Labour Reforms 1945-1951 Flashcards
What was the Beveridge Report?
- Conducted in 1942
- Highlighted the need for social change in Britain
What were the Five Giants Highlighted in the Beveridge Report?
- Disease
- Ignorance
- Squalor
- Idleness
- Want
What Act was Passed to Combat the Giant of Disease?
- National Health Service Act
- Set up by Aneurin Bevan
- Passed in 1948
What was the National Health Act?
- Provided free healthcare universally (available to all) and comprehensively (covering all manner of health issues.)
What Opposition Did the National Health Act Face?
- Loads of doctors + consultants didn’t want to be employed by the government - consultants wanted to be private + patients to be charged
- 64% of GPs = against NHS - wanted freedom to treat patients privately
- BMA organised a fierce campaign of resistance against Bevan (minister of health)
How did Bevan Convince Doctors to be Part of the NHS?
- Promised new hospitals + equipment (badly needed)
- Allowed doctors to treat patients privately as well as in NHS
- NHS doctors got a salary rather than to be paid per patient/treatment
What Provisions did the NHS Supply?
- Universal access to healthcare
- Comprehensive healthcare
- Free at the point of need
- Ambulance services set up to cope with emergencies
What were the Strengths of the National Health Service Act?
- Free medical care
- Range of services provided (e.g. GP/dentist/etc)
- Financed though taxes + national insurance
- Regional hospitals established
- Maternity care + child welfare services led to big improvements in children
- Free vaccinations reduced number of killer childhood diseases (e.g. TB/Polio/etc.)
- Life expectancy increased
- Considerably improved the lives of every person
- Seen as Crown Jewel of Welfare State
What were the Weaknesses of the National Health Service Act?
- Opposition from BMA - government agreed to pay a fee to the doctors based on the number of patients
- Cost of scheme was huge - £400 mil in the first year
- Cost of prescriptions being issued more than doubled
- Plan to pay for the NHS from National Insurance contributions didn’t work + 90% of the cost had to be paid for from ordinary taxes
- Korean War - government forced to charge for prescriptions + glasses - led to Bevan Resigning
What Act was Passed to Combat the Giant of Igronance?
- Butler’s Education Act
- Passed in 1944
What was the Butler Education Act?
- Compulsory secondary education
- School leaving age raised to 15
- Introduction of the 11+ exams
- Ministry of Education established
What were the Strengths of the Butler Education Act?
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What were the Weaknesses of the Butler Education Act?
- Not all authorities established a tripartite system - some areas technical schools not established because of cost
- System of selection at 11 used by local authorities based on IQ tests favoured middle classes
- Number of grammar schools places varied from one authority to another
- Secondary modern schools were not particularly successful
- System became socially divisively
What Acts were Passed to Deal with the Giant of Want?
- National Insurance Act - passed in 1946
2. National Assistance Act - passed in 1948
What was the National Insurance Act?
- Extension of 1912 Act