Text assignment

I. Practise pronunciation of the following words:

Local, maintain, government, majority, church, influence, councilor, parish, survive, authority, commerce, leisure, borough, power, abolish, purpose, pound.

II. Translate the following sentences. Pay attention to the function and use of the verbs

�to have� and �to be�.

• Northern Ireland and Scotland have their own systems of local government, although the differences are superficial.
• There are three all-purpose authorities for the island groups, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.
• The parishes have elected parish councils but now they have almost no powers.
• However all parish councils do have a significant role in representing the interests of their residents to the larger councils.
• Local government has a multi-million pound budget and employs one of the largest workforce in Britain.

III. Make all possible

questions

to the following sentences.

• Local government provides vital local services, which affect everyone�s lives and benefit the local community.
• In Northern Ireland local services are provided by twenty-six district councils.
• Parliament can take local authorities power away or add to them.
• The oldest and the smallest units of local government were originally centred on churches.

IV. Give

definitions

to each word and word combination :

local government, council, county, parish, district, local authorities, staff.

V. Complete the following sentences with

suitable words and word combinations.

• Britain�s � is a system of providing, operating and maintaining the majority of � that people use in everyday life.
• A very large part of the public services is administered by elected � , which employ more than two million people.
• Local government must not be confused with the government or � , but it is politically influenced.
• The Local Government Act of 1972 created six new metropolitan � for the largest cities.
• As they have very small budgets, � are only involved in small scale � .
• Most � today are modern amalgamations of parishes.
• Some direct descendants of the self governing towns are called � or cities.

VI. Fill in the blanks with suitable

prepositions and adverbs.

• In Northern Ireland much is administrated � area boards, but public services are provided � twenty-six district councils.
• For administrative purposes the whole of Britain is divided � smaller territorial units each of which is governed locally.
• The ancient City of London, which covers only one square mile (2.6 sq km), is today a separate unit of local government called the Corporation of the City of London which is responsible � most local government services in the area.
• Local authorities are independent administrative bodies created� Parliament in Westminster. They carry � duties given � the central government.
• A local authority within a county council is called a district council, it deals mainly � local services rather than national one, for example housing or environmental health.
• Whatever the area, each county, each district and all but the very smallest parishes will all have a council elected � the local inhabitant

VII. Answer the following questions.

• What is local government?
• What do local authorities administer?
• What do local authorities derive their power from?
• When was a new structure of local government brought into effect?
• What is a county?
• What makes a parish special? Does it have any powers?
• What is a district? When did districts grow up?
• How many counties are there in England and Wales?
• How many counties are �non-metropolitan�?
• What is the structure of local government in Greater London?
• How are metropolitan counties divided?
• How many regions does mainland Scotland consist of?
• Where are all-purpose authorities?
• What is Northern Ireland administered by?

VIII. Read the text again and find a suitable heading for each paragraph.

IX. What did you learn about the history of local government in Great Britain?

X. What do you know about the history of local government in Russia?