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How Parliament Works

Foreword Parliament: its home and origins Mid-Victorian masterpiece: Parliament in its setting The King's palace The King's summons The development of the two Houses The fire The winning design A Victorian Parliament The New Palace today The Robing Room and Royal Gallery The Chamber of the House of Lords Members' Lobby and the Chamber of the House of Commons Westminster Hall The palace and parliamentary vocabulary 'We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us'Time and space The shoe pinches The pressures New building Portcullis House Lords accommodation Parliament or building site The parliamentary estate Who is in Parliament?The Commons The size of the Commons Too big?The constituencies The candidates Elections: when?Elections: who can vote?Elections: the timetable Election expenses Is the Commons politically representative?Are the members of the Commons representative?Age Occupation and education Women in Parliament Ethnic minorities Does it matter?The Speaker's Conference on Parliamentary Representation The reputation of parliament Turnout: reconnecting parliament with the people The Lords Current membership Archbishops and bishops Life peers under the Life Peerages Act 1958 Life peers under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 Hereditary peers Attendance Politics Leaving the Lords The Queen Above politics: political neutrality Choosing a Prime Minister A hung parliament Another method?The sovereign as statesman Running Parliament The House of Commons The Speaker The office of Speaker The independence of the Speaker The election of the Speaker The roles of the Speaker Maintaining order Holding the ring The Speaker's powers in the Chamber The casting vote Recalling the House Statutory and other functions The voice of the House Conferences and Commissions Precedent and change The Deputy Speakers The Leader of the House The Clerk of the House The House of Commons Service The House administration The House of Commons Commission and the Members Estimate Committee Strategic planning The Management Board Estimates and the Audit Committees The House departments Department of Chamber and Committee Services (DCCS)Department of Facilities Department of Finance Department of Human Resources and Change Department of Information Services Services shared between the Lords and the Commons MPs' pay, allowances and IPSA MPs' pay and allowances MPs' staff Finance for opposition parties 'Short money': parties in the House of Commons Opposition salaries Why subsidise the opposition?State funding for political parties?The House of Lords The Lord Speaker The Chairman of Committees, Deputy Speakers and Deputy Chairmen The Leader of the House of Lords The Clerk of the Parliaments and the staff of the House House of Lords administration Expenses Finance for political parties in the Lords: 'Cranborne money'House of Lords funding How much does Parliament cost?Influences on Parliament The House of Commons The job is what you make it The government's control of the House of Commons Control of time The 'elective dictatorship'?Government patronage and collective responsibility Theory and practice Accountability and responsibility The party The whips The usual channels The Whip Party discipline Dissent and rebellion Dissent since 1997 Dissent in the 2001 parliament Dissent in the 2005 parliament Dissent in the 2010 Parliament The dynamics of dissent Punishment Crossing the floor Party organisation in Parliament The Labour Party The Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP)The Parliamentary Committee Subject committees Regional groups The Conservative Party The 1922 Committee The Executive Committee of the 1922 Committee Policy committees The Liberal Democrats Other parties Political groups Party leadership The party: conclusion Personal influences The constituency: the MP's relationship Listening to constituents Constituents' problems What can the MP do?Constituents' views Constituency profile Fighting the corner The constituency comes to Westminster The changing role of MPs - from parliamentarians to caseworkers All-party parliamentary groups Lobby groups and lobbyists Parliamentary standards Self-regulation and privilege The Committee on Standards in Public Life Regulating influence: a history The expenses scandal The rules Lobbying for reward and paid advocacy Voting The Ministerial Code The Committee on Standards and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards The Committee on Standards Dealing with complaints Checks and balances The House of Lords Lords and Commons Government The political parties Personal interests Members' interests, the Code of Conduct, and the Lords Commissioner for Standards Territorial Lobby groups The parliamentary day and the organisation of business The parliamentary calendar A parliament The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 Why five years?The beginning of a parliament A session The State Opening The Queen's Speech Debate on the Queen's Speech The pattern of the session Prorogation Clearing the decks Adjournments The annual calendar Recall of parliament The sitting week in the Commons A new timetable - and second thoughts The sitting day in the Commons The start of a sitting Up to the end of Question Time After Question Time and up to 'the commencement of public business''At the commencement of public business'The main business The moment of interruption