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 UK Executive
- 9 subtopics
- 27 things to know
- AS Unit 2
What The UK Executive covers
The UK Executive is examined in Unit AS 2, The British Political Process — compulsory. It covers the role of the Prime Minister, the powers of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and its role, cabinet committees, the Cabinet Office and the core executive, ministerial responsibility, limitations on the powers of the Prime Minister, the Executive and its control of the legislature, prime ministerial government or cabinet government and the civil service, special advisers and the centre of government.
The 9 subtopics
Each one has its own page. CCEA AS Government and Politics students sit this topic in the first year.
- The role of the Prime MinisterPrime Minister's basic constitutional position, describing the Prime Minister as primus inter pares and prime Minister's role in directing government policy.Open →
- The powers of the Prime MinisterRoyal prerogative and prime Minister's power over the Cabinet agenda.Open →
- The Cabinet and its roleRole of the Cabinet Secretary, political management function of Cabinet and big beast in Cabinet.Open →
- Cabinet committees, the Cabinet Office and the core executiveCabinet committee, national Security Council and core executive.Open →
- Ministerial responsibilityConvention of collective ministerial responsibility, resignation on a point of collective responsibility and agreement to differ.Open →
- Limitations on the powers of the Prime MinisterThe size of the Commons majority, removal by the governing party, Cabinet resignations, Parliament and the convention on committing troops, the courts, devolution, the civil service, the media, coalition, events and the international context.Open →
- The Executive and its control of the legislatureExecutive dominance of the legislature, how the whips secure the government's business and one argument that the Executive's control of Parliament is exaggerated.Open →
- Prime ministerial government or cabinet governmentCabinet government thesis, prime ministerial government thesis and presidentialisation thesis.Open →
- The civil service, special advisers and the centre of governmentCivil service, relationship between a minister and a permanent secretary and special adviser.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
Roughly how many ministers sit in Cabinet, and who are they?
Numbers
What is the National Security Council?
Key term
How does the Executive manage the House of Lords?
Key term
Give three developments cited as evidence of prime ministerial dominance.
Key term
What factors determine how dominant a particular Prime Minister can be?
Key term
State the three traditional principles of the British civil service.
Key term
What is the royal prerogative?
Key term
Give the three elements of collective responsibility.
Key term
Why is the size of the government's Commons majority the most important limit on a Prime Minister?
Key term
What is the Prime Minister's basic constitutional position?
Key term
Name four prerogative powers exercised by or on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Key term
What is the Cabinet?
Key term
Why are cabinet committees necessary?
Numbers
Give an example of a resignation on a point of collective responsibility.
Numbers
How can the governing party remove a Prime Minister?
Key term
How does a parliamentary majority give the Executive control of legislation?
Key term
What is the civil service?
Key term
Which two formal offices does the Prime Minister hold alongside the premiership?
Key term
Why is the power of appointment regarded as the Prime Minister's greatest weapon?
Key term
How often does the Cabinet meet and how long does a meeting last?
Key term
Who decides the membership and chairs of cabinet committees?
Numbers
What is an agreement to differ, and when has one been used?
Numbers
How can Cabinet colleagues bring down a Prime Minister?
Key term
How does the payroll vote assist the Executive?
Key term
What is the prime ministerial government thesis?
Numbers
What reform established appointment to the civil service on merit?
Take The UK Executive further
The same content, four other ways.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is the Prime Minister's basic constitutional position?
Model answer
The Prime Minister is the head of the government, appointed by the monarch as the person best able to command the confidence of the House of Commons.
- 2
Which two formal offices does the Prime Minister hold alongside the premiership?
Model answer
The Prime Minister is also First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service.
- 3
Why is the office of Prime Minister described as a creature of convention?
Model answer
No single statute creates the office or sets out its duties, so the powers of the Prime Minister rest on convention, on prerogative powers exercised in the monarch's name, and on party leadership.
- 4
What is meant by describing the Prime Minister as primus inter pares?
Model answer
The phrase means first among equals, and it describes the traditional view that the Prime Minister chairs a Cabinet of colleagues rather than commanding subordinates.
- 5
Give three roles the Prime Minister performs in relation to the Cabinet.
Model answer
The Prime Minister appoints and dismisses its members, sets its agenda and chairs its meetings, and sums up the sense of the meeting in place of a formal vote.
- 6
How does leading a political party underpin a Prime Minister's authority?
Model answer
A Prime Minister holds office because they lead the largest party in the Commons, so party support is the source of the parliamentary majority on which every other power depends.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
The UK Executive revision questions
- Is The UK Executive examined at AS in CCEA Government and Politics?
- Yes. It sits in AS Unit 2, 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 UK Executive cover in CCEA AS-Level Government and Politics?
- 9 subtopics: the role of the prime minister, the powers of the prime minister, the cabinet and its role, cabinet committees, the cabinet office and the core executive, ministerial responsibility, limitations on the powers of the prime minister, the executive and its control of the legislature, prime ministerial government or cabinet government and the civil service, special advisers and the centre of government. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is The UK Executive organised?
- By the CCEA 4830 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in The UK Executive, 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.
Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.