Central government departments are the last type of public ownership. Сentral governments like local government provide for a vast range of services in areas such as trade, employment, education, social services, defence, foreign affairs. These are matters that must be run and administered at the national level rather than at the town or city level. Any of these services , such as defence or foreign affairs , have very long historical traditions. But the decision as to whether to form a government department or to abolish it or sometimes to merge two departments together is entirely in the hands of the Government of the day. New departments are often formed , old departments joined together or even abolished. In recent years new departments have been formed to deal with prices, energy, social security the environment, in other words when an issue of national concern arises, the Government quite often decides to form a new department to deal with that particular issue.