Children and adults who may have difficulties paying are exempted from these charges.).

· land sales and other schemes for generating income - less than one per cent.

In addition:

· health authorities are free to raise funds from voluntary sources and

· some NHS hospitals take private patients who pay the full cost of their accommodation and treatment.

 

How is the money spent?

In terms of spending on patients, more than two-fifths of total hospital and community health services expenditure, is on people aged 64 and over,… The pie chart on the left shows spending in terms of different services: · Hospital and Community Health Servicesprovide hospital care and a wide range of community services

Increased spending

In July 1998 the Government announced it would provide an extra ₤20 billion over the next three years. That amounts to an increase of 4.7% a… This investment in the NHS is planned to bring a host of improvements to… · improve hospitals and GP services

How is the NHS organised?

Within that department, management of the service is led by the NHS Management Executive. The NHS Management Executive is responsible for developing… Services are administered by a range of health authoritiesand health… Community health councils(local health councils in Scotland) represent the opinion of local people on the health…

Recent reforms

· the creation of Primary Care Groups and Trusts, teams of GPs, community nurses and social services staff, to take control of most of the NHS… · new powers to break down barriers between health and social services and… · the introduction of new legal duties of quality of care and of partnership to drive up standards of care;

NHS staff

The numbers of GPs in England has risen by nine per cent between 1987-1997, with all of the increase occurring amongst women. The numbers of… In September 1996 approximately 940,000 non-medical staff were employed in the… · 67 per cent of these staff were directly involved in patients care and 33 per cent were management and support…

Family doctors

There were 28,937 GPs in England in October 1997. By 1996, nearly a third were female, compared with just over a fifth in 1986.

 

The contribution made by the Voluntary Sector

The voluntary sector plays an important role in supporting patients and health services. The Government gives grants to a large number of voluntary organisations working in health and personal social services in recognition of the valuable work they do.

The money - ₤59 million in 1996-1997 goes mainly to national organisations dealing with:

children people from ethnic minorities

older people people with HIV/AIDS

carers people suffering from drug or alcohol misuse.

In Scotland, Government grants for 1996-1997 amounted to ₤9 million. In Northern Ireland the Department of Health and Social Services spent ₤6.4 million in 1996-1997 to support voluntary work in the health service.

 

Private medicine

About 11 per cent of the population in Britain is covered by private medical insurance and it is estimated that about three quarters of people receiving treatment in private hospitals or NHS pay beds are funded by health insurance schemes.

NHS patients are occasionally treated in the private sector (at public expense) in cases where doctors and managers consider it will be good value for money. The scale of private medicine compared to the NHS, however, is small.

Many overseas patients come to be treated in British private hospitals: Harley Street in London is world famous as a centre for medical consultants.

 

Personal Social Services

Social services provide ₤10 billion worth of care a year to vulnerable or disadvantage members of society. They cover the whole age range to provide for the poorly cared-for child to people who are approaching the end of their life. In between they care for people with mental health problems, physical disability or learning disabilities.

Personal social services are the responsibility of local social services authorities in England and Wales, social work departments in Scotland and health and social services boards in Northern Ireland.

The main services they provide are:

· residential care

· day care

· services for those confined to home and

· various forms of social work.

 

Social Services spending

· In 1997-1998, current expenditure in England on Personal Social Services was ₤10 billion, or about ₤200 per head

· Services for children and older people accounted for nearly three-quarters of spending

· The single biggest item of expenditure was residential care for older people

· All but two per cent of the remainder was for people with a mental illness, or physical or learning disabilities

· Spending on residential services accounted for just under half of the total

 

Modernising Social Services

· promoting chances for people to live independent, fulfilling lives · improving the protection of vulnerable people · raising the standards of services

Family and voluntary carers

Much of the care of older and disabled people is provided by the community - by families, self-help groups and voluntary agencies, leaving the statutory sector to provide the skilled care needed in particular services. There are about seven million such carers - one in eight adults in Britain.

The Government acknowledges the crucial role of carers. People who provide substantial, regular care have a right to have their own needs for help assessed. The Government also plans to create a national strategy for carers which will focus on recognising the importance of their role, consulting them and supporting their essential work.

There are nearly 200,000 voluntary organisations and charities concerned with health and social welfare. They range from national bodies such as Help the Aged to small, individual self-help groups. As demand for personal social services growth the contribution of the voluntary sector is also becoming increasingly important.

Meeting increasing demand

The demand for social services is increasing became of the growing numbers of older people and opportunities for older, disabled, mentally ill people and those with learning difficulties to live in the community, supported by health and social services.

 

Older people

Services for older people, whether statutory or voluntary, are designed to help them live in their own home whenever possible. The services provide… Equipment, aids and adaptations to the home are available to help older people… The trend in residential care for older people has been away from homes provided by the local authority towards…

Disabled people

Local social services are required to identify the number of disabled people in their area and to publicise services. Services include advice and… Specially-designed housing may be available for those able to look after…  

People with learning disabilities

Social services are the lead statutory body for planning and arranging services for people with learning disabilities. The help they provide or arrange includes short-term care, support for families in their own homes, residential accommodation if a person needs it and activities outside the home.

