The Executive

Question 1

What are the three organs of government?

Answer 1

Legislature, executive, judiciary

Question 2

What is the composition of the legislature?

Answer 2

HC, HL, monarch

Question 3

What is the function of the legislature?

Answer 3

To enact statutes (make law)

Question 4

What is the composition of the executive?

Answer 4

HM Government and Ministers

Question 5

What is the function of the executive?

Answer 5

The administration and the governance of the country

Question 6

What is the composition of the judiciary?

Answer 6

The Royal Courts of Justice

Question 7

What is the function of the judiciary?

Answer 7

The adjudication of disputes and the interpretation of statutes

Question 8

What are Wade’s three definitions of ‘separation of powers’?

Answer 8

(1) That no person or body of persons should form part of more than one of the three organs of government
(2) That one organ of government should not exercise the functions of either of the other two organs
(3) That one organ of the government should not interfere with or seek to exercise control over the functions of the other two organs

Question 9

Which power does the US Supreme Court have that the UK Supreme Court does not have?

Answer 9

The power to ‘strike down’ primary legislation (the USSC can declare it ‘unconstitutional’)

Question 10

Why can the UK’s government be described as having a ‘partial’ separation of powers?

Answer 10

There is overlap between the three organs of government: the Queen is part of all three organs; the PM, the cabinet, and the Lord Chancellor are all part of the executive and the legislature

Question 11

How was the Supreme Court established?

Answer 11

By the Constitutional Reform Act 2005

Question 12

What are the three types of checks and balances on those exercising power in the UK?

Answer 12

(1) Judicial checks on the executive (e.g. Belmarsh case)
(2) Political controls on the executive
(3) Checks on the judiciary

Question 13

What is the executive?

Answer 13

In the narrow sense, the monarch, cabinet, PM

In a broader sense, government departments, civil service, army, and police

Question 14

What are the principal powers of the Monarch?

Answer 14

– To open (summon) Parliament
– To close (dissolve) Parliament
– To appoint a PM
– To exercise the right of advice to her Ministers
– To be Head of the Commonwealth
– To participate in formal and ceremonial constitutional events
– To act as Head of the Church of England

Question 15

What are the powers of the Prime Minister?

Answer 15

– Head of the government
– Power to select Cabinet Ministers and appoint other members of the Government (i.e. non-Cabinet Ministers)
– Can engineer a Cabinet re-shuffle, can dismiss Cabinet and non-Cabinet Ministers
– Chairs meetings of the Cabinet and Cabinet Committees
– Coordinates Government policies
– Is responsible for party discipline, e.g. appoints Chief Whips who are employed to keep a watch over backbench MPs
– Is the nation’s chief spokesman in international and domestic affairs
– Is the political Head of the Civil Service
– Communicates the Government’s decisions on policy to the Queen
– Has the power to exercise patronage (e.g. dispensing titles and peerages)

Question 16

What is the function of the Cabinet?

Answer 16

Cabinet decides on government policy and co-ordinates the work of the different departments

Question 17

What is the function of Cabinet Committees?

Answer 17

– Small groups of Ministers, who make decisions
– These decisions are then put to and usually approved by the main (i.e. full) Cabinet
– PMs sometimes use Cabinet Committees
– The most powerful Ministers are in Cabinet Committees

Question 18

What is the purpose of Ministers’ Special Advisors?

Answer 18

To ‘assist’ the PM

Question 19

What is the purpose of the Civil Service?

Answer 19

– Assist the Government with integrity, honesty, impartiality and objectivity, regardless of political views
– They administer public services

Question 20

What is delegated (secondary) legislation?

Answer 20

A form of legislation that allows the Executive (i.e. Government) to make changes to the law without having to enact new primary legislation (Acts of Parliament)

Question 21

How is delegated legislation formed?

Answer 21

The parent Act contains provision for the Executive to make law; the exercise of this power by the Executive typically leads to the creation of statutory instruments (SIs)

Question 22

What are the different forms of delegated legislation?

Answer 22

– Statutory instruments (SIs)
– Orders in Council
– Byelaws

Question 23

What are statutory instruments?

Answer 23

– They allow sections of an Act to be altered or brought into force without Parliament having to pass a new Act
– The power to do this is set out in the parent Act and is conferred on Ministers

Question 24

What are orders in council?

Answer 24

– They are issued by the Queen ‘by and with the advice of HM Privy Council’ and made under powers in a given Act
– Used for a wide variety of purposes, e.g. transferring responsibilities between Government Departments or for exercising control over dominions
– Used when an SI would be inappropriate

Question 25

What are byelaws?

Answer 25

Laws of local or limited application, e.g. byelaws in place to help improve everyone's enjoyment of parks and open spaces

Question 26

What are the advantages of delegated legislation?

Answer 26

– Saves Parliamentary time – Allows people with more knowledge of subject matter to make the law, rather than MPs who may know very little on the matter – Flexibility – Emergency powers, e.g. war, famine, civil unrest

Question 27

What are Henry VIII clauses?

Answer 27

They enable Ministers to use SIs to alter or repeal Acts of Parliament, e.g. in the 2008 global financial crisis

Question 28

What are some concerns about delegated legislation?

Answer 28

– Usurps the sovereignty of Parliament – Incompatible with the separation of powers – Can lead to allegations of abuse of power – Sheer volume of DL makes it difficult to control

Question 29

What are some controls on delegated legislation?

Answer 29

– Checks and controls within the parent Act – Traditional/general Parliamentary safeguards – Formal rules about bringing (laying) proposed delegated legislation before Parliament – Parliamentary Scrutiny Committees

Question 30

What are the two types of procedure for SIs?

Answer 30

(1) Affirmative procedure | (2) Negative procedure

Question 31

Explain the affirmative procedure for SIs

Answer 31

– Requires some SIs to be voted on by Parliament – Therefore, both Houses must expressly approve them – If it is not positively approved within 40 days of its being laid, it will not come into effect

Question 32

Explain the negative procedure for SIs

Answer 32

– They can become law without a debate or a vote but may be annulled by a resolution of either House – Unless a challenge is made in the form of annulment (prayer) within 40 days, the SI will automatically come into force

Question 33

Which is more common: affirmative or negative procedure of SI introduction?

Answer 33

Negative (90%)

Question 34

What is the Royal Prerogative?

Answer 34

Residue powers vested in the Crown which are exercisable by ministers

Question 35

What is significant about BBC v Johns (1965)?

Answer 35

It confirmed that new prerogative powers may not be made

Question 36

In which three ways may prerogative powers be exercised?

Answer 36

(1) At the personal discretion of the Crown (very uncommon) (2) By the Sovereign on the advice of Ministers (3) By Ministers alone, through statutory powers conferred on them but exercised on behalf of the Crown (most common)

Question 37

Give examples of prerogative powers exercised by Government Ministers

Answer 37

– Conduct of foreign affairs – Control of armed forces – Regulation of terms of civil service employment – Pardoning offenders

Question 38

What are the five personal prerogatives of the Monarch?

Answer 38

– The Sovereign never dies (automatic succession to the throne) – The person of the Sovereign is inviolable (cannot touch) – The Sovereign can do no wrong (monarch immune from civil or criminal proceedings: Crown Proceedings Act 1947) – The Sovereign is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and may declare war or make peace under the Royal Prerogative – Some honours are still dispensed personally by the Sovereign

Question 39

What are the five main powers of the monarch?

Answer 39

``` – Royal Assent – Appointment of the PM – Dissolution of Parliament – Dismissal of Ministers – Award of Honours ```

Question 40

Which takes precedence: statutory or prerogative power?

Answer 40

Statutory power