Member State of the African Union Member State of the Arab League
71-452: The Parliament of Algeria consists of two chambers: This article about government in Algeria is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This legislature -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Legislature A legislature is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as
142-645: A Minister of State or Parliamentary Under Secretary of State . Written Questions are submitted to the Clerks of the Table Office, either on paper or electronically, and are recorded in The Official Report (Hansard) so as to be widely available and accessible. In the House of Lords, half an hour is put aside each afternoon at the start of the day's proceedings for "Lords Questions". A peer submits
213-702: A country , nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government . Legislatures can exist at different levels of government–national, state/provincial/regional, local, even supranational (such as the European Parliament ). Countries differ as to what extent they grant deliberative assemblies at the subnational law-making power, as opposed to purely administrative responsibilities. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as primary legislation. In addition, legislatures may observe and steer governing actions, with authority to amend
284-626: A vote of no confidence . On the other hand, according to the separation of powers doctrine, the legislature in a presidential system is considered an independent and coequal branch of government along with both the judiciary and the executive. Nevertheless, many presidential systems provide for the impeachment of the executive for criminal or unconstitutional behaviour. Legislatures will sometimes delegate their legislative power to administrative or executive agencies . Legislatures are made up of individual members, known as legislators , who vote on proposed laws. A legislature usually contains
355-650: A Parliamentary powers index in an attempt to quantify the different degrees of power among national legislatures. The German Bundestag , the Italian Parliament , and the Mongolian State Great Khural tied for most powerful, while Myanmar's House of Representatives and Somalia's Transitional Federal Assembly (since replaced by the Federal Parliament of Somalia ) tied for least powerful. Some political systems follows
426-617: A different House of Parliament, then the shadow minister's representative in the other House asked questions to the relevant minister) in the opposition, and are always asked by backbenchers on the government side. In the House of Representatives , the first question is usually asked of the prime minister by the Leader of the Opposition. Similar arrangements apply in the Senate. To accommodate
497-590: A few days before the question time takes place and published. Ministers therefore have advance warning of the initial questions, but after each question has been answered, the MP in whose name it appears may ask a supplementary question on the same subject area for which no notice is given (unless the MP chooses to do so privately). The Speaker will usually call other MPs to ask further supplementary questions and this will often include Opposition front bench spokespersons. A second ballot enables MPs to put forward their names to ask
568-458: A few of the members of the chamber(s). The members of a legislature usually represent different political parties ; the members from each party generally meet as a caucus to organize their internal affairs. Legislatures vary widely in the amount of political power they wield, compared to other political players such as judiciaries , militaries , and executives . In 2009, political scientists M. Steven Fish and Matthew Kroenig constructed
639-442: A fixed number of legislators; because legislatures usually meet in a specific room filled with seats for the legislators, this is often described as the number of "seats" it contains. For example, a legislature that has 100 "seats" has 100 members. By extension, an electoral district that elects a single legislator can also be described as a "seat", as, for example, in the phrases " safe seat " and " marginal seat ". After election,
710-585: A government Minister will arrange for a government backbencher to "ask" a question, commonly called a Dorothy Dixer , to enable the Minister to make a political speech or otherwise score political points. Convention allows the prime minister in the House, and the Leader of the Government in the Senate, to terminate question time by asking that "further questions be placed on the Notice Paper ". This
781-678: A legislative year. This was introduced to the Legislative Council in 1992 by the Governor of Hong Kong , Chris Patten as Governor's Question Time. The United States , which has a presidential system of government, does not have a question time for the president . However, Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution of the United States states: "[The president] shall from time to time give to Congress information of
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#1732801568361852-413: A one-minute time limit. Answers to initial questions are limited to three minutes, and answers to supplementary questions are limited to one minute. A senator may also move to 'take note' of a minister's answer after question time, allowing questioners (generally Opposition senators) to respond to the answers provided by ministers. It is very common for points of order to be raised during question time on
