Exercise 7

Working with video “How Law is Made”

First read the sentences below to find out what you should hear in the film. Then you watch the film and do the tasks. Then check. You will watch the film more than once.

1. Public Bills are introduced by a) members of the parliament;

b) workers; c) government

2. Idea for a bill goes through consultation stage which means that

a) they make consultations; b) collect opinions of different people;

c) seek advice of scholars or lawyers.

3. The first version of the Bill is called a) White Paper; b) Red Paper;

c) Green Paper

4. During the first reading the Mps a) debate the bill; b) return the bill; c) vote on the bill to forward it to the next stage.

5. Committees’ duties are a) to publish the Bill; b) to examine the details of the Bill; c) to sign the Bill.

6. The MPs can see the Committee’s changes during a) the Third stage; b) the Report stage; c) the Consideration stage.

7. During the third reading the House of Commons a) debate each amendment; b) consider the bill with all amendments; c) reject all amendments.

8. In the House of Lords the Bill a) goes through two stages; b) goes through one stage; c) goes through three stages.

9. The Committee stage is different because a) the Lords work together; b) the Lords working all together read the bill line by line; c) the Lords work together for a long time.

10. The Lords spot any problems with the meaning or the wording of the bill during a) the Committee stage; b) the Report stage c) the Report and Third stage.

11. After the Lords have made their amendments they a) send the Bill to the Queen; b) return the bill to the Commons; c) approve and publish the Bill.

12. The Crown always approves the bill because a) this is her role; b) the Parliament represents people; c) the Parliament knows better.

If unfortunately you fail to find the video or absolutely fail to understand the information, find printed text script below and read it. Then you will be able to do the exercise above.

Exercise 8

Visiting the official site of the UK Parliament – www.parliament.uk

On the first page of the official site you will see a number of links which will bring you the necessary information you request.

The upper line represents the major parts of the site but the following selection is offered here.

I. Down on your right you will see a column of links “House of Commons” and “House of Lords”.

1. House of Commons – find and prepare brief information1) Parliament role; 2) about Principal officers and staff; 3) about the Speaker

2. House of Lords – find the information about - what the Lords does (in brief).

II. The button link “Bills” will bring you to the page where you can find out what bills are considered by the Parliament – “Bills before Parliament” and looking at the Keys you will know the progress of the bills.

III. Front page – down on your left under “Follow latest business” you will see the button - “What’s on” and “Bills and Legislation”

1. “What’s on”

House of Commons Main Chamber - copy the Business schedule for the day, work with it to understand what Commons are doing.

Then find out the schedule of committees – Select and Grand.

House of Lords - copy the Business schedule for the day, work with it to understand what the Lords are doing.

Then find out the schedule of committees – Select and Grand.

2. Bills and legislation

“Draft Bills before Parliament”

a) look through the list

Prepare the information that you will report at the lesson