Society (+ Domestic Policies)

Question 1

How many women with children under 13 were in work by 2000?

Answer 1

73%

Question 2

First black minister

Answer 2

Paul Boetang, appointed in 2002

Question 3

How many women entered parliament after 1997?

Answer 3

Over 100 - they were dubbed the ‘Blair babes’

Question 4

How much was spent on school?

Answer 4

5.6% of GDP​

Question 5

New Deal Programme

Answer 5

Targeted 17-25 year olds , encouraging them to get jobs

Question 6

Unemployment

Answer 6

Declined from 39% to 8% throughout Blair’s premiership

Question 7

What did Britain have in terms of population?

Answer 7

A rapidly ageing one

Question 8

National Minimum Wage

Answer 8

1999 - starting at £3

Question 9

Working Tax Credits

Answer 9

introduced to provide an automatic top up to the low incomes of working families - partly inspired by Bill Clinton’s welfare policies

Question 10

How much did Working Tax Credits put into the pockets of low income workers over eight years? What was a problem that arose in 2003?

Answer 10

£75bn - claimants unsure whether their claims had been processed or not. The british were not as familiar with filing for returns than the american with only 30% doing it

Question 11

How many people were over 65 by 2006?

Answer 11

10 million - 1/6

Question 12

Social impact of population shift?

Answer 12

• welfare services are funded by working tax payers however the ageing population meant that the ones who benefitted the most didn’t contribute
• inflation and cost of medical tech meant national insurance payments were high
• increased taxation for working tax payers

Question 13

Largest ethnic minority

Answer 13

Indians - 984 000 people

Question 14

How many Muslims were recorded in England?

Answer 14

1.6 million

Question 15

Arguments for and against immigration?

Answer 15

• for : played a vital role in the economy by taking low paying but essential jobs
• against : they filled vacancies however this was only a stop gap measure since immigrants began demanding better wages and conditions once settled

Question 16

Who was Trevor Philips and what did he notice? What did he say in 2005?

Answer 16

Chairman of the EHRC - he acknowledged that the legislation followed by governments that targeted multi culturalism didn’t improve integration of immigrants and that this was the cause of many tensions. In 2005 he said that multiculturalism could be used as a way to ‘sleepwalk around segregation’ and he expressed concerns about solely Islamic schools.

Question 17

Religious Hatred Act

Answer 17

2006 - intended to protect people from being attacked for their religious beliefs

Question 18

What pushed the Religious Hatred Act to be introduced?

Answer 18

2005 London bombings and the reactions to a cartoons published in a Danish newspaper the same year that insulted the prophet Muhammed.

Question 19

2006 Muslim Marches

Answer 19

300 Muslims protested against the 2005 publication

Question 20

What was surprising about the perpetrators of the 2005 bombings?

Answer 20

They had been brought up in the UK

Question 21

Environmentalists’ Case

Answer 21

• emission of greenhouse gasses was raising the earth’s temp
• ice caps melting = sea levels rising
• the west had to put sustainability above economic growth
• governments individually and nations collectively had to impose binding restraints on industrial output
• conclusions were based on the UN’s IPCC which drew their findings from scientific researchers

Question 22

Anti-Environmentalists’ Case

Answer 22

• based on selective measurements
• CO2 is an effect of warming not a cause
• humans play only a minor role
• world sea levels have risen less than one inch
• the sun is the main determiner of world temp
• environmentalism is a front for left wing anti capitalists
• the IPCC is not a neutral scientific body but rather a pressure group

Question 23

British National Party

Answer 23

Anti-immigration party

Question 24

The God of Delusion

Answer 24

2006 by Richard Dawkins - highlighted the growth in secularism and religious scepticism

Question 25

The Countryside Alliance - when was their demonstration and why?

Answer 25

An amalgam of farmers and land owners all of whom were angered by Labour’s proposed ban on fox hunting using hounds. In Sept 2002 they had a demonstration with 400 000 supporters.

Question 26

When did the ban on fox hunting become law?

Answer 26

Pushed through commons in 2004 and became law in 2006.

Question 27

A slogan of Tony Blair’s relating to education?

Answer 27

‘Education, education, education.’

Question 28

Explain the reforms made to schools.

Answer 28

• reduction in class sizes
• special attention to failing schools
• 1000 new schools opened under Blair, mainly funded by PFI
• number of qualified teachers in 2007 rose to 35 000

Question 29

Explain the reforms made to higher education.

Answer 29

• tuition fees introduced in 1998
• average annual fee in 2006 was 3000
• the number of women in HE in 2006 was twice that in 1995
• in 2001, the govt began funding the U3A, an institution that provided learning ops for those over retirement age

Question 30

Cash for Honours

Answer 30

Government figures were accused of giving out honours in return for cash donations however in 2007 it was decided there was insufficient evidence to warrant prosecutions

Question 31

National Identity Card Act

Answer 31

2006 - created national identity cards linked to a database known as the National Identity Register and it was argued this was needed to fight terrorism

Question 32

Terrorist Act

Answer 32

2006 - increased the time a suspect could be held without charge to 28 days, although the government had wanted it to reach 90 days

Question 33

How much of the population saw immigration control as their greatest issue of concern by 2007?

Answer 33

44%

Question 34

Expenditure on schools?

Answer 34

£34.36bn in 2005-06

Question 35

Labour slogan regarding NHS?

Answer 35

‘24 hours to save the NHS.’

Question 36

Increase in health spending?

Answer 36

£30bn in 1997 to £90bn in 2007

Question 37

Labour slogan relating to law and order?

Answer 37

‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.’

Question 38

Death of Princess Diana? What did Blair call her?

Answer 38

31st August 1997 - ‘the people’s princess’