Statistics for Edexcel Politics 3. The Constitution and Parliament

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This quiz has been taken 155 times
The average score is 6 of 20

Answer Stats

Question or Term	Answer	% Correct
An act that reduced the number of hereditary peers in the House of Lords to 92, elected by all hereditary peers, and allowed those peers not in the House of Lords to sit in the House of Commons	1999 House of Lords Act	100%
An act that gave Scotland greater devolved powers than most sub-national European governments, prevented Westminster from intervening in devolved areas without consent, and recognised the permanence of devolved institutions in which powers could only be overturned by a referendum	2016 Scotland Act	100%
An act that devolved further powers to the Welsh Assembly (to be renamed the Welsh Senedd/Parliament in 2020), prevented Westminster from intervening in devolved areas without consent, and recognised the permanence of devolved institutions in which powers could only be overturned by a referendum	2017 Wales Act	100%
A 1701 act that implied the line of succession was for Parliament alone to decide	Act of Settlement	100%
Where a (devolved) government holds the powers to implement and administer laws as well as to organise state services	Administrative Powers	100%
A legal and/or political text which is not legally binding but is accepted as a guide on aspects of the UK constitution through the writers 'persuasive authority'	Authoritative work	100%
A constitution written in a single document at a particular time laying out laws that are clearly distinguishable from non-constitutional laws	Codified Constitution	100%
That which is composed of; statute law, common law, constitutional convention, authoritative works, treaties, and customs and tradition	Constitution	100%
The transfer of power but not sovereignty from the UK Parliament to specific regions of the country	Devolution	100%
The current solution to the West Lothian Question, established in 2015, in which legislation affecting England alone requires a majority support from English MP's to pass	English Votes for English Laws	100%
A constitutional principle that divided sovereignty between central government and regional governments such as in the USA	Federalism	100%
The House in which question time involves questions being asked of the government as a whole rather than individual departments	House of Lords	100%
The 12.00 - 12.30 slot on Wednesday in which MP's may question the Prime Minister, with the leader of the opposition asking six questions	Prime Minister's Question Time	100%
The fourth stage of the legislative process in which the whole house debates all amendments	Report Stage	100%
The seventh and final stage of the legislative process in which the Monarch grants assent to the bill, practically as a formality	Royal Assent	100%
Where all citizens, including government, are equal under the law	Rule of Law	100%
A formal agreement with another nation, usually ratified by Parliament, such as the 1992 Maastricht treaty which brought the UK into the newly formed EU	Treaty	100%
The issue arising from devolution that meant Scottish MP's could vote on matters affecting England alone but not vice versa	West Lothian Question	100%
A decision made by a public vote, causing entrenchment of the issue within the political system	Referendum	83%
The second stage of the legislative process in which Parliament debates the principles of the legislation, followed by a division/vote which the government virtually always wins	Second Reading	75%
The year in which elected police crime commissioners were introduced	2011	67%
That, changes to which, requires widespread popular support such as via a referendum, and being in the long-term interests of the country	Constitution	67%
A 2005 act that replaced the House of Lords Appeal Court with the Supreme Court	Constitutional Reform Act	67%
The first stage of the legislative process in which the bill is introduced to either the House of Commons or the House of Lords	First Reading	67%
The partly elected body based at the Palace of Westminster that forms the legislature	Parliament	67%
Seldom successful bills presented to Parliament by individual or groups of MP's or peers, with seven being selected in a ballot at the start of the year guaranteeing them at least one reading	Private Member's Bills	67%
A convention that the House of Lords should not block any legislation that appeared in the governing party's most recent election manifesto	Salisbury Convention	67%
The oldest Select Committee in the House of Commons and perhaps the most influential, responsible for scrutinising the value for money - economy, efficiency, and effectiveness - of public spending and the collection of taxes, with the chair always being from the opposition party, producing unanimous, non-partisan reports	Public Accounts Committee	60%
The year in which Departmental Select Committees were changed from having their chairs and members appointed by party whips to being elected in secret ballots under the Alternative Vote, with party representation determined by their relative strength in the House of Commons	2010	57%
An act that enhanced the devolved powers of the Welsh Assembly and made further devolution easier	2006 Government of Wales Act	50%
An act that devolved further powers to Scotland along the lines of the Calman Commission report	2012 Scotland Act	50%
