3.1 the structure, role, and powers of the executive

Question 1

What is the executive?

Answer 1

the decision-making branch of government, centred on the prime minister and Cabinet and its committees

Question 2

What is the Cabinet?

Answer 2

the group of senior ministers, chaired by the prime minister, which is the main collective decision-making body in the government

Question 3

What is a minister?

Answer 3

a member of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords who serves in government, usually exercising specific responsibilities in a department

Question 4

What is a government department?

Answer 4

a part of the executive, usually with specific responsibility over an area such as education, health or defence

Question 5

What are the three main things a prime minister does?

Answer 5

• head of executive, chairs the cabinet and manages its agenda
• appoints all members of the cabinet and junior ministers, decides who sits on cabinet committees
• organises the structure of government (create, abolish or merge departments)

Question 6

How many senior ministers are usually in the cabinet?

Answer 6

20-23

Question 7

Who is the UK’s most senior civil servant?

Answer 7

Cabinet secretary

Question 8

What is provided by the Cabinet office?

Answer 8

administrative support
help delivering policy

Question 9

What are two examples of a government department?

Answer 9

Ministry of Defence
Department for Transport

Question 10

What are executive agencies?

Answer 10

semi-independent bodies that carry out some of the functions of government departments

Question 11

What is an example of an executive agencies?

Answer 11

DVLA

Question 12

What are the three important roles of the executive?

Answer 12

• proposing legislation
• proposing the budget
• making policy

Question 13

What does the executive announce in the Kings speech every year?

Answer 13

a new programme

Question 14

What proposals did the May 2015 Queens speech include?

Answer 14

• an in/out referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU
• measures to ensure that decisions affecting England, would be taken only with the consent of MPs from those parts of the UK
• legislation to protect essential public services against strikes

Question 15

Who is the budget created by?

Answer 15

chancellor of the exchequer

Question 16

What is the budget?

Answer 16

an annual statement of the governments plans for changes to taxation and public spending

Question 17

What are some important policy decisions taken by the 2010-15 coalition government?

Answer 17

• streamlining the welfare system by introducing a single benefit for working-age people (universal credit)
• allowing parents and voluntary groups to set up ‘free schools’, independent of local councils
• introducing more competition into the NHS and putting GPs in control of the commissioning of care for patients

Question 18

What are royal prerogative powers?

Answer 18

powers that historically belonged to the Crown, but which over time have been transferred to the prime minister or other ministers

Question 19

What are the main prerogative powers still in use?

Answer 19

• award honours
• sign treaties
• grant and withdraw passports
• grant legal pardons
• take action to maintain order in case of emergency
• appoint ministers and other senior office holders
• declare war and authorise the use of the armed forces

Question 20

What did governments accept after the Iraq War in 2003 and the 2013 debate on air strikes in Syria?

Answer 20

governments have accepted that military action requires prior parliamentary approval

Question 21

What is the guillotine (allocation of time motion)?

Answer 21

procedure that allows the government to curtail debate on the individual clauses of a bill

Question 22

What is secondary legislation?

Answer 22

law made without passing a new act of parliament

Question 23

What are statutory instruments?

Answer 23

enable a government to modify or repeal existing legislation without introducing a new bill

Question 24

What are two things statutory instruments were used for in 2016?

Answer 24

• abolish maintenance grants for university students
• allow fracking in national parks

Question 25

What amount of statutory instruments become law on a specified date in the future without being put before MPs?

Answer 25

two thirds