Citizenship & Society (KS3)
UK Key Stage 3 citizenship: UK government and Parliament, rights and the rule of law, elections, basic economics and civic life.
Ämne: Samhällskunskap · Nivå: Högstadium (13–15) · 430 kort
Innehåll
- The UK Parliament is bicameral, meaning it has two chambers: the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
- The House of Commons has 650 Members of Parliament (MPs), each elected to represent one constituency.
- The House of Lords is not elected; it contains life peers, bishops of the Church of England and a small number of hereditary peers.
- Parliament has three main roles: making laws, scrutinising the work of government and approving taxation.
- The UK is a constitutional monarchy: the monarch is the head of state but exercises only ceremonial powers within limits set by law and convention.
- Royal Assent is the formal approval by the monarch that turns a bill passed by Parliament into an Act of Parliament (law).
- The Prime Minister leads the UK government and is usually the leader of the political party with the most seats in the House of Commons.
- The Cabinet is a group of senior ministers chosen by the Prime Minister to lead government departments and decide policy.
- The civil service is permanent and politically neutral: civil servants stay in their roles when governments change and serve whichever party is in power.
- In UK general elections, the voting system is first-past-the-post: in each constituency the candidate with the most votes wins, even without an outright majority.
- UK general elections must be held at least every five years.
- You can vote in UK general elections from age 18, but the minimum voting age for elections to the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd is 16.
- A by-election is held to fill a single parliamentary seat that has become vacant between general elections, for example after an MP resigns or dies.
- Devolution means transferring powers from the UK Parliament at Westminster to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, the Senedd in Cardiff and the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont.
- The Scottish Parliament was established in 1999 and meets in Edinburgh.
- The rule of law means that everyone, including those in government and positions of power, must obey the same laws.
- Criminal law deals with offences against the state (such as theft or assault); civil law deals with disputes between individuals or organisations (such as contracts or divorce).
- The UK Supreme Court was created in 2009 and is the final court of appeal for most cases in the UK.
- In Crown Court trials a jury of 12 ordinary citizens decides whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty.
- The Human Rights Act 1998 brought the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law, so they can be used in UK courts.
- The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination based on nine protected characteristics, including age, disability, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
- The UK formally left the European Union on 31 January 2020, following a referendum held in June 2016.
- The UK is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a member of NATO and the Commonwealth.
- The National Health Service (NHS) was founded in 1948 and provides healthcare that is mostly free at the point of use, funded through taxation.
- The BBC is a public service broadcaster that is funded mainly by the television licence fee rather than by advertising.
- The UK constitution is uncodified: instead of one written document, it is drawn from statute law, common law, conventions, royal prerogative powers and respected works of authority.
- Unlike the UK, the United States has a single written (codified) constitution that sets out the powers of government in one document.
- A bill in the House of Commons goes through five main stages: first reading, second reading, committee stage, report stage and third reading, before moving on to the House of Lords.
- When the Commons and Lords disagree on a bill, the amended bill bounces between the two chambers in a process informally known as ping-pong, until both agree or the Commons uses the Parliament Acts.
- Primary legislation refers to Acts of Parliament. Secondary or delegated legislation, such as statutory instruments, lets ministers make detailed rules under powers given by an Act.
- Private members' bills are introduced by MPs or peers who are not government ministers. Most do not become law, but some have led to major reforms.
- Select committees in the House of Commons scrutinise government departments and call ministers and officials to give evidence in public hearings.
- Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) takes place in the House of Commons every Wednesday when Parliament is sitting and lets MPs question the Prime Minister directly.
- The Speaker of the House of Commons chairs debates, calls MPs to speak and keeps order, traditionally calling out 'Order, order!' to quiet the chamber. Once elected, the Speaker is politically neutral.
- Whips are MPs who organise their party's voting in Parliament. A three-line whip is the strictest instruction, telling MPs they must attend and vote a particular way.
- The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the senior minister in charge of the Treasury and is responsible for the government's tax and spending decisions.
- Major UK government departments include the Home Office, the Foreign Office, the Treasury, the Department for Education, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Defence.
- A hung parliament occurs when no party wins an overall majority. The 2010 general election produced one, leading to a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government from 2010 to 2015.
- Local government in England includes county councils, district councils, unitary authorities, metropolitan boroughs and parish councils, each with different responsibilities.
- Council tax is a local tax on homes that helps fund services such as schools, rubbish collection and local roads. Properties are placed in bands based on their value.
- Some English regions have a directly elected mayor, such as the Mayor of London and the Mayor of Greater Manchester, who lead a combined authority covering several local councils.
- Devolved matters are decided by the Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish institutions (such as health or education), while reserved matters (such as defence and foreign affairs) stay with the UK Parliament at Westminster.
- The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 helped end most of the violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and set up a power-sharing assembly between unionist and nationalist communities.
- Most criminal cases in England and Wales are heard in the Magistrates' Court, usually by a panel of lay magistrates without a jury.
- The Youth Court hears most criminal cases involving defendants under 18. It is less formal than an adult court and the public is not normally allowed in.
- Police and Crime Commissioners have been directly elected in most areas of England and Wales since 2012. They set local policing priorities and hold the chief constable to account.
- A petition on the UK Parliament petitions website triggers a written government response at 10,000 signatures and is considered for debate in Parliament at 100,000.
- The United Nations was founded in 1945 after the Second World War and is based in New York. It has 193 member states.
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, sets out basic rights and freedoms that should belong to every person.
- The Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, is an international treaty in which countries agreed to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial levels.