Week 4 - Acts of Parliament

Question 1

How many MPs are in the House of Commons?

Answer 1

650 members

Question 2

How do MPs get their job in Parliament?

Answer 2

Voted for from general election every 5 years

Question 3

Definition of Government

Answer 3

The winning party is the party w/ most votes becoming the governing party

Question 4

Who chairs debates?

Answer 4

The speaker

Question 5

Apart from MPs who else has a seat in the House of Commons?

Answer 5

• Minister
• Speakers

Question 6

How many members does the House of Lords have?

Answer 6

800 members

Question 7

On what basis are Lords selected?

Answer 7

• Appointed and provide expertise

Question 8

What does the monarch do?

Answer 8

• Sign the royal assent
  *Opening Parliament - Read government programme

Question 9

3 ways the parliament holds the government to account/scrutinise them?

Answer 9

• Through question time
• Selecting committees
• Debating

Question 10

Domestic Law- Making process

Answer 10

1. Proposed Bill
2. Green and White papers
3. First reading
4. Second reading
5. Committee Stage
6. Report Stage
7. Third reading
8. House of Lords
9. (1st, 2nd reading, committee stage, report stage, 3rd reading)
10. Royal Assent

Question 11

What is a Parent Act of Parliament (enabling act)?

Answer 11

Required authority or power is given by Parliament

Question 12

What does the enabling act do?

Answer 12

• Creates the framework of law
• Delegates authority to others to make laws.

Question 13

Making laws for the government departments

Answer 13

• Parliament is supreme + makes primary laws called Acts (statutes).
• Some of these laws defer law-making powers to the Secretary of State for a government department.

Question 14

5 largest departments

Answer 14

• Ministry of Justice
• Department for Work and Pensions
• HM Revenue and Customs
• Ministry of Defence
• Home Office
• Staffed by thousands of workers, many work directly with the public – Civil Servants.

Question 15

Stages of departments

Answer 15

1. PM
2. Ministers
3. Civil Servants

Question 16

What does the Civil service do?

Answer 16

• Deliver support and benefits to those who need them
• Responsible for schools and education
  *Work for the minsters departments
  around 23 main departments and 66 executive agencies delivering services to the citizens through networks of offices and outlets which number in the thousands.
  500,000 civil servants

Question 17

What is secondary legislation (delegated/subordinate legislation)?

Answer 17

• Must come from a primary source (Act)
• Statutory instruments are the vital laws that make regulations for the government departments to operate

Question 18

3 main types of secondary legislation

Answer 18

• Statutory Instruments
• By law
• Orders in council

Question 19

Parliamentary control of delegated legislation

Answer 19

• P has control in the parent act passed by P and sets out a framework w/in which delegated legislation is made
• Are scrutiny committees in both Houses of Parliament (role = consider delegated powers proposed by a Bill)
• All SIs are subject to review by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments

Question 20

What is affirmative resolution?

Answer 20

Some SIs must be approved by Parliament before they can become law

Question 21

2 types of ultra vires

Answer 21

• Procedural ultra vires
• Substantive ultra vires

Question 22

What is Procedural ultra vires?

Answer 22

The court can find the delegated legislation to be ultra vires and void if these procedures were not followed.

Question 23

What is Substantive ultra vires?

Answer 23

Delegated legislation goes beyond what Parliament intended.

Question 24

3 advantages of Delegated Legislation

Answer 24

• Saves Parliament time
• Flexibility
• Expertise

Question 25

3 disadvantages of Delegated Legislation

Answer 25

• Scrutiny
• Volume
• Sub-delegation