liberal reforms - COMPLETE Flashcards

1
Q

what reforms did the liberals pass?

A
  • free school meals
  • ## school medical inspections
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2
Q

give some background to the introduction of free school meals.

A

compulsory education brought to light that children from slum areas were too hungry to learn.

prior to 1906 it was illegal for local authority school boards to provide free school meals.

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3
Q

what did an 1889 report indicate regarding hungry schoolchildren?

A

that over 50,000 pupils in london alone were attending school “in want of food”.

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4
Q

what was the first reform passed by the liberals?

A

the provision of school meals act (1906)

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5
Q

what did the provision of school meals act do?

A

allowed local authorities to provide school meals to needy children.

gave them tax raising powers to pay for school meals.

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6
Q

was the school meals act compulsory?

A

no - it only encouraged the provision. in fact, roughly half of authorities in britain did not act and by 1939 less than 50% were providing free school meals.

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7
Q

what did fraser, a historian, say about the school meals reform?

A

“only a small measure and produced only limited progress”

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8
Q

what did a 1907 survey show regarding schoolchildren?

A

that they gained weight during school terms and lost weight during holidays

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9
Q

what suggests that the school meals act was effective?

A
  • a 1907 survey showed that children gained weight during school terms and lost weight during the holidays
  • in 1914 the government face local authorities grants to cover half the cost of the service
  • by 1914, 14 million school meals per annum were being provided for 158,000 children
  • the service is still in use today
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10
Q

what suggests that the school meals act was not effective?

A
  • because it wasn’t compulsory, roughly half of authorities in britain did not act
  • “only a small measure and produced only limited progress” fraser, historian
  • by 1939 less than 50% were providing free school meals
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11
Q

what did the liberals introduce to tackle very frequent outbreaks of disease?

A

the school medical inspections act

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12
Q

what did a 1908 government report find regarding children’s health?

A
  • 50% of children with medical problems had not been treated
  • 80% of them had defective teeth
  • 30% had lice or nits
  • 9% had tickets due to inadequate
  • 50% of recruits to Boer War (1899-1902) were unfit to serve
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13
Q

what was the name of the act that made school medical inspections compulsory and when was it passed?

A

the education act, passed in 1907

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14
Q

what did the education act (medical inspections) specify?

A

that schoolchildren must receive at least 3 inspections during their school years

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15
Q

what was ineffective about the education act?

A

no such measures were introduced for life after school

did not improve health conditions of adults or school leavers

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16
Q

what was effective about the education act?

A

helped improve national health levels in children

by 1914 most authorities were providing some medical treatment for children

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17
Q

what did some people think about school medical inspections and their ineffectiveness?

A

it was simply pointing out to children their ailments without providing treatment - it was cruelty

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18
Q

what did the children’s charter do?

A
  • banned children under 14 from entering pubs
  • children under 16 were forbidden to smoke or drink alcohol, or beg
  • borstals or corrective schools were set up to deal with child criminals, to keep them away from adult criminals
  • children were tried in juvenile courts
  • probation officers were employed to guide young offenders when they were released from borstals
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19
Q

what percentage of old people ended up in poorhouses in some areas?

A

roughly 50%

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20
Q

what were the requirements to get a pension?

A
  • be 70+
  • be british (no passports/birth certificates to prove it)
  • had lived in britain for 20 years
  • had not been in prison in past 10 years
  • had not avoided work in the past
  • had not been detained for drunkenness in past 10 years
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21
Q

what did the old age pension scheme pay out?

A

5 shillings per week

22
Q

what was effective about the old age pension scheme?

A
  • no insurance contributions were necessary - it was a right
  • 75% decrease of old people in poorhouses between 1906-1913
  • “it removed the dreaded threat of the workhouse” richard shannon
  • in 1914 nearly one million people applied for pension, double the 1908 figure
  • most of the exemptions had been swept away by 1911
23
Q

what was ineffective about the old age pension scheme?

A
  • pension still fell below most existing poverty lines
  • only half a million people qualified in 1908
  • many people did not reach 70; life expectancy in low 50s in many places
  • appeared to have been designed so the least number could benefit from it - too expensive to have a lower age, most money going into war preparation
24
Q

what was the national insurance (part 1) scheme?

