...Parliament carries out several responsibilities. One of parliaments functions is legislation, which is making laws, as it is the major legislative body in the UK. They represent the people, as well as they are legitimate , a scrutiny and can be held or hold others accountable. They also carry out other functions. There is a significant difference between the House of Lords and House of Commons. Which is that the House of Lords is not voted in unlike the House of Commons who are more legitimate as they are voted in. Parliament is able to carry out its legislative function by passing acts of Parliament. The plans in which government are taking over the year in the queens speech, this is the legislative timetable. There is also an opportunity for the members bring forward their own bill , this is called the private members bill. Any legislation is thoroughly debated and reviewed and most go through various processes in the two houses before it is passed as a law. Though there is little to no free debates do discussion, due to various reasons such as the whips, who hold the MPs to account. A private member bill is unlikely to pass as only a few are even able to be discussed due to parliaments schedule. The House of Lords have very little to power as they have no say in any economic legislations, and can only block legislations not stop them, in which they have the powers to do this three times. It carries out functions that show it is legitimate such as taking the country...
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...Parliament is also known as the legislature, it has several roles including legitimizing legislation, passing laws, calling government to account well as scrutinizing and amending legislation. It is made up of representatives who are voted in order to represent the needs of their constituencies in the House of Commons. The UK parliament stands in the Centre of the British political system, as it is the source of all political power as well as being legally sovereign. Government has to be drawn from parliament as well as being accountable to it; accountability means that parliament must justify its policies to parliament as well as referring to representatives who are accountable for their electorates. Parliament main function is not to obstruct and control the government, as it will only do this if the government is seen to be abusing its power by not acting in the public’s interest. The main role of parliament is to support the government and to legitimize its proposals. Parliament is also bicameral, separated in to the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Representation is a crucial function of parliament; in the UK we use a system called Representative democracy where most decisions are made by elected representatives rather than the people themselves. There are arguments that representation in parliament is strong. Peers who have more expertise in particular areas of policies and can help to improve legislation, therefore represent many sections of society and associations...
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...How effective are backbench MP’s? How effective are backbench MP’s? Backbench MP’s are members of Parliament that are not in either the cabinet or the shadow cabinet. Backbench MP’s may be seen to be effective in some ways in the British Political system because they can do things such as scrutinise the government and hold them into account through numerous ways. Their role in Parliament in Westminster ensures that there may be democratic legitimacy of UK government and gives them a right and authority to exercise political power and may possibly increase the representation, overall, through Parliament. However, there is a growing fear that there is now ‘executive dictatorship’ in the UK and because of this, backbench MP’s have little power in calling the government into account due to the party system, which ensures that MP’s are dictated by the whips system, reducing the effectiveness that MP’s can then call people into account. Therefore, there are both reasons for and against that would suggest MP’s are or are not effective as seen. Firstly, backbench MP’s are key in calling the government of today to account, making them answerable for their actions and policies. This is achieved through questions to the Prime Minister and questions to other ministers as well as other forms of scrutiny such as debates and all of these methods are effective because they raise public awareness for issues and may possibly increase the media pressure on the government, causing them to act...
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...Parliament: Parliament: Parliament = the legislature. It is main way in which citizens are represented. It controls the power of the government, forcing it to be accountable. Above all, Parliament exists to grant formal consent to legislation even though it is dominated by the government. Features of a Parliamentary Government: * Parliament is the highest source of political authority – political power has to be authorised by Parliament * Government has to be drawn from Parliament * No strict separation of powers between legislative and executive – fusion of powers * Government must be accountable to Parliament Features of a Presidential Government: * Legislature and executive have separate sources of power – separately elected * President is not part of the legislature * The President (and therefore executive) is accountable directly to the people, not the legislature * Clear separation of powers between executive and legislature – there is therefore codified constitutional arrangements that separates those powers What is parliamentary sovereignty? * Parliament in the UK is legally sovereign * It is the source of all political power * It may restore to itself any powers that have been delegated to others * It may make any laws it wishes and they shall be enforced by the courts and any other authorities * It is not bound by its predecessors – laws passed by parliaments in the past are not binding on the current parliament...
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...Assignment: Discuss the idea that banks will continue to fail even in the presence of supervision clearly articulating what constitutes supervision and regulation for the financial system as well as the rationale for regulating the financial system. __________________________________________________________________________ What constitutes supervision and regulation for the financial system? Banking supervision and regulation provides a forum for regular cooperation on banking supervisory matters; its objective is to enhance understanding of key supervisory issues and improve the quality of banking supervision The core principle for effective banking supervision addresses supervisory requirements relating to banking licensing. The licensing authority must have the power to set criteria and reject applications establishment that do not meet the standards set. The licensing process should consist of an assessment of the ownership structure, governance of the bank and that includes: fitness and propriet of board members and senior management, its strategic and operating plan, its internal controls, risk management, projected financial condition and its capital base The purpose of obtaining this information is to review: major shareholders' past banking and non-banking business ventures, their integrity and standing in the business community, their financial strength, their ability to provide further financial support should it be needed, their other interests and the...