The system under which a further stage of the legislative process is introduced in which only MP's from England can vote	English Votes for English Laws	50%
Where a constitution is safeguarded from arbitrary, easy, and short-term changes by future governments or legislatures, with change requiring more difficult to reach parameters	Entrenchment	50%
A system that commonly arises where multiple separate states unify into a single state	Federal System	50%
Those MP's with ministerial or shadow positions	Frontbenchers	50%
The issue which most affects the amount of influence backbenchers hold under any particular government	Government's Majority	50%
An initial draft document on a specific policy area, circulated amongst interested parties, who are invited to join in a consultative process on the best way forwards	Green Paper	50%
A short-term parliamentary committee convened to study a bill and return it to the House of Commons with or without recommended changes	Legislative Committee	50%
That which is undermined by its subservience to EU law, the process of devolution, and the growing use of referendums	Parliamentary Sovereignty	50%
The function of the House of Commons to hold government accountable and to scrutinise government and legislation such as through Select Committees or Prime Minister's Question Time	Political function	50%
The non-partisan MP who presides over and decides who speaks in debates in the House of Commons, maintains order and helps organise parliamentary business	Speaker	50%
Those parliamentarians who instruct MP's on parliamentary business as well as required attendance and voting, approve absences, and enforce party discipline	Whips	50%
A system in which the legislature is composed of two chambers	Bicameral system	40%
A set of rules defining the limits within which government powers can be legitimately exercised	Constitution	40%
The way in which MP's and peers cannot; be sued or prosecuted for libel or slander for any actions taken within the Palace of Westminster, and both houses regulate their members' conduct via the parliamentary commissioner for standards, the speakers, and the committees on conduct	Parliamentary privilege	40%
Those peers without formal party affiliation	Crossbenchers	33%
The largest non-government party in the House of Commons	Official opposition	33%
The function of the House of Commons to represent parties, pressure groups, and constituents, consenting to laws or decisions on behalf of the people	Representative function	33%
Laws and regulations - often statutory instruments - created by ministers that - though requiring parliamentary approval - do not have to pass through the full procedure, usually passing through automatically without discussion, with the House of Lords taking up the burden of scrutiny	Secondary legislation	33%
An act that devolved powers over health, education, roads and public transport, and police and local authority services to a new Scottish Parliament, while also allowing it to vary income tax rates by 3%	1998 Scotland Act	25%
An act that empowered the House of Lords to suspend or expel members for certain conduct, as of yet never used	2015 House of Lords Act	25%
The percentage of Northern Ireland that was Catholic in the 2011 census	45%	25%
A committee of backbench MP's established in 2010 which chooses topics for televised parliamentary debate on 35 Tuesdays per session from those proposed by MP's or by public petitions	Backbench Business Committee	25%
Where the three branches of government have separate powers and can control each other's behaviour	Separation of powers	25%
The name sometimes given to the official opposition by lieu of its position during any potential election	Government in Waiting	20%
The fifth stage of the legislative process in which a debate is held on the amended bill - with no further amendments permitted - and a final vote taken	Third Reading	20%
A document presented to Parliament up to a year before conversion into a bill which outlines the main intentions and terms of a Public Bill, normally debated and voted on by Parliament, with any problems identified	White Paper	20%
Those peers - often hereditary - whose attendance in the House of Lords is irregular	Part-time politicians	13%
An act that ended the power of the House of Lords to block Money Bills and restricted its ability to delay bills for more than two years, made as a result of the House of Lords breaking convention and throwing out Lloyd George's 'People's Budget' in 1909	1911 Parliament Act	0%
The year in which Ireland was divided into two self-governing territories, each with their own Parliament	1921	0%
The year in which Southern Ireland became practically independent as the Irish Free State, becoming the fully independent Irish Republic in 1937	1922	0%
An act that restricted the ability of the House of Lords to delay bills for more than one year	1949 Parliament Act	0%
The year in which Departmental Select Committees were introduced	1979	0%
A referendum in which a majority of those who voted in Scotland supported devolution, though not enough to equate to the required threshold of 40% of the total registered electorate	1979 Scottish Devolution Referendum	0%
An act that devolved limited administrative powers to a new Welsh Assembly	1998 Government of Wales Act	0%
An act following a referendum and the Good Friday Agreement which devolved legislative and administrative powers to a new Northern Ireland Assembly, designed around nationalist and unionist power sharing	1998 Northern Ireland Act	0%
