Parliament- How It Works and How to Get Involved
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Transcript of Parliament- How It Works and How to Get Involved
8/8/2019 Parliament- How It Works and How to Get Involved
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Parliament: how itworks and how to get
involved
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This session will cover:
The general election
The composition of ParliamentThe work of ParliamentHow to get involved with its work
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A service from the Houses of Parliament
Politically neutral
Aim is to increase knowledge and engagementwith work and processes of Parliament
Not an alternative to MPs
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The election took place onMay 6 2010
What was decided?
650 seats in House of CommonsUK GovernmentWhat about the House of Lords?
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Conservative - 307Labour - 258Lib Dem - 57DUP - 8SNP - 6Sinn Fein - 5Plaid Cymru - 3SDLP - 3Green - 1
Alliance - 1Independent - 1Speaker - 1
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House of Commons
House of Lords
TheMonarch
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Makes and passes laws(Legislation)
Holds Government toaccount
Enables the Governmentto set taxes
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The Prime Minister
The Cabinet
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• Commons, Lords,Monarch
•Holds Governmentto account
• Passes laws• Enables taxation• Represents public• Raises key issues
Government(Whitehall)
• Approximately 110members• MPs and Lords
(Usually)• Chosen by PrimeMinister• Runs public services• Accountable toParliament
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Allows MPs to show their opinion on a particularsubject
Can be used to:Draw attention to an issueCall for actionCommemorate, congratulate, condemn
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Cross-partyBoth MPs and Members of the House of LordsBased around common interest (e.g. Housingand care for older people, motor neuronedisease, football) or countries of the worldNot involved in formal decision making, butimportant in developing knowledge
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Can be used to:
Obtain information –stats, policies, positionsPress for action
Raise constituencyissuesChallenge Governmentpolicy
Must have factual basisand relate to therunning of aGovernmentDepartment
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Opposition day debatesAdjournment debates(HoC)Questions for ShortDebate (HoL)Allows MPs and Membersof the HoL to:Raise constituency issuesor matters of regional,national or internationalsignificance
Get the issue to theattention of a relevantministerGet a response from theGovernment
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http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pahansard.htm
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Set up to scrutinise specificareas of work andgovernment departments
Work carried out through
public Inquiries
Groups and individualssubmit evidence toinquiries
Inquiry report created andusually passed to relevantgovernment department
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You can contact the staff of Select Committees directlyYou can ask them about forthcoming or planned inquiriesYou can suggest areas that the Committee might like to lookinto
If an inquiry is taking place, you can contact Committee staff for advice on preparing written evidenceIf you are called to give oral evidence, you can contactCommittee staff for help to prepareSelect Committees can do follow-up inquiries after the
Government have responded to their reports
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All legislation proposed by the Government mustbe scrutinised by both Houses of ParliamentEach Bill goes through the same stages in eachHouse - First Reading, Second Reading,Committee, Report, Third Reading – before itreaches Royal AssentMembers can suggest changes (“amendments”)at particular stages
Much of the most careful scrutiny goes on inCommittee, particularly in the House of Lords
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Lords
Bill presented / First Reading
Commons
Second Reading
Public Bill
Committee
Committee ofthe Whole House
Report Third Reading
Bill presented / First Reading Second Reading Committee
(whole House) Report Third Reading
After
Consideration ofLords Amendments Ping Pong Royal Assent Regulations
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Ways to influence draft legislation
Green Papers, White Papers
Pre-legislative CommitteesPublic Bill CommitteesMPs and Members of the House of Lords
“No one shall carry any dangerous weapon upon the public highway, except for the purposes of killing a noxious animal or a policeman in the execution of his duty”
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Moneysavingexpert.com – worked with Parliamentary Outreach andthe Treasury Select Committee. Asked their users what issue theywanted the Committee to look at, and the Committee took that issueup. An inquiry took place and a report was published, to which theGovernment responded.Scouts Association – wide- ranging “Stop the Rain Tax” campaign,engaged with MPs, Lords, Ministers, got MPs to ask questions, tableearly day motions and introduce a 10-minute rule Bill, alsoundertook mass lobby of Parliament. The Government announcedthat they would intervene to make the changes the Scouts wanted.Gurkha Justice Campaign – mass lobbying, and secured an
Opposition Day debate, a vote which the Government (in)famouslylost. The Government subsequently announced a change in policy.
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Questions
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www.parliament.uk
020 7219 4272 – Commons information
020 7219 3107 – Lords information
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Scrutiny Unit - 020 7219 8381;[email protected] Committees – contact details are onthe Committees own homepage atwww.parliament.ukContact details for any MP or Peer can beobtained at the Parliament homepage or
through the House information lines