chapter 6 parliament

Question 1

how many bishops and archbishops in HOL?

Answer 1

26

Question 2

front bench MPs

Answer 2

government ministers, senior and junior

Question 3

example of opposition using supply days to defeat the government

Answer 3

2009 opposition defeated the government on issues of whether. Nepalese Gurkha soldiers should have right of residence in the UK

Question 4

do the lords effectively scrutinise government?

Answer 4

yes- secondary legislaion in 2008 new clauses of the counter terrorism bill which meant that terror suspects could be held for 42 days without rial was defeated b lords by 1919 votes

no- sailsbury convention 1945 means that lords cannot veto and laws that were in the party’s manifesto or campaign

Question 5

public accounts committee

Answer 5

• scrutinises value for money and the economy
• chair is always a member of the main opposition party
• elected by MPs
• members act independently on the whole ignoring party allegiance
• reports often unanimous

Question 6

how many hereditary peers?

Answer 6

92

Question 7

how many life peers did tony Blair nominate

Answer 7

203

Question 8

2016 PAC investigation into googles tax affairs

Answer 8

googles payment of back tax of £130 million considered too low. HMRC should investigate a better way of regulating the tax affairs of multinational companies

Question 9

liaison committee

Answer 9

made up of all chairs of all 19 departmental committees meeting twice a year to question the primeminister extensively

Question 10

legislative committee

Answer 10

temporary committees which scrutinise proposed legislation and proposed amendments

Question 11

types of legislation:

Answer 11

• public bills
• primary. legilsation
• secondary legislation
• private members bills
• private bills

Question 12

do backbenchers play a signifanct role in legislation?

Answer 12

yes- can propose private members bills. historically the. most significant being the 1967 abortion act indicating that abortion was lawful if ‘the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman’

no- whips ensure that all government legislation is passed and private members bills are rarely timetabled in. from 1997 to 2010 only 7 government-backed bills failed to pass through parliament

Question 13

backbench business committee

Answer 13

determines the business of the house for more than 20 days a year (supply days)

Question 14

functions of house of commons

Answer 14

• legitimation (the formal process of making proposed laws legitimate by granting consent)
• accountability
• scrutiny
• constituency work
• representation of interest
• national debate

Question 15

do select committees effectively scrutinise the government

Answer 15

yes- select committees such as the public accounts committee are nonpartisan, elected by MPs and in 2016 the PAC found that google’s £130 billion tax return was a little low, and HMRC and the government should be regulating multinational companies tax affairs more closely

no- public bill committees are partisan, selected by whips, and usually don’t hold the government to account. in 2015 think tank ‘reform published a report that public bill committees were mainly for point scoring and getting backbench MPs into higher party positions

Question 16

do backbenchers effectively scrutinise government?

Answer 16

yes- 2010-2015 clegg-Cameron coalition was defeated 7 times by backbenchers from left and right

no- when a government like johnson have a big majority 2021 81 majority even if 30 backbenchers rebel a law can still be passed

Question 17

1911 and 1949 parliaments acts

Answer 17

1911 lords cannot vote laws

1949 lords can only. delay legislation for 1 year

Question 18

Salisbury convention

Answer 18

lords cannot obstruct any proposed legislation that was contained in the governing parties last election campaign

Question 19

select committees

Answer 19

permanent committees of backbench MPs holding government to account

Question 20

what is parliamentary privilege?

Answer 20

MPS are free from outside interference and cannot be persecuted or charged for anything said in hose of commons

Question 21

do committees effectively scrutinise government?

Answer 21

yes- select committees are nonpartisan, elected by MPs and hold gov to account for example 2016 PAC held gov to account on tax affairs of big companies

no- select committees can be ignored, for example, David Cameron directly ignored committee reports on drug legislation while he was passing a law on it. and usually, you are only picked to chair a committee if you are popular in the parties, for example, ken Livingstone is very experienced in local gov ut unpopular party so never got a committee role

Question 22

how many MPs?

Answer 22

650