Parliament: how it

works and how to get

involved
 This session will cover:

 The general election

 The composition of Parliament
 The work of Parliament
 How to get involved with its work
 A service from the Houses of Parliament

 Politically neutral

 Aim is to increase knowledge and engagement

with work and processes of Parliament

 Not an alternative to MPs

The election took place on
May 6 2010

What was decided?

 650 seats in House of Commons

 UK Government
 What about the House of Lords?
Conservative - 307
Labour - 258
Lib Dem - 57
DUP - 8
SNP - 6
Sinn Fein - 5
Plaid Cymru - 3
SDLP - 3
Green - 1
Alliance - 1
Independent - 1
Speaker - 1
House of Commons

The
Monarch

House of Lords
 Makes and passes laws
(Legislation)

Holds Government to
account

Enables the Government

to set taxes
The Prime Minister

The Cabinet
 Government
(Whitehall)
•Commons, Lords, • Approximately 110
Monarch members
• MPs and Lords
• Holds Government (Usually)
to account • Chosen by Prime
• Passes laws Minister
• Enables taxation • Runs public services
• Represents public • Accountable to
• Raises key issues Parliament
 Allows MPs to show their opinion on a particular
subject

Can be used to:

 Draw attention to an issue

 Call for action

 Commemorate, congratulate, condemn

 Cross-party
 Both MPs and Members of the House of Lords
 Based around common interest (e.g. Housing
and care for older people, motor neurone
disease, football) or countries of the world
 Not involved in formal decision making, but
important in developing knowledge
Can be used to:

 Obtain information –
stats, policies, positions
 Press for action
 Raise constituency
issues
 Challenge Government
policy

 Must have factual basis

and relate to the
running of a
Government
Department
 Opposition day debates
 Adjournment debates
(HoC)
 Questions for Short
Debate (HoL)
 Allows MPs and Members
of the HoL to:
 Raise constituency issues
or matters of regional,
national or international
significance
 Get the issue to the
attention of a relevant
minister
 Get a response from the
Government
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pahansard.htm
 Set up to scrutinise specific
areas of work and
government departments

 Work carried out through

public Inquiries

 Groups and individuals

submit evidence to
inquiries

 Inquiry report created and

usually passed to relevant
government department
 You can contact the staff of Select Committees directly
 You can ask them about forthcoming or planned inquiries
 You can suggest areas that the Committee might like to look
into
 If an inquiry is taking place, you can contact Committee staff
for advice on preparing written evidence
 If you are called to give oral evidence, you can contact
Committee staff for help to prepare
 Select Committees can do follow-up inquiries after the
Government have responded to their reports
 All legislation proposed by the Government must
be scrutinised by both Houses of Parliament
 Each Bill goes through the same stages in each
House - First Reading, Second Reading,
Committee, Report, Third Reading – before it
reaches Royal Assent
 Members can suggest changes (“amendments”)
at particular stages
 Much of the most careful scrutiny goes on in
Committee, particularly in the House of Lords
Commons
Public Bill
Committee
Bill presented /
Second Reading Report Third Reading
First Reading
Committee of
the Whole House
Lords

Bill presented / Committee

Second Reading Report Third Reading
First Reading (whole House)

After

Consideration of
Ping Pong Royal Assent Regulations
Lords Amendments
 Ways to influence draft legislation

 Green Papers, White Papers

 Pre-legislative Committees
 Public Bill Committees
 MPs 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 and
the Treasury Select Committee. Asked their users what issue they
wanted the Committee to look at, and the Committee took that issue
up. An inquiry took place and a report was published, to which the
Government responded.
 Scouts Association – wide-ranging “Stop the Rain Tax” campaign,
engaged with MPs, Lords, Ministers, got MPs to ask questions, table
early day motions and introduce a 10-minute rule Bill, also
undertook mass lobby of Parliament. The Government announced
that 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)famously
lost. 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;
scrutiny@parliament.uk
 Select Committees – contact details are on
the Committees own homepage at
www.parliament.uk
 Contact details for any MP or Peer can be
obtained at the Parliament homepage or
through the House information lines