Parliament Flashcards
what are the functions of the house of commons?
-Legislative, makes laws
-Scrutiny, examination of government legislation policies and spending by debates questions and committees.
-representation, when interests of sections of society may be affected by policy, proposed legislation or Government decisions groups of MPs may seek to defend their interests.
-legitimation, link to legislation, formal consent given to new laws.
-constituency work, ensuring their constituency interests are defended.
-national debate, take part when great issues of the day need debating.
what are the functions of the house of Lords?
-revising, scrutinises legislation closely due to their expertise.
-delaying, Lords cannot veto a piece of legislation but they can delay for a year.
-secondary legislation, great deal of minor regulation within major laws which the Lords have more time to review.
-scrutiny, Lords select committees specialise in key policy areas and offer expert advice to policymakers.
-national debate, deliberate on laws.
what is the process for Parliament to make a law?
-first reading- formal occasion bill is read out
-second reading-full scale debate of the bill and vote private members bills usually fail.
-committee stage-passes to a public bill committee who consider changes.
-report stage- all proposed amendments are presented to the house.
-third reading- another debate with the amendments
-passage in Lords- same procedures are taken in the lords and propose amendments
-Royal assent- king signs the bill
what is a private members bill?
Private Members’ bills are legislation introduced by MPs and peers who are not government ministers. They can technically be passed and come into law but they rarely do so.
why is Parliaments legislative effectiveness questioned?
-bulk of the time is spent deliberating the Governments legislative programme, only a small amount of bills or private members bills are initiated by backbenchers and these are only successful if they have Government support.
-party control of the commons means that Government Bills are rarely defeated.
-Lords play a subordinate role in the legislative process and it is essentially a revising chamber most of the time is spent cleaning up bills and not adequately scrutinises the commons.
example of a Private Members Bill?
-Voyeurism Act 2019
-Gina Martin was a victim of up skirting and in 2017 began a campaign to have the practice criminalised gaining 58,000 signatures on a petition and was supported by Theresa May.
-this was opposed by Christopher Chope (wanker) who shouted oppose which automatically sent the proposed Bill for further debate.
-Government re-introduced it to the House on the 21 June 2018 as a Government Bill and was passed in Feb 2019
why has the effectiveness of scrutiny been called into question?
-the majority of MPs in the commons normally belong to the governing party and their primary role is to support the government not criticise it.
-PMQs is often too weak and ineffective questions used to embarrass PM and ministers rather than subject them to scrutiny.
-government has a majority on each of the select committees.
how long can the house of lords delay bills?
-maximum of 1 year
-one month for economic bills
what is a select committee?
-scrutinise government departments by establishing inquiries gathering evidence and producing reports.
-house of commons select committees focus on different departments.
what were the Wrights reforms?
-2010 made changes to select committees
what are the core tasks of select committees?
-examine strategy of the government
-examine policy and make proposals
-examine spending and delivery
-scrutinise draft bills
-examine the implementation of legislation
-produce reports for debate in the commons
strengths of select committees?
-they can, interview government ministers in public hearings, respond to current controversies with their inquiries and appoint recognised experts to assist inquiries.
-composition of members and chairs encourages cross-party cooperation
-influence from government is limited allowing genuine scrutiny.
-studies from 2015 estimate that 30-40% of committee recommendations end up as government policy.
what are the limitations of select committees?
-government has 60 days to respond to reports and not compelled to make any changes.
-turnover of members can damage committee effectiveness e.g the defence committee saw an 83% turnover during 2010-15 and replacements might not be fully informed or motivated.
example of select committees?
-Amber Rudd and the home affairs committee April 2018, invited Rudd to give evidence for its enquiry into the Windrush Scandal, in her interview she denied the home office had set targets for deportation of illegal immigrants, leaked emails suggested their were targets and that she was aware of them she resigned.
-Carrie Gracie and the digital, culture media and sport committee Jan 2018 she was bbc china editor until she resigned over gender inequality pay and accused the BBC of secretive and illegal pay culture, interviewed by the committee and the inquiry into BBC pay continued.
arguments in favour of the house of lords being wholly elected?
-without the lords being directly elected it lacks democratic legitimacy and one of the basic principles of representative democracy is that voters choose representatives who govern them and can remove them through elections, elections would give the Lords the confidence to fully carry out its work as a scrutiniser of government and of proposed legislation.
-would make the house more representative of public opinion and changes over time and reduce party leaders power of patronage.
-knowledge of the lords is often overstated for some areas of policy, whilst they have good legal knowledge areas like social the largest area of public spending is patchy and MP’s tend to have greater knowledge of this area.
