Key term
CCEA AS-Level Government and Politics 4830
The Northern Ireland Assembly
Topic overviewThe Good Friday Agreement: origins and principlesThe three strands of the AgreementRights, equality, policing and prisoners under the AgreementImplementing the Agreement: referendums, devolution and suspensionSubsequent agreements from St Andrews to New Decade, New ApproachComposition, elections and designationCross-community voting and the petition of concernThe Assembly's representative functionThe Assembly's legislative functionThe Assembly's scrutiny functionThe Assembly's independence of the Executive
The Northern Ireland Executive Committee
Topic overviewThe composition of the Executive CommitteeAppointing the Executive and the d'Hondt formulaThe First Minister and deputy First MinisterThe Office of the First Minister and deputy First MinisterThe Pledge of Office and the Ministerial CodeHow the Executive determines legislationThe Programme for Government and the budgetDivisions within the ExecutiveEvaluating the Executive's policy makingThe Executive as a power-sharing governmentCollapse, restoration and reform of the Executive
The Northern Ireland Political Parties
Topic overviewThe role and functions of political partiesThe Northern Ireland party systemThe Democratic Unionist PartySinn FéinThe Ulster Unionist PartyThe Social Democratic and Labour PartyThe Alliance PartySmaller parties and independentsChanging party strategies since 1998Changing electoral support since 1998Explaining electoral change
The UK Parliament
Topic overviewRepresentation in the House of CommonsLegislation and the passage of a bill through the CommonsScrutiny of government on the floor of the CommonsSelect committees and the scrutiny of governmentThe effectiveness of the House of CommonsComposition and representation in the House of LordsThe House of Lords and the legislative processScrutiny and committee work in the House of LordsThe effectiveness of the House of LordsThe fusion of powers and executive control of ParliamentParty discipline, backbench independence and parliamentary privilege
The UK Executive
Topic overviewThe role of the Prime MinisterThe powers of the Prime MinisterThe Cabinet and its roleCabinet committees, the Cabinet Office and the core executiveMinisterial responsibilityLimitations on the powers of the Prime MinisterThe Executive and its control of the legislaturePrime ministerial government or cabinet governmentThe civil service, special advisers and the centre of government
Option: The British JudiciaryJudiciary
Topic overviewThe judiciary, the rule of law and the separation of powersThe courts and the United Kingdom Supreme CourtJudicial review and its groundsJudicial review and the Human Rights ActLandmark rulings against the ExecutiveJudicial inquiriesWhat secures judicial independenceTensions between the judiciary and the ExecutiveThe effectiveness of the judiciary in holding the Executive to account
Option: Pressure Groups in the UKPressure groups
Topic overviewThe concept of a pressure groupCause and sectional pressure groupsInsider and outsider pressure groupsSocial movementsPressure groups and the policy-making processInsider tactics: lobbying, consultation and the courtsOutsider tactics: protest, direct action and the mediaWhat makes a pressure group successfulPluralist, elitist and New Right interpretations of impactRegulating lobbying and the debate about influence
The Northern Ireland Executive Committee
- 11 subtopics
- 33 things to know
- AS Unit 1
What The Northern Ireland Executive Committee covers
The Northern Ireland Executive Committee is examined in Unit AS 1, The Government and Politics of Northern Ireland — compulsory. It covers the composition of the Executive Committee, Appointing the Executive and the d'Hondt formula, the First Minister and deputy First Minister, the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, the Pledge of Office and the Ministerial Code, how the Executive determines legislation, the Programme for Government and the budget, divisions within the Executive, Evaluating the Executive's policy making, the Executive as a power-sharing government and collapse, restoration and reform of the Executive.
Where it is assessed
AS Unit 1
The Government and Politics of Northern Ireland.
Check the CCEA specification ↗The 11 subtopics
Each one has its own page. CCEA AS Government and Politics students sit this topic in the first year.