Exempted business Late sittings Time in the House Scheduling of time and the Backbench Business Committee Use of time An MP's day Ministers Attendance in the Chamber Sittings and use of time in the House of Lords Parliamentary papers The Vote bundle Other parliamentary papers House of Lords working papers Voting Electronic voting?Deferred divisions Voting in the Lords The media The gallery and the lobby Broadcasting Parliament Privilege Freedom of speech Exclusive cognisance Exclusive cognisance: the 'Damian Green affair'Parliament and the courts Privilege Contempts Punishment Procedure Why procedure? And why is it complicated?Consistent, certain and clear Making the law Is Parliament 'sovereign'?Parliament's legislative supremacy Characteristics of legislative supremacy Limitations on legislative supremacy Who makes the law?Types of legislation Government bills Origins From proposal to bill Is a government bill really draft legislation?The pressure of legislation Programming and guillotines Draft bills and 'pre-legislative scrutiny'Anatomy of a bill Commons stages Introduction and first reading Second reading 'Fast-track' bills Committee Public bill committees Membership The Chair Meetings Amendments, selection and grouping How the committee goes through the bill Scrutiny by debate and amendment: how useful is it?Committees of the whole House Select committees Report stage Third reading Private members' bills Ballot bills Tactics and procedure Presentation, ten-minute rule and Lords private members' bills Success and failure Should it be easier?Lords stages Characteristics of Lords legislative procedure Limitations on Lords powers: ancient practice and the Parliament Acts The Salisbury convention Lords impact on legislation Disagreement between the Houses: the balance of power Ping-pong . . . or poker?Royal Assent and implementation What is the law?Post-legislative scrutiny Private legislation Hybrid bills Delegated legislation Definitions Purpose Parliamentary control Procedure Negative instruments Affirmative procedure Lords proceedings on Statutory Instruments Improving parliamentary control Lords Select Committee on Delegated Powers Legislative reform orders Remedial orders Church of England measures Parliament and the taxpayer The constitutional principles The annual cycles The Budget cycle The Finance Bill Budget information The Autumn Statement The estimates cycle Resource accounting Public spending plans Votes on Account Ministry of Defence Votes A Main estimates Supplementary estimates Excess Votes Roll-up motions and estimates days Supply Bills The reporting cycle Departmental annual reports and accounts Mid-year reports Select committee scrutiny of expenditure and performance The Comptroller and Auditor General and the National Audit Office The Public Accounts Committee Conclusion Debates Substantive motions The Syria debate Neutral motions Disposing of a motion Withdrawal Superseding Quorum Motions on opposition days Government substantive motions Backbench business Daily adjournment motions Recess debates Emergency debates Westminster Hall Debates in the Grand Committees and the Standing Committee on Regional Affairs Early day motions The rules and conventions of debate 'Good temper and moderation'The purpose of debate The uses of debate Debates in the House of Lords Opposition and backbench debates Government motions Debates on reports of select committees Questions for Short Debate Conventions of debate Value of debate: the chamber of experience Calling to account: questions Questions in the Commons What are questions?The rules for questions Tabling a question The answers Cost Oral questions Question Time Tabling oral questions Question Time: on the day The art of the supplementary Short and sharp Preparing for Question Time Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs)Why the 'engagements question'?Prime Minister's Questions: on the day Is PMQs too noisy?Urgent questions Questions answered at the end of Question Time Written questions Written statements Are questions effective?Questions in the House of Lords Questions for oral answer (starred questions)Questions for short debate Questions for written answer Private notice questions Statements Public petitions e-Petitions MPs' letters Calling to account: select committees Select committees in the House of Commons Introduction The development of select committees Unsystematic scrutiny The committees Departmental committees 'Cross-cutting' committees Environmental Audit Committee European Scrutiny Committee Liaison Committee Committee of Public Accounts Public Administration Committee Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy 'Legislative' committees Joint Committee on Consolidation, &c., Bills Joint Committee on Human Rights Regulatory Reform Committee Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments Internal committees Backbench Business Committee Procedure Committee Committee of Selection Committee of Privileges Committee on Standards Finance and Services Committee and the Administration Committee Ad hoc committees Intelligence and Security Committee How committees work Orders of reference and powers The power of compulsion Membership Chairs Staff A committee's work The start of an inquiry Taking evidence Travel The report The government reply Consensus Dealing with a select committee Select committee activity What are select committees doing?How effective are select committees?Effort equals success: