Who does what?

Members of Parliament, MEPs, police commissioners, county councillors, borough councillors, parish councillors - who does what?

On Thursday 7 May some people living in the Rugby area will be voting in three different elections. We thought it might be useful to sketch out what each level of government is supposed to do.

Parish Councils

People living in Rugby itself do not have a parish council but there are parish councils for all the villages around Rugby. Parish Councils may be responsible for village halls, open spaces, allotments and street lighting [amongst other things]. Possibly the most important thing parish councils do is to act as a sounding board for the neighbourhood. Most parish councils will comment on planning applications in their area although the decision on the planning application will be made by Rugby Borough Council.

Parish Councils charge part of the Council tax which is collected by Rugby Borough Council.

Rugby Borough Council

Rugby Borough Council is responsible for the three bin recycling and refuse collection service.

It is also responsible for street sweeping and grass cutting, the maintenance of parks, play areas and open spaces, the leisure centre, the town centre toilets, some of the town centre car parks, cemeteries and the new crematorium.

Rugby Borough Council owns about 4,000 houses and is the landlord for Council tenants. It also has general responsibilities for housing and preventing homelessness in its area.

The Council runs an environmental health service and amongst other things checks the cleanliness of the kitchens in the town's cafes, restaurants and hot food take-aways.

The Council issues licences for people wanting to run some specialist trades eg driving taxis or running a butchers shop.

The Council is supposed to have an up-to-date plan for the area. It decides on planning applications for new developments.

The borough council collects all the Council Tax on behalf of parish councils, the county council and the police.

Warwickshire County Council

Warwickshire County Council has three main areas of responsibility: highways, social services and schools.

Everything relating to local transport whether it is the state of the pavements, subsidies for public transport or building new roads is the responsibility of the county council.

Social services covers areas like child protection (and in extreme cases taking children into care), looking after adults with disabilities and the elderly in their homes. Work with adults with mental health challenges is carried out in conjunction with the local NHS.

Schools used to be the responsibility of the county council - although in practice a lot of the responsibility was delegated to the governing bodies of the schools. Many schools have become academies and these are no longer the responsibility of the county council but are directly funded and supervised by the Secretary of State for Education.

Amongst the other things run by the county council are: country parks, trading standards, the fire service and libraries.

A bizarre feature of local government in Warwickshire (and other shire areas) is that local councils are responsible for collecting recycling and refuse but it is the county council that is responsible for processing what is collected - including land tips and incineration. In Rugby the recycling centre at Hunters Lane is run by the county council.

The county council is funded through the largest slice of the Council Tax.

Warwickshire Police

Warwickshire police is run by a Police Commissioner.

The police commissioner is responsible for appointing [and sometimes sacking] chief constables. They are supposed to set the police's strategy but not interfere in operational matters.

They set the police force's budget and tell Rugby Borough Council how much Council Tax to collect for policing.

The United Kingdom Parliament

The UK Parliament is responsible for matters of war and peace - but see the note on NATO below.

Controlling our borders and immigration policy.

Pensions.

Overseas aid.

The national debt.

Reducing Britain's carbon dioxide emissions in line with international treaties.

The United Kingdom Parliament is responsible for all English taxes [except Council Tax].

The National Health Service (In England).

Deciding what is legal and what is illegal in England - the courts, probation service and prisons.

Big highway, railway and airports projects in England eg HS2.

Funding English schools, colleges and universities. Supervising academies and free schools.

Grants for sports and the arts.

English national planning policies.

Apprenticeships (In England).

The European Parliament

The European Parliament is responsible for:

International Trade (and at present is trying to negotiate with the United States an Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership).

Environmental protection (shared with national parliaments).

Agriculture (shared with national parliaments).

The European Parliament also works on aspects of employment law and aid for worse off regions.

This leaves two important bodies which are not elected but which can have a major impact on our lives.

The Bank of England - sets interest rates and decides monetary policy.

NATO - The United Kingdom joined NATO in 1949. Under the terms of the treaty we are bound to go to the aid of any other member country which comes under external attack.