People with learning disabilities are the largest group for day centre places funded by local authorities and the second largest group in residential care. If person has profound disabilities, the NHS will look after them in residential care. The NHS also provides specialist help if someone with learning disabilities needs it.

The Government aims to help people with learning disabilities lead full lives in their communities, and only be admitted to hospital on health grounds. In local settings, social services work with the NHS, families, education and training services and voluntary groups to plan and provide a range of services.

 

Help for families and children

If a child is considered at risk of neglect or of physical, mental or emotional abuse, he or she is placed on a child protection register so the… Children whose parents are unable or unwilling to look after them are placed… In September 1998 the Government launched the Quality Protects programme, a three-year strategy underpinned by…

Social Security

The Department of Social Security is the biggest spending department of government and a major pillar of the welfare state. It provides more than ₤92 billion of benefits to secure a basic standard of living for people who are retired, unemployed or cannot work, to provide help for families and with the costs of disablement.

 

What is social security for?

The social security system provides a minimum level of income below which no-one should fall if they are unable to work through their circumstances, unemployment, or disability. Social security provides cash benefits for children and families, unemployed people, disabled people and pensioners, including war pensioners.

The Government wants the welfare system wherever possible to help people towards independence, not to encourage dependence. The Government sums up its aims for social security like this: work for those who can; security for those who cannot. Later on this section describes the Government's plans for reform and the measures to help people into work.

 

How is social security funded?

All taxpayers, employers and employees contribute to the cost of social security. The programme has two sources of finance.

· The cost of contributory benefits and their administration is met from the National Insurance Fund, to which all employers and employees contribute. The Fund also has income from its investments.

· Non-contributory benefits and their administration are financed from general taxation.

General taxation provides more than half of social security income, National Insurance contributions from employers around a quarter and National Insurance contributions from employees about a fifth.

 

How is the money spent?

The total social security budget in 1997-1998 was more than ₤ 92 billion, which is almost a third of all government spending. The pie chart top left show how the budget was spent on people who received benefits for the year 1997-1998. The pie chart bottom left shows how the money was spent in terms of benefits for the same year.

 

Who receives benefits?

More than 20 million people receive some sort of benefit in Britain. The elderly and the short-term sickreceive predominantly contributory benefits, unemployment peoplereceive mainly income related benefits, familiesmainly other benefits while the long-term sick and disabledreceive all three types of benefit.

Benefits and who receives them

How is Social Security organised?

The Department of Social Security (DSS) comprises a small central headquarters which support the Secretary of State for Social Security and a team of Ministers in developing policy, and five executive agencies. Most of the services in Great Britain are run by the separate agencies.

Executive agencies of the DSS

The Benefits Agency- pays most social security benefits

The Child Support Agency- collects child maintenance from absent parents

The War Pensions Agency- administers benefits and delivers services for war pensioners and their dependants

The Information Technology Agency- develops, implements and supports the IT system which now plays a major role in social security

In Northern Ireland the Social Security Agency administers contributions and benefits.

 

Types of benefit

There are three broad categories of social security benefit:

Contributory benefits,where entitlement depends on a person's record of National Insurance contributions. The main contributory benefits are Retirement Pension, Widow's Benefits, Incapacity Benefit and Jobseeker's Allowance. These account for half of social security spending.

Income-related benefit, for people whose income falls below a certain level, determined according to their family circumstances. These benefits take a person's capital well as their income into account. The income-related benefits are Income Support, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Disability Working Allowance, Family Credit and Earnings Top-up in certain pilot areas. These account for a third of social security spending.

Jobseeker's Allowancehas both contributory and income-related components.

Other benefitsdepend on conditions such as disability or family needs. Benefits in this group include Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Severe Disablement Allowance and Child Benefit. These other, non-contributory benefits account for about a sixth of social security spending.

The Government's aims

Since taking up office in May 1997 the Government has announced a number of wide-ranging reviews with the key objectives of tacking unemployment and social division which excludes people from playing a full part in their communities. The aims of the reviews are to:

· modernise the structure of social security and the way benefits are delivered to encourage financial independence and promote social cohesion

· make the welfare system active in supporting work, saving and honesty

· tackle social and economic inequalities.

 

Welfare Reform

· inequality and social exclusion are worsening, especially among children and pensioners, despite rising spending on social security; · people face a series of barriers to paid work, including financial… · fraud is taking money out of the system and away from genuine claimants.

Производственно-практическое издание

Акулич Людмила Давыдовна

СТРАНОВЕДЕНИЕ ВЕЛИКОБРИТАНИИ

КУРС ЛЕКЦИЙ ЧАСТЬ 2

 

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специальности I-020306-01 “Английский язык”

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Учреждение образования

"Гомельский государственный университет

имени Франциска Скорины"

246019, г. Гомель, ул. Советская, 104

 

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Учреждения образования

"Гомельский государственный университет имени Франциска Скорины"

246019, г. Гомель, ул. Советская, 104