The most rebellious post-war Parliament and government in a pattern of increasingly rebellious Parliaments and governments	2010 - 15 coalition	0%
An act that implemented further devolution - including over taxes - along the lines of the Silk Commission, in the wake of a pro-devolution result in the 2001 referendum	2014 Wales Act	0%
The percentage of the Northern Irish Catholic population that supported reunification with the Republic of Ireland after the 2016 EU Membership Referendum	22%	0%
The number of written questions asked in Ministerial Question Time in the period 2015 - 16	35,000	0%
The number of oral questions asked in Ministerial Question Time in the period 2015 - 16	3,600	0%
The number of significant Select Committees in the House of Lords	6	0%
The number of defeats suffered by the House of Commons and House of Lords respectively by Labour from 1997 to 2010	7 and 400	0%
Where different amounts of power are granted to different devolved administrations	Asymmetric Devolution	0%
Those three quarters of MP's without ministerial or shadow positions	Backbenchers	0%
The system by which increases or decreases in departmental funding affecting England determines the size of block grants to the devolved governments, controversial for assigning funding relatively and according to population rather than by need	Barnett Formula	0%
The three cities in which elected mayors with budgetary powers were introduced in 2017, alphabetically	Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester	0%
The third stage of the legislative process in which a Public Bill Committee of usually 18 members chosen by party whips and with a government majority consider the details of the bill, calling witnesses and hearing written evidence, with each amendment voted on	Committee Stage	0%
Where the House of Commons or a party or parties within it back the government and approve public expenditure	Confidence and Supply	0%
The function of the House of Commons to raise local concerns and undertake redress of grievances	Constituency function	0%
That, the reform of which is determined by the principles of democratisation, decentralisation, the stronger protection of rights, and modernisation (bringing the UK into line with other Western democracies)	Constitution	0%
An unwritten rule which is considered binding even though it is not law	Constitutional convention	0%
The appointment of supporters to positions of authority - as with partisan life peerages - regardless of qualifications or merit	Cronyism	0%
The function of the House of Lords to hold up legislation and encourage the government to reconsider its course of action	Delaying function	0%
Those parliamentary committees with at least eleven members who investigate the; spending, policies, and administration of a particular department	Departmental Select Committees	0%
A parliamentary vote, named for the way in which MP's or peers split between the 'Aye lobby' and 'No lobby' to be counted by those MP's appointed as 'tellers'	Division	0%
That constitutional reform agenda since 1997 that has been widely regarded as a failure	Electoral Reform	0%
The question of how England should be governed when the other constituent parts of the UK are gaining increased devolved powers	English Question	0%
Where a (devolved) government can raise its own funds in addition to those it receives from central government	Financial Powers	0%
A devolved administration created due to its being part of a 1997 Labour election manifesto commitment and being approved by referendum in 1998 though on only 34% turnout	Greater London Assembly	0%
Where all rights of self-government except national issues such as defence and foreign policy are given over, while still allowing the central authority to intervene and add or revoke powers where necessary	Home Rule	0%
An independent body established in 2000 that vets nominees to the House of Lords, though not hereditary peers or bishops	House of Lords Appointments Commission	0%
A 2014 act that allowed for members of the House of Lords to retire, resign, or be excluded for serious crimes or a failure to attend for a whole session	House of Lords Reform Act	0%
A mix of both Private and Public Bill that affects the general public but also has a significant impact on specific individuals or groups such as the HS2 Bill and Channel Tunnel Bills	Hybrid Bills	0%
The function of the House of Commons to bring matters to government attention, express the views of Parliament, and to inform, and keep matters of public concern before the electorate	Informative function	0%
Where Parliament is the source of all political power which it can delegate and restore to itself at will, allowing it to legislate without restriction, though not to bind or be bound by any future or previous Parliament	Legal Parliamentary Sovereignty	0%
Those bills which can be subdivided into Private Bills, Private Member's Bills, Public Bills, and Hybrid Bills	Legislative Bills	0%
The function of the House of Commons to discuss, amend, and vote on bills and their clauses as well as to introduce Private Member's Bills and approve budgets	Legislative function	0%
Where a (devolved) government can pass its own laws that will be enforced within their territory	Legislative Powers	0%
The process of passing legislation and approving financial measures	Legitimation	0%
