Parliament- How It Works and How to Get Involved

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Parliament: how itworks and how to get

involved



This session will cover:

The general election

The composition of ParliamentThe work of ParliamentHow to get involved with its work



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



The election took place onMay 6 2010

What was decided?

650 seats in House of CommonsUK GovernmentWhat about the House of Lords?



Conservative - 307Labour - 258Lib Dem - 57DUP - 8SNP - 6Sinn Fein - 5Plaid Cymru - 3SDLP - 3Green - 1

Alliance - 1Independent - 1Speaker - 1



House of Commons

House of Lords

TheMonarch



Makes and passes laws(Legislation)

Holds Government toaccount

Enables the Governmentto set taxes



The Prime Minister

The Cabinet



• 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





Allows MPs to show their opinion on a particularsubject

Can be used to:Draw attention to an issueCall for actionCommemorate, congratulate, condemn



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





Can be used to:

Obtain information –stats, policies, positionsPress for action

Raise constituencyissuesChallenge Governmentpolicy

Must have factual basisand relate to therunning of aGovernmentDepartment



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



http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pahansard.htm



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



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





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



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



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”





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.



Questions



www.parliament.uk

020 7219 4272 – Commons information

020 7219 3107 – Lords information



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

Documents

Parliament- How It Works and How to Get Involved