A

workers, their employer and the state would all contribute money (4, 3, 2) so that when the worker needed time off work because of illness, they could use this money to get by without their wage

25
Q

when was the national insurance part 1 passed?

A

1911

26
Q

how much did the national insurance scheme pay out?

A

10 shillings per week for 13 weeks then 5 shillings per week for a further 13 weeks

27
Q

including the pay, name the things that the national insurance part 1 scheme entitled sick workers to

A

free medical treatment (from approved doctors)

maternity benefit

sanatorium treatment for TB

28
Q

was the national insurance part 1 scheme compulsory?

A

yes

29
Q

how effective was the national insurance scheme part 1?

A
  • huge improvement on existing provision as it replaced nothing
  • along with unemployment insurance, had greater impact on reducing poverty
  • workers more likely to seek medical help, whereas may have gone untreated before
  • many workers receiving medical treatment for the first time
  • 10 million men and 4 million women covered
30
Q

what was ineffective about the national insurance part 1 scheme?

A
  • no provision for hospitals
  • failed to include dependents in scheme (mostly women) so it was not enough for families
  • another tax on already low wages
  • flat rate contributions (everyone playing the same) hurt poor more than rich
  • government admitted it was only a beginning
31
Q

what was a labour exchange?

A

a place where unemployed people could find jobs and claim benefits after signing on

32
Q

why and when were labour exchanges introduced?

A

1909, because unemployed people had to walk from factory to factory in search of a job which was very inefficient and dispiriting

furthermore, factories had difficulties matching jobs with suitably skilled employees

33
Q

what was effective about the labour exchanges?

A

by 1913 there were 430 labour exchanges in britain

by 1914 the exchanges were dealing with 2 million workers per year

called a “great success” by rees, a historian

34
Q

what was ineffective about labour exchanges?

A

workers initially feared that they were an employers tool to recruit strike breakers

35
Q

why was the national insurance act part 2 released in 1911?

A

unemployment was the major cause of poverty and seasonal layoffs were very common

36
Q

what was the NI act part 2?

A

insurance for workers in trades which were worst hit by seasonal unemployment or trade depression such as shipbuilding, engineering, construction

37
Q

how many men did the NI part 2 scheme apply to?

A

over 2 million

38
Q

was the NI part 2 scheme compulsory?

A

yes - workers in these trades had to join the scheme

39
Q

how much was paid out by the scheme and who paid for it?

A

workers, employers and the state each contributed

and workers could get 7 shillings a week for up to 15 weeks in any one year

40
Q

how effective was was the NI part 2 insurance scheme?

A

marked advance son previous help for unemployed

helped soften the worst effects of unemployment and fave workers some sense of security

41
Q

what was ineffective about NI2?

A

only lasted for 15 weeks for ”not genuinely seeking work” even though there was no work in the area

amount paid not enough even for basic living

“merely a lifebelt” - RC Birch, historian

workers in the scheme would get nothing if dismissed due to their conduct

yet again, contributions were flat rate - everyone paid the same

42
Q

what does “flat rate” mean?

A

everyone pays the same

43
Q

name the acts introduced to protect workers

A

workmen’s compensation act 1906

coal mines act 1908

trade broads act

shops act 1911

44
Q

why were the 4 workers acts introduced?

A

because low pay, long hours and exploitation of workers existed in a number of industries

45
Q

what was the workmen’s compensation act (1906)?

A

employers were liable to pay compensation for industrial diseases contracted by the workforce

46
Q

what was the coal mines act (1908)?

A

gave coal workers an eight hour day

47
Q

what was the trade boards act?

A

fixed minimum rates for per hour and piecework rates

covered 200,000 workers, mostly non-unionised women

employers were fined for paying less

48
Q

what was the shops act (1911)?

A

gave shop workers a half day off and reasonable meal breaks

49
Q

how effective were the 4 workers acts?

A

taken together, these laws were a significant improvement of working conditions for millions of workers

50
Q

what were some general criticisms of the reforms?

A

they were modest

only covered certain categories of people

government did little about poor state of housing and public health