A committee comprised of the heads of all Departmental and other Select Committees, created in 2002, to oversee all the Select Committees of the House of Commons, and call the Prime Minister to account in his/her twice yearly appearances before said committee	Liaison Committee	0%
A 1958 act that created the position of 'life peer' to balance out the hereditary peers and Anglican bishops in the House of Lords	Life Peerages Act	0%
That which interviews those people who appear on a shortlist in order to determine the official party candidate of a constituency	Local Party Constituency Committee	0%
A Labour peer and economics, education, and transport expert who plays a leading role in advising both main parties on such issues	Lord Adonis	0%
What Parliamentary sovereignty is often said to truly be as a result of the UK's party system	Majority Party Sovereignty	0%
The hour on Mondays to Thursdays in which ministers must answer 'oral' and written questions relating to their government department	Ministerial Question Time	0%
Those peers who rarely or never attend the House of Lords	Non-working peers	0%
The region of England for which a 2004 referendum on devolution saw a large 78% no vote	North East England	0%
The devolved administration that was suspended from 2002 to 2007 over a failure of both sides to cooperate and over almost certainly vacuous allegations against some Sinn Féin members of gathering intelligence for the IRA	Northern Ireland Assembly	0%
The feature of being capable of any act	Omnicompetence	0%
The length of time between the passing of a Money Bill in the House of Commons and its becoming law regardless of whether or not the House of Lords supports it	One Month	0%
The twenty days per year in which debates are held on issues determined by the opposition	Opposition days	0%
Where Parliament is the highest source of political authority from which government must be drawn and accountable to, with no strict separation of powers between the legislature and executive	Parliamentary Government	0%
The name sometimes given to Prime Minister's Question Time, to critically describe the lack of substance in many of the questions and answers	Parliamentary theatre	0%
The administration that was suspended in 1972 and abolished in 1973 as a result of 'The Troubles' and near total unionist domination	Parliament of Northern Ireland	0%
A 1963 act that allowed peers to renounce their titles and seat in the House of Lords, thus permitting them to sit in the House of Commons	Peerages Act	0%
The function of the House of Lords to scrutinise and improve bills through the Committee Stage	Political function	0%
A bill applied for and sponsored by local authorities and organisations so as to allow them to undertake a currently prohibited action, often concerning construction and land	Private Bill	0%
That type of bill that is often unsuccessful due to government opposition and/or a failure to persuade even the minimum number of MP's or peers to turn up for debate and division	Private Member's Bills	0%
Bills presented to Parliament by government, usually preceded by a White Paper and eventually passed with minimal obstruction	Public Bills	0%
A system of devolution in which it is incredibly unlikely or difficult for power to return to central government, such that it is a somewhat de facto though not de jure federal system	Quasi-federalism	0%
A small-scale form of devolution in which legislative, executive, or advisory powers are given to an intermediate authority between the central and local authorities	Regionalism	0%
Significant powers which are only expected to be used in exceptional circumstances such as Parliament's ability to veto legislation proposed by the government or to dismiss a government	Reserve powers	0%
A chamber the principal purpose of which is to prevent too much power accumulating in the first chamber	Second chamber	0%
The so-called first English Parliament with Commons representation in the form of burgesses, that sat it 1265	Simon de Montfort's Parliament	0%
A document drafted by a government department to change an existing law	Statutory Instrument	0%
The sixth stage of the legislative process in which the bill is passed to whichever house it didn't originate in which will then follow the same legislative procedure as has been undertaken in the initial house	Transfer	0%
The term given by A. V. Dicey to the principal matters of parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law in regards to the UK constitution	Twin Pillars	0%
A type of constitution supported for its flexibility and pragmatism	Uncodified Constitution	0%
A type of constitution criticised for being unclear, and placing few limits on executive power or Parliamentary sovereignty, threatening rights and freedoms	Uncodified Constitution	0%
One in which the legislature is composed of one chamber	Unicameral System	0%
A constitution in which sovereignty lies in one single place such as in the UK Parliament	Unitary Constitution	0%
Those questions MP's request the speaker allow them to ask of government ministers, the use of which has increased more than three-fold from 2009 - 13 compared to 2000 - 09	Urgent questions	0%
That devolved administration 25% of those polled in January 2020 stated they would vote to abolish, though 21% also said they would vote for full independence	Welsh Assembly	0%
Those - often partisan - peers who engage regularly and actively in the House of Lords, sometimes being members of government of the opposition front bench	Working peers	0%