parliament

Question 1

Three functions of Parliament

Answer 1

• Authorising expenditure and providing income (tax, spend, money)
• legislating
• Scrutinising the Government (accountability)

Question 2

Authorising expenditure and providing income (tax, spend, money)

Answer 2

• Parliament has two roles, both of which require legislation.
  
  1. to authorise the government’s proposed expenditure
  2. To authorise the raising of money (taxes) to pay for the expenditure
     - i.) No payment out of the national Exchequer may be made without the authority of an Act of Parliament, and then only for the purposes authorised by the Act of Parliament (Auckland Harbour Board v R [1924]
     - ii.) No charges by way of taxation may be imposed by the government on the citizen without the authority of an Act of Parliament (Congreve v Home Office [1976] QB 629.)

Question 3

Four stages to public expenditure process

Answer 3

i.) Expenditure Planning by the Executive
ii.) Parliamentary debate and approval of Executive’s request for supply
iii.) Spending by the Executive of money approved by Parliament.
iv.) Accounting for the money spent

Question 4

legislating

Answer 4

• Parliamentary Sovereignty and Acts of Parliament
• most of the rules that regulate our daily lives originate form either: (i) from legislation; or (ii) from the numerous rules and regulations made under such legislation.
• legislation is a vital resource of public policy
• legislation is closely intertwined with the broader political process. Acts of parliament are the product of political debate.

Question 5

passage of a bill

Answer 5

Question 6

Scrutinising the Government (accountability)

Answer 6

• Parliamentary Questions (eg PMQs)
• Select Committees
• House of Lords

Question 7

Select Committees

Answer 7

• Select committees are appointed for life of a Parliament
• Core function = examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the main government departments

Question 8

House of Lords

Answer 8

• the house of lords in an unelected House
• Composition:
  
  • life peerages
  • hereditary peers

Question 9

Powers of the Lords

Answer 9

• A revising chamber capable of providing thoughtful scrutiny of legislation and executive actions
• Scrutiny takes different forms, and takes in a range of perspectives, that are different from those found in the Commons
• The job of the House of Lords is to make ‘the House of Commons think again’; “the second chamber should engender second thoughts.”
• Lords cannot veto bills that pass the Commons. Delay only (Salisbury Convention and Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949…)

Question 10

Relationship of the HOL to the Commons

Answer 10

• The Parliament Act 1911 (as amended by the Parliament Act 1949) limits the Lords’ powers in two ways
  
  • Money Bills - Bills certified by the Speaker as dealing with such matters as taxation and government spending. if such a Bill passes the Commons and is not passed without amendment by the Lords within a month, it can be enacted anyway.
  • Non-money Bills - If, in two successive sessions (i.e. parliamentary years), the Lords rejects a non-money Bill that has been approved by the Commons, the Bill may be enacted nevertheless. In effect, Lords has a one-year delaying power.
  • NB Parliament Acts 1911-1949 CANNOT be used to extend the life of Parliament beyond 5 years.

Question 11

Reform of HOL

Answer 11

• Reform of the House of Lords has been on the political agenda for a very long time
• Preamble to Parliament Act 1911 said the arrangements were to be temporary pending the “substitut[ion] for the House of Lords as it ar present exists [with] a Second Chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis”
• in 2023, such a development is still awaited

Question 12

Political parties as an impediment to proper parliamentary scrutiny?

Answer 12

• Assumption that MPs support or oppose a Bill according to their party loyalties
• Governing party has majority in Commons = government usually confident it can pass Bills through the Commons
• Backbench MPs will not always vote with the government.
• Pressure can be exerted on backbench MPs by government whips to support government’s legislative agenda

Question 13

Complexity of legislation and competence of Parliamentarians as an impediment to effective scrutiny?

Answer 13

• Brazier et al study of the legislative process (which drew upon interviews with MPs and peers):
• “Parliamentarians were often open in admitting that coping with the reality of massive amounts of complicated legislation severely
  compromised their effectiveness, and that they often do not understand the subject matter of the Bills they are scrutinizing … a number of parliamentarians explained … that the content of anywhere from a quarter to a half of all legislation they voted on was effectively a mystery to them … MPs and Peers tend to focus on bits they understand but often do not understand the larger picture.”

Question 14

Parliamentary procedure as a constraint on effective scrutiny?

Answer 14

• Government has strong influence over the procedure by which legislation is scrutinised by Parliament.
• Most Bills are introduced by the government and the government has the ability to specify precisely how much time is to be allocated to parliamentary discussion of Bills. (“programming”)
• On one hand, legitimate public interest in arranging matters such that the government is able to have Bills enacted in reasonable time
• On the other, the risk (and often the reality) is that government programming prevents a Bill from being scrutinised in adequate depth