- The composition of the Executive CommitteeExecutive Committee, nine Northern Ireland departments and role of junior ministers in the Executive.Open →
- Appointing the Executive and the d'Hondt formulaD'Hondt formula used for in Northern Ireland, how the d'Hondt calculation works and one advantage of using d'Hondt to appoint the Executive.Open →
- The First Minister and deputy First MinisterThe joint office and what equality of status means in practice, how the two posts are filled, the effect of the St Andrews change, the powers exercised together, and what happens when one of them resigns.Open →
- The Office of the First Minister and deputy First MinisterThree policy areas for which the office is directly responsible, office's role in community relations policy and policy delayed by disagreement in the office.Open →
- The Pledge of Office and the Ministerial CodePledge of Office and ministerial Code.Open →
- How the Executive determines legislationLegislative programme, major legislation blocked or delayed by disagreement between Executive parties and executive's role in the budget legislation.Open →
- The Programme for Government and the budgetProgramme for Government, saying Northern Ireland's public finances are unusually dependent on transfers and significance of the failure to reform health services.Open →
- Divisions within the ExecutiveHaass process and dispute over the Maze and Long Kesh site.Open →
- Evaluating the Executive's policy makingRenewable Heat Incentive scheme and strongest case that the Executive makes policy effectively.Open →
- The Executive as a power-sharing governmentMutual veto and transformationist critique of the settlement.Open →
- Collapse, restoration and reform of the ExecutiveThe Renewable Heat Incentive collapse of January 2017 and the three years that followed, the Protocol withdrawal of February 2022 and the restoration of 2024, how departments continued without ministers, and the resilience reforms and their critics.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
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Key term
Why is the volume of Assembly legislation low even in a functioning mandate?
Key term
What is the significance of the failure to reform health services?
Numbers
How did the Executive attempt to use tax policy to attract investment?
Numbers
What was the Haass process, and what became of it?
Numbers
How has language policy divided the Executive?
Numbers
How did welfare reform divide the Executive?
Evaluation
How did the Executive's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic illustrate both its strengths and its weaknesses?
Numbers
What did the public inquiry into the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme conclude?
Key term
Why is the Renewable Heat Incentive treated as a case study in policy failure?
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Why could no Executive be formed after the May 2022 election?
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What is the Executive Committee?
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What is the d'Hondt formula used for in Northern Ireland?
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What is meant by saying the First Minister and deputy First Minister hold a joint office?
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What is the Pledge of Office?
Numbers
Why did the 1998 settlement reject majority rule?
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Name the nine Northern Ireland departments.
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Explain how the d'Hondt calculation works.
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How were the First Minister and deputy First Minister chosen under the Good Friday Agreement as originally drafted?
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Name three policy areas for which the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister is directly responsible
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Name four commitments contained in the Pledge of Office.
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Where do most bills before the Assembly come from?
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What is meant by the mutual veto, and how is it justified?
Numbers
What ended the Executive in January 2017?
Key term
How many ministers sit on the Executive Committee besides the First Minister and deputy First Minister?
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Who makes the choice of department for a party under d'Hondt?
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Why is the interdependence of the two offices politically significant?
Numbers
What is the role of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister in community relations policy?
Key term
What was added to the Pledge of Office by A Fresh Start in 2015?
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What approval must a minister obtain before introducing a bill?
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What is the Programme for Government?
Key term
What is the transformationist critique of the settlement?
Numbers
How long was Northern Ireland without an Executive after January 2017?
Take The Northern Ireland Executive Committee further
The same content, four other ways.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is the Executive Committee?
Model answer
The Executive Committee is the power-sharing government of Northern Ireland, made up of the First Minister, the deputy First Minister and the ministers heading the devolved departments.
- 2
How many Northern Ireland departments are there, and when was the number set?
Model answer
There are nine departments, the number having been reduced from twelve with effect from May 2016 under the Stormont House Agreement.
- 3
Name the nine Northern Ireland departments.
Model answer
The nine departments are The Executive Office; Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs; Communities; Economy; Education; Finance; Health; Infrastructure; and Justice.
- 4
How many ministers sit on the Executive Committee besides the First Minister and deputy First Minister?
Model answer
Eight departmental ministers sit alongside the First Minister and deputy First Minister, since The Executive Office is headed jointly by the two of them.
- 5
Which minister is not appointed by the same method as the others?
Model answer
The Justice Minister is elected by a cross-community vote of the Assembly rather than being chosen through the d'Hondt allocation.
- 6
Why is the Justice Minister chosen differently?
Model answer
Policing and justice were the most sensitive powers to devolve, so both communities insisted that the post could only be held by someone acceptable to each of them, which a cross-community election guarantees.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
The Northern Ireland Executive Committee revision questions
- Is The Northern Ireland Executive Committee examined at AS in CCEA Government and Politics?
- Yes. It sits in AS Unit 1, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
- What does The Northern Ireland Executive Committee cover in CCEA AS-Level Government and Politics?
- 11 subtopics: the composition of the executive committee, appointing the executive and the d'hondt formula, the first minister and deputy first minister, the office of the first minister and deputy first minister, the pledge of office and the ministerial code, how the executive determines legislation, the programme for government and the budget, divisions within the executive, evaluating the executive's policy making, the executive as a power-sharing government and collapse, restoration and reform of the executive. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is The Northern Ireland Executive Committee organised?
- By the CCEA 4830 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in The Northern Ireland Executive Committee, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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