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...How and why should parliament be made more effective? Parliament is the sovereign body in the United Kingdom and so it is vital, for the wellbeing of democracy, that parliament not only exists but is also effective. Parliament plays the role of the Legislative and, as a result, is required to be as effective as possible to assure that laws are well thought out, benefit the whole of society and most of all maintain democracy. However, many people feel that certain aspects within Parliament limit its effectiveness and they feel these features need to be reformed in order for Parliament to carry out its function correctly. Firstly, the most obvious way to make Parliament more effective would be to reform the electoral system. Currently, Westminster elections use the system of First-past-the-post where the candidate with the most votes in a constituency wins the seats. However, this system is highly disproportionate in both terms of the word as it exaggerates winning votes for example, the Conservatives received 36.1% of the vote and won 47.1% of the seats in the 2010 general election, whereas it penalises small parties such as the Liberal Democrats who won 23% of the vote but gained only 8.8% of the seats. Particularly as FPTP produces landslide majorities, it makes Parliament less effective as the party that wins the general election forms the government and therefore has a large majority in most cases. If MPs belonging to the party vote along party lines all the time, in...
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...Foldable Activity (class set) Learning Objectives. Students will be able to: explain the structure, function, and powers of the U.S. government as established in the Constitution identify the roles of the three branches of government describe the constitutional amendment process interpret the intentions of the Preamble of the Constitution. STEP BY STEP 1) ANTICIPATE by asking students where the government gets it’s instructions. How does Congress, the President, or federal judges know what to do? Give students a moment to think, then randomly call on students to share their thoughts. 2) DISTRIBUTE one reading packet to each student. 3) READ through the first two paragraphs on page one with the class. 4) DISPLAY the transparency, Breaking it Down: The Preamble and explain the statement, phrase by phrase. The students should add the annotations to their reading. Also note that people living in the 1700s had different rules about capitalization than we do today. 5) READ the rest of page one, continuing through page three with the class. Explain that you will go into greater detail on the amendment process on the next page. 6) READ the information about the amendment process on page four and take the students through the various paths to the addition of an amendment to the Constitution. 7) DISTRIBUTE the tent foldable activity page and show the class how to fold it correctly. 8) PROJECT the Whose Job Is It ? Active Review Transparency, revealing one at a...
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...of these decisions also affect issues involving the public services of the member states of the EU, which could cause a lot of problems if they make a wrong decision since they would have a large uproar on their hands. ▪ Central government, The central government is the main layer of government that operates across the whole of the country; the central government is always located in the centre of the country in that country’s capital city and it handles very specific responsibilities that no other group or government can carry out. Some of these responsibilities include signing treaties or certain types of agreements with other nations, making up laws (which would affect the whole country), defending their nation, distribution of the police forces, etc. Our central government is based in Westminster in London. London contains the most important political institutions for the Government, ‘The House of Lords’ and ‘The House of Commons’,...
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...Sec. 2. White House Initiative on HBCUs. (a) Establishment. There is established the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (Initiative), housed in the Executive Office of the President and led by an Executive Director designated by the President. (b) Mission and Functions. The Initiative shall work with agencies, private-sector employers, educational associations, philanthropic organizations, and other partners to increase the capacity of HBCUs to provide the highest-quality education to an increasing number of students. The Initiative shall have two primary missions: (i) increasing the private-sector role, including the role of private foundations,...
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...“As the House of Lords has existed for about six centuries without reform, some alterations have become necessary in order to bring it into conformity with the changed institutions by which it is surrounded.” – Lord Rosebery, 1884.1 Since Lord Rosebery’s well-known speech there has been much debate about changes in the composition of the House of Lords. Major reforms included the Life Peerages Act 1958 and later the House of Lords Act 1999, which reduced the hereditary members to 92.2 Nevertheless, constitutional experts such as Rodney Brazier argue that the House of Lords continues to be “unelected, unrepresentative and unaccountable.”3 The Coalition Government is therefore working on another reform bill to provide for a wholly or largely elected second chamber. This essay will argue that such a drastic change from a largely appointed to an elected system is too unrealistic to be implemented. Instead, the Government should seek to abolish Prime Ministerial patronage as well as the remaining hereditary members and adopt an independent Appointments Commission that appoints all the members of the upper chamber. To arrive at this conclusion, we will need to analyse which selection method best retains the Lords’ expertise, as well as their independence and representativeness. Then, a discussion follows whether the Lords necessarily ought to be democratically elected to provide a legitimate chamber. Lastly, the possibility of a mixed chamber will be considered. The House of Lords...
