Social Policies of The Thatcher Government Flashcards
NHS
> Government wanted to make NHS more efficient by applying business principles to its administration:
-Hospitals were allowed to become self-governing NHS trusts in control of their own budgets
-NHS services were expected to compete with one another to provide the most efficient and cost-effective service to GPs
-GPs became fund-holders with their own budgets to manage
Supporters said that this injected much-needed financial discipline into the NHS
Critics argued that it was the first stage of privatisation of the NHS in which the profit motive would take priority over patient care - business methods were inappropriate for a public service
Schools
> Quality of secondary education = cause for concern for some time -two tier qualification system of O levels and CSEs
Feeling that Britain was lagging behind other countries
Students who took CSEs would find it difficult to get further training or education
These qualifications were replaced in 1986 with GCSEs, which all students took
1988- national curriculum introduced + regular national testing of pupils
Concerns:
-Thatcher thought (though was convinced by Sir Keith Joseph otherwise) that GCSEs would lead to lowering of standards
-GCSEs not academically rigorous enough
-Content of national curriculum caused disagreements
-Testing was too frequent
Universities
> Thatcher maintained that universities needed to be more economically self-sufficient and do more to serve the economic needs of the country
Her govt cut university budgets in ‘81- forcing them to seek alternative sources of revenue and accept more students
1988, University Funding Council created to ensure that university education reflected the needs of the economy rather than concentrating on pure research
Some staff lost their security of tenure
Govt removed polytechnics from local authority control and brought them under the control of the University Funding Council
The government did NOT abolish grants for young people to attend places of higher education
Council House Sales
> Thatcher wanted to create a ‘property-owning democracy’
She wanted to reward those who shared the values that she admired: hard work, self - reliance etc. by enabling them to own their own homes
She believed that owning properties gave people a stake in their communities and less likely to support socialism
To encourage home ownership, she insisted that home owners should continue to get tax relief on their mortgages
During T’s premiership, property ownership increased by 12%
