Structure and Roles of Parliament Flashcards
What are Parliament’s 5 roles? - Structure and Roles
Parliament’s 5 roles are: legislating, scrutinising the Executive, facilitating debate, representing the people and providing ministers.
How many members are there in a) the HoC b) the HoL? Add how members come to be in either house - Structure and Roles
A) the HoC has 650 members, who are elected by the people at a General Election.
B) the HoL has over 800 members who are appointed by party leaders/ PM/ public nomination/ by birth.
What are frontbenchers and backbenchers in the Commons? What is the Lords equivalents? - Structure and Roles
Commons frontbenchers are those involved as ministers or Secretaries of State. Backbenchers are any MPs not involved in government.
The Lords has Frontbench spokespersons, with all other peers effectively backbenchers.
What are the functions of the Commons specifically? - Structure and Roles
The Commons legislates, legitimises government policy on behalf of the people, holds government to account, represents constituent and wider interests, scrutinises legislation, debates on national issues.
What are the functions of the Lords specifically? - Structure and Roles
The Lords scrutinise legislation, delay legislation (if necessary) and debate important national issues.
Why is the Lords less democratically legitimate than the Commons? What impact does this have on the roles of the Lords? - Structure and Roles
The Lords has less democratic legitimacy than the Commons as it is not an elected body and therefore is unaccountable to the people. This has resulted in the Lords agreeing not to vote against any government policy in a victorious election manifesto (The Salisbury Convention).
How does the House of Commons provide legitimation of Government policy? - Structure and Roles
The Commons is a body elected by the public. It is understood that by doing this they give consent for their MP to act on their behalf and make decisions. By voting for government policy, MPs legitimise these actions on behalf of the people.
How does Parliament legislate? (What is this and why is this needed?) - Structure and Roles
Parliament passes laws through parliamentary votes and other procedures. This is necessary so that legislation can be approved by two separate houses and also so that it can be amended to better serve the people.
How does the Commons hold government accountable? - Structure and Roles
The Commons asks questions at questioning sessions, force ministers to justify the actions of a government, forms select committees which scrutinise departments and their workings, can reject legislation by voting against it, can remove a government through votes of no confidence.
Why is the Commons required to hold government to account? - Structure and Roles
The Commons is required to hold the Government to account as the people can only hold government to account at elections. The Commons fills the window between these by questioning and scrutinised government on behalf of the people.
How does the Commons scrutinise legislation? - Structure and Roles
MPs serve on Public Bill Committees which scrutinise legislation line by line, often suggesting amendments. They can also vote against legislation they deem to be wrong.
How successful is the Commons at scrutinising legislation? - Structure and Roles
The Commons rarely amends legislation radically, with government usually getting their own way with legislation through the influence of whips securing Party loyalty on this. Similarly, Public Bill Committees have a government majority on them.
What are the names of the Commons Committees that scrutinise legislation? - Structure and Roles
The Commons Committees that Scrutinise legislation are known as Public Bill Committees.
How does the Commons represent interests of Constituents and of other groups? - Structure and Roles
MPs support and represent the views and interests of their constituents in parliamentary business, as well as other groups which they may have been involved with before being and MP/pressure groups. They also form All-Party Parliamentary Groups.
How does the Commons facilitate National Debate? What examples have there been in recent years? - Structure and Roles
Holds major debates on major national issues in which MPs weigh up the positives and negatives of each side.
2017 Debate on the Triggering of Article 50
2015 Debate on holding an EU Referendum
Vote of No Confidence in Theresa May’s government
How does the Lords scrutinise and revise primary legislation? Why is this important? - Structure and Roles
The Lords scrutinise primary legislation as a whole house, with any Peer present able to suggest amendments to a Bill.
The Lords is made up of experts on a variety of subjects, therefore their input may help the protection of minorities or increase the efficiency of legislation.
How does the Lords delay legislation? (Explain WHY and through what mechanism) - Structure and Roles
The Lords can delay a piece of legislation for up to 1 Year (due to the 1949 Parliament Act) if they are unhappy with the clauses of a Bill and wish that the Government will rethink its decisions.
What examples have there been of the Lords successfully delaying legislation and leading to Government policy change? - Structure and Roles
The Hunting Act 2004, in which Fox hunting was banned.
Sexual Offences Amendment Act 2001, in which the age of consent for gay men was lowered to 16.
How does the Lords scrutinise secondary legislation? (Explain how and why this is significant) - Structure and Roles
The Lords scrutinises secondary legislation, which is not done by the Commons. This is done through the Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, which consider and propose any necessary amendments.
What is secondary legislation and how does it differ from primary legislation? - Structure and Roles
Secondary legislation is legislation created by government ministers which is a result of delegation of powers by previous legislation. This allows ministers to create legislation which does not pass through the same scrutiny as primary legislation.
How does the Lords facilitate national debate? Give examples - Structure and Roles
The Lords debates issues of national importance with moral or ethical dilemmas. This includes debate on assisted suicide, treatment of asylum seekers and refugees and GM crops.
How geographically representative of the UK is Parliament? - Structure and Roles
The House of Commons is incredibly representative of the country geographically, with each MP representing a region which comprises 70-80,000 constituents. The Lords is far less representative than this, with Peers not representing any geographical area.
How socially representative is Parliament? (Gender, Race, Education, Sexuality) - Structure and Roles
Gender (2/3 men), BAME (8% compared to 13% nationally), Oxbridge (17% compared to 1%) LGBT (7% compared to estimated 2% nationally).
How politically representative is Parliament? - Structure and Roles
HoC - Not at all, with SNP gaining 3.9% of the vote in 2019, returning 48 MPs, compared to 11.6% of the vote for the Lib Dems resulting in 11 seats.