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...country/small areas with essential ‘goods’. What are the roles for government departments? The main role of government departments and their agencies is to carry out government policies and to advise ministers. They receive their funding from money that is given to them by parliament. They are staffed by impartial civil servants. They also work alongside local authorities; non department public bodies and other government organisations i.e. Regional, central, etc. Also government departments are headed by ministers or secretaries of state. With all departments they report to the PM and then the, PM reports to parliament and HM Queen. The level of government as follows, starts with the ‘Central Government’. This is a person who oversees the country and makes any changes, if necessary. Next is the ‘Regional Government’, which is a form of government which groups together small administrative units into a region and governs them. Lastly we have the ‘Local Government’; this is when the government gives ’local councils’ more power to decide how to spend public money in their areas, so they can meet local people's needs. We also have the ‘Parliaments and Devolved Parliaments’. However this is not a level of government as it’s a place to ‘parlay’ (talk). Moreover the central government’s decisions are talked within the: House of Commons; House of Lords and lastly The Monarchy. This implies that without parliaments decisions would not be accepted, so it has to be linked within the levels of...
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...asked to carry out a site investigation on two specified sites that a client is keen to develop. Introduction: In this assignment I have been asked to carry out a site investigation as a building consultant, on two specified sites that a client is keen to develop, Therefore I am going to show how each site investigation is constructed on both areas, as one site is at the north of Peterborough (Eye Village) and the other at the south (Hampton) Both landscapes may differ however this should not affect the way each site investigation is carried out. Currently Hampton has been under redevelopment for the past 15 years, as it was previously used as a quarry to store unused rocks and bricks for the brick industry, where as the site in Eye Village is a standard brown field site that is just run down and disused. Task 1: A site investigation describes the process of carrying out investigations on land to determine whether there is contamination present and to collect sufficient, suitable data for the purpose of risk assessment. Moreover it is a study of a sites state of affairs to determine their probable influence of the external and internal design and structure If a site investigation was not taken place, for landscape, drainage or vegetation such as tree preservation order (TPO) reasons, the build may not physically be able to commence, Also a huge risk of health and safety issues can take place if this investigation was ignored. The investigation is normally carried out in several...
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...the principle of separation of power. He found that concentration of power in one person or group of persons resulted in tyranny. He therefore, felt that the governmental power should be vested in three organs, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. The principle can be stated as follows: (1) Each organ should be independent of the other; (2) no one organ should perform functions that belong to the other. Lock and Montesquieu derived the contents of this doctrine from the developments in the British constitutional history of the early 18th century. In England after a long war between parliament and the King, they saw the triumph of Parliament in 1688 which gave Parliament legislative supremacy culminating in the passage of the Bill of Rights. This led ultimately to recognition by the King of legislative and tax powers of Parliament and the judicial powers of the courts. At that time, the King exercised executive powers, Parliament exercised legislative powers and the courts exercised judicial powers, though later on England did not stick to this structural classification of functions and changed to the parliamentary form of government. Montesquieu was concerned with the preservation of political liberty....
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...anything in common: each has a different voice, different main characters, a different setting, and a different kind of conflict. Nonetheless, the stories tie up together so well that they really do form a “collection” under same objectives: the “maladies.” Every story introduces characters with certain trauma and Lahiri shows how the characters cope with their own problems. Among nine stories, I would like to especially focus on two, “A Temporary Matter” and “Interpreter of Maladies,” and discuss what they have in common and how they relates to each other by sharing some fundamental factors. The two stories share numerous similarities: the couples have difficult time dealing with their relationships; it is described in detail how burdensome the life of characters became because of the problematic matters between them; the characters lack enough communication needed for solving their problems; and the children are centered on the incidents. The most significant and thought-provoking similarity is that there exists a figure or event that motivates the characters to confide their secretive and sensitive issue to another. In “A Temporary Matter” the darkness plays the role; in “Interpreter of Maladies,” Mr. Kapasi. In fact, these stories are so centered on them that the title of each story indicates the darkness and Mr. Kapasi. More than just occupying such importance in each story, the darkness and Mr. Kapasi are introduced in a similar way and share similar functions in terms of...
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...how many people I can expect on that day will allow me to properly prepare for the event, by ensuring that I have the proper equipment with me as well as enough help to provide excellent service interactions I guaranteed that I would be able to satisfy the need for tech services on that given day, by offering a free P.C. Tune up, and a free thirty-minute consultation or assistance with basic operating functions. Arriving at the Site on time and ready to go was also important in order to maintain and grow the relationship between Office Depot and Capital City Retirement Center. Presenting a positive helpful attitude also helped to confirm our professionalism. If we were late or missed scheduled visits, we would be deemed as unreliable and thus have a negative effect on the community when it comes to Office Depot`s image. As well as tarnishing the company’s image, failing to meet deadlines or being labeled as unprofessional as a company may result in the loss of customers. Due to my own personal experience with...
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