What is the role of Parliament?
Watch this video explaining the UK Parliament and how it is split into the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
What does the UK Parliament do?
What is Parliament responsible for?
Parliament is responsible for approving and changing the country's laws.
Most new laws presented to Parliament are suggested by the government. To pass a new law both the House of Commons and the House of Lords must agree it is a good idea. However, the Commons alone is responsible for making decisions on financial bills, such as proposing new taxes. The Lords can consider these bills but cannot block or amend them.
MPs are responsible for keeping an eye on the work of the government, and members of both the Commons and the Lords will look at how the government is spending the money it receives from taxes.
What are Select Committees?
One way members of Parliament scrutinise or check on the government is by regularly meeting in small groups called select committees. These committees can make recommendations to the government on particular issues such as education, the environment and foreign affairs.
For example, the Petitions Committee of the House of Commons exists to consider any petitions or e-petitions put forward by members of the public and make recommendations for which petitions should be debated in Parliament.
Select committee recommendations are given to the head of the government department (called a minister) in charge of that particular issue. This means reports by the Health Committee will be sent to the minister responsible for that area of health policy.
What are Public Bill Committees?
Public Bill Committees are created on a temporary basis to scrutinise in detail new laws which are being proposed.
For example, the British Sign Language Bill Committee was set up to scrutinise a proposed law to recognise BSL as a language of England, Wales and Scotland in its own right. This committee ended when the Bill became an Act of Parliament in April 2022.