Getting started – quick quiz (12 questions)

Question 1 of 12. Which of the following does public policy affect?

Too few police on the streets.
Tackling crime rates.
Ensuring there are enough houses in the country for people to live in.
Reducing the number of people on benefits.
Postcode lottery of health services and hospital waiting lists.
Promoting health lifestyles to tackle the obesity epidemic.
Ensuring children have the skills they need (e.g. reading and writing) to join the workforce when they grow up.
Student tuition fees.
Making sure people are not unfairly discriminated against, e.g. at work.
All of the above.

The Queen, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. (Images from the Parliament Flickr channel).

Question 2 of 12. Parliament is where important decisions are made about public policy that affect everyone in the country. The British Parliament is made up of The Queen, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. But what does Parliament actually do?

Debate issues of public interest.
Scrutinise the work of ministers.
Pass laws
Control expenditure, e.g. the annual budget
Produce a government.
Represent constituents (i.e. people who live in the UK)
All of the above.

The Queen arrives to open Parliament. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uk_parliament/4642251150/)

Question 3 of 12. Select the Queen's role(s) in Parliament from the list below?

To advise on public policy.
To contribute to discussions about matters of national interest.
To grant ‘royal assent’ to bills emerging from Parliament, to make them acts of law.
All of the above.

Margaret Thatcher, Waheed Alli, Alan Sugar, Bishop Scott-Joynt

Question 4 of 12. The House of Lords is part of Parliament. There are around 740 members (called 'peers') in the House of Lords. Which of these are a member of the House of Lords?

Bishop Scott-Joynt (Bishop of Winchester)
Alan Sugar (from BBC's TV show, The Apprentice)
Waheed Alli (chairman of ASOS and managing director at Carlton Television Productions)
Margaret Thatcher
All of the above.

Question 5 of 12. Like the House of Lords, the House of Commons is also a part of Parliament. Who is in the House of Commons?

Members of Parliament (MPs), the Prime Minister, the head of the Civil Service.
Members of Parliament (MPs), the Prime Minister, most of the members of the Cabinet, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary.
Members of Parliament (MPs), the Prime Minister, Lord Speaker.
Members of Parliament (MPs), the Prime Minister, members of the European Parliament (MEPs).
Members of Parliament (MPs), the Prime Minister, most of the members of the Cabinet, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary, the head of the Civil Service.

Question 6 of 12. Watch the following video about how a new law (which starts as a 'bill') is formed.

If neither the House of Commons or the House of Lords can agree on whether a law should be created, what happens? (Hint: Try Googling the ban on fox hunting law, passed in 2004).

The Queen has the final say.
The House of Commons has the final say.
The House of Lords has the final say.
It's put to a public vote.

The first Cabinet meeting in May 2010. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/4603645731/in/set-72157624015062387/).

Question 7 of 12. Within the government, the Cabinet is the supreme decision-making body. It is a committee chaired by the Prime Minister who selects its members (with the occasional exception) from MPs in the House of Commons. Members of the Cabinet are called Ministers. Which of the following public policy areas does the Cabinet deal with?

Education
Health
Employment
All of the above.

Whitehall. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/benmurray/5038670339/sizes/l/in/photostream/)

Question 8 of 12. What is the important purpose(s) of the Civil Service?

To promote the political parties. (e.g. running election campaigns).
Once decisions about public policy have been made in parliament, it is the Civil Service who put them into practice.
All of the above.

Question 9 of 12. 'Devolution' means that some of the decision making is decentralised. As well as the UK parliament in London, there is also the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Assembly. Is it true or false that MPs in Scotland and Wales can vote on public policy issues that only affect people living in England?

True
False

Question 10 of 12. Although the UK is a unitary state (i.e. a country with a central government), many public services are provided at a local level by councils. For example, heath and social care, town planning and building, community projects. What do local councillors do?

They are elected by the local population to represent them. They work within the central UK Government.
They are elected by the local population to represent them. Councillors make the decisions at local councils, leaving local government officers to implement them and provide services.
All of the above.

Question 11 of 12. Members of Parliament (MPs) who sit in the House of Commons (and sometimes also the Cabinet) are elected during a country's general election. Each MP represents one of 650 different areas in the country, called 'constituencies'.

Each MP is nearly always linked to a political party. Which of the following combinations of parties currently (2011) have MPs in the House of Commons in Parliament?

Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Democratic Unionist Party, Scottish National Party, UKIP
Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Democratic Unionist Party, Scottish National Party, Sinn Fein, Plaid Cymru, Social Democratic & Labour Party, Green, Alliance Party
Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, UKIP
Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Democratic Unionist Party, Scottish National Party, Sinn Fein, Plaid Cymru, Social Democratic & Labour Party, Green, BNP

Buildings in Westminster, London. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/donabelandewen/3212243888/)

Question 12 of 12. Where are the House of Commons (where the MPs sit) and the House of Lord located?

They are both in the Palace of Westminster.
The House of Commons is in the Palace of Westminster and the House of Lords is in Whitehall.
The House of Commons is in the Palace of Westminster and the House of Lords is in Portcullis House.
They are conceptual 'houses' rather than physical ones. They do not have a fixed meeting place.