the role of committee members A bargain price Select committees in the House of Lords The committees Sessional (or permanent) select committees Ad hoc (temporary) committees The process Outcomes Joint committees Parliament and Europe Background Membership Closer union The European debate Law-making and sovereignty The European Council The Council of the European Union The European Commission The European Parliament Other institutions and associated bodies European legislation: types European legislation: procedure How to influence European legislation European scrutiny at Westminster What is subject to scrutiny?The explanatory memorandum The European Scrutiny Committee of the House of Commons Debates The European Union Committee of the House of Lords Scrutiny clearance and the scrutiny reserve How effective is the scrutiny process?National parliaments and the Lisbon Treaty What future role for national parliaments?Closer cooperation between national parliaments A closer relationship between MPs and MEPs?Other international relations The future of Parliament Modernisation, reform and effectiveness A reality check The House of Commons The credit side Changes in the Commons Present strengths What next?Engagement and reconnection The reputation of Parliament and its members Recall Ease and attraction of voting Digital democracy Referendums A House Business Committee A fixed calendar?Restoration and renewal: the effect of moving out Legislation: public bills Delegated legislation Private legislation Parliamentary Questions Reconnecting committees and the Chamber Qualified majorities A zero-sum game The House of Lords The background The Wilson proposals The departure of the hereditary peers and a Royal Commission The Constitutional Reform Act and the departure of the Law Lords The House of Lords Reform Bill 2012 House of Lords Reform Act 2014 Future reform of the House of Lords Modernisation of practice and procedure in the Lords Conclusion Sources of information about Parliament

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Worked Examples
Research from a cognitive load perspective shows that learning from worked examples is more effective than asking students to solve problems alone (Gog, Kester, 8c Paas, 2011; Sweller & Cooper, 1985). Successful learning with worked examples enables students to generate a relevant mental schema, which...
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A Glimpse of Student Work
The project instrument for additive inverses contained eight items that included both contextual and non-contextual tasks (Li, Hassler, & Ding, 2016). These tasks were designed based on the literature suggestions (e.g., Baroody, 1987; Carpenter et al., 2003; Nunes et al., 2009; Torbeyns et al., 2009)....
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A Glimpse of Student Work
The project designed an instrument that contains eight items to assess students’ understanding of multiplicative inverses. Given that multiplication is taught in G2 in China and in G3 in the U.S., we invited Chinese G2-3 students and U.S. G3-4 students to take this test. Overall, we observed a similar...
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A Glimpse of Student Work
The project designed an instrument including 10 tasks (14 subtasks) to assess students’ (G1-G4) understanding of the basic properties of operations, including the CP and AP of addition. Although students’ performance with basic properties in both countries appeared less satisfying than inverse relations,...
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A Glimpse of Student Work
To assess students’ understanding of the CP, AP, and DP, my project items contained both contextual and non-contextual tasks. As reported elsewhere (Ding et al., 2019), of the three properties of multiplication, the CP (x) was more familiar to U.S. students than either the AP or the DP. The majority...
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Situating a Worked Example in a Real-world Context
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(Teaching Early Algebra through Example-Based Problem Solving: Insights from Chinese and U.S. Elementary Classrooms)
Working the Collected Data Using Data Sets
Most often, in order to properly use data, the crime analyst or intelligence analyst will need to access data from a variety of sources. Too often, data stored in RMS or CAD were not created to suit the needs of crime analysis. Therefore, data sets must be used to begin an analysis. The primary data...
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Which Theory or Theories Work Best for the Crime Analyst?
When comparing the number of different criminological theories, it is clear that no one theory is a perfect explanation of the causes of crime. However, from the point of view of the crime analyst, a more important question needs to be asked: Which theory or theories help to understand the criminal offenders...
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How Does Data Mining Work?
Large-scale information technology (IT) has been evolving for years. In fact, the term information technology is so common that it is used in every large organization. Yet, when we typically use the term, we usually are referring to the IT department of a business or university. We say, “I should...
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The Tactical Crime Analyst Working in Real Time
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