Zusammenfassung der Ressource
(2) 7 Key function of parliament
- Debating major issues
- parliament is the place where
people expect issues of major
important to be disuced
- for example, the house of commons held a
debate before the war of iraq
- Parliament becomes the focus
of the nation’s attention on these
occasions.
- If a crisis emerges during a parliamentary recess, it is not
unusual for members to demand that parliament be recalled in
order for the issue to be discussed
- making law legislation
- All government legislation
must pass through what can
be a lengthy process in both
the House of Commons and
House of Lords before it
reaches the statute book.
- This gives members an opportunity
to debate the principles of the bill
before them as well as the detail of
the legislation.
- There is also the opportunity for
MPs to table amendments to the
legislation in order to get
concessions from the
government.
- Delegated legislation does
not have to pass through a
rigorous procedure, but
orders still have to be laid
before MPs.
- scrutinizing of executive
- This is perhaps the most important
function of Parliament, especially at a
time when the government has a great
deal of power.
- Parliament scrutinises
government in a number of
ways.
- Questions to Ministers
- PMQT
- Debates
- Select Committees
- Opposition Days
- sustaining government
- The UK has a system of parliamentary government,
so, as well as holding the government to account,
Parliament should also ensure that the government
can actually govern.
- This is achieved by the governing party
having a majority of seats in the House of
Commons.
- Reprecentation
- One of the key functions of
Parliament is to represent the people
- Political parties attempt to
reflect the views of the people
who elect them.
- Individual MPs attempt to represent the people in their
constituency, whether they voted for them or not
- In this way MPs are accountable.
- There is a discussion about how representative
Parliament is overleaf.
- addressing grievances
- Historically, one of the earliest purposes of the
Commons was for people to obtain redress for
problems and grievances.
- Centuries later, citizens can still go to Parliament and lobby
their MP about a particular issue that concerns them.
- Some MPs take up such causes and can either try to persuade
government to change the law or attempt to change the law
themselves using the procedure of private members’ legislation.
- Financial scrutiny
- A key function of the House of Commons
is the scrutiny of public spending.
- There is an annual Finance Bill, otherwise known as
the Budget, which has to be passed in order for
taxation and spending to continue.
- In addition, there are a number of parliamentary committees
that oversee matters such as government spending.
- In this way, Parliament can be said
to have on-going control of public
finances.