923-617: A query in advance, which then appears on the Order Paper for the day's proceedings. The Lord shall say: " My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper ". The Minister responsible then answers the query. Afterwards, for around ten minutes, any Lord can ask the Minister questions on the theme of the original put down on the order paper. (For instance, if the question regards immigration, Lords can ask
994-657: A question is answered orally in Parliament, MPs may raise supplementary questions. According to Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin , the sequencing of questions for Question Time is entirely at the Speaker's discretion: "As Speaker, I will decide the sequence of PQs on the Order Paper for a Sitting. No strict formula is involved, other than exercising reasonable judgement." Describing his approach to presiding over Question Time, Tan has said: "I will be permissive and expansive where possible to optimise productive exchanges. For instance, after
1065-466: A question. Each day that the Parliament of Singapore sits has the first one and a half hours of the meeting allocated to Question Time. MPs submit questions in advance, and only questions listed on the Order Paper for the sitting day may be dealt with during Question Time. Questions which are not dealt with during the sitting may be "rolled over" to another sitting day, or answered in writing. After
1136-526: A single unit is unicameral , one divided into two chambers is bicameral , and one divided into three chambers is tricameral . In bicameral legislatures, one chamber is usually considered the upper house , while the other is considered the lower house . The two types are not rigidly different, but members of upper houses tend to be indirectly elected or appointed rather than directly elected, tend to be allocated by administrative divisions rather than by population, and tend to have longer terms than members of
1207-481: A supplementary question to an oral response. Reforms in 2016 at the start of the 32nd Dáil created separate time slots for different types of question, and empower the Ceann Comhairle to demand a further response if the initial one is deemed inadequate. The Diet of Japan held its first question time ( 党首討論 , tōshu tōron ) on 10 November 1999; the first question asked to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi
1278-400: A topical question for which no notice is required. Questions to the prime minister are usually tabled on a topical basis so that the name of the MP is published but not the question itself. Additionally, each Member of Parliament is entitled to table an unlimited number of written questions. Usually a Private Member directs a question to a Secretary of State , and it is usually answered by
1349-500: A way the Liberal Opposition disapproved of. To protest the change, the Opposition made random quorum calls through the afternoon for every question they felt they had been denied that day. In the House, question time is generally scheduled from 2pm to 3:15 pm on every sitting day; in the Senate, it generally occurs from 2pm to 3pm. Apart from divisions, it is the only time the chamber is likely to be filled. Tactically, it
1420-435: Is indirectly elected within the context of a one-party state . Legislature size is a trade off between efficiency and representation; the smaller the legislature, the more efficiently it can operate, but the larger the legislature, the better it can represent the political diversity of its constituents. Comparative analysis of national legislatures has found that size of a country's lower house tends to be proportional to
1491-424: Is a common misperception that question time is about asking questions to ministers as there are uncommon occurrences of questions being asked to members of Parliament who are not ministers. Question time in the House of Commons of Canada , colloquially referred to as Question Period , and formally known as Oral Questions , occurs during each sitting day in the House of Commons. The questions may be posed to either
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#17328015683611562-464: Is considered an important defining characteristic for an Opposition Leader to be able ask a pertinent question of the prime minister or premier, or to single out perceived weak performers in the Ministry. Interjections from both government and opposition members in the House of Representatives and the Senate are common, and broadly speaking are an accepted practice, although the speaker of the House or
1633-654: Is generally held every week while the Diet is in session, it may be cancelled with the agreement of the opposition: this often happens during the budgeting period and at other times when the prime minister must sit in the Diet. Speaker Johari Abdul of the Dewan Rakyat , the elected house of the Parliament of Malaysia , announced in February 2023 that the upcoming sitting would see the introduction of both Prime Minister's Questions and Minister's Questions: "We suggest that
1704-589: Is held every Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. It consists of the Speaker of Parliament to giving all parliamentary groups the opportunity to put at least one question to the prime minister of Finland and his/her ministers. It is broadcast live on public television, particularly on Yle TV1 . Government ministers are made available to the Bundestag for 35 minutes each Wednesday after the weekly cabinet meeting, during which time they take questions on current matters before
1775-471: Is not a formal motion but an indication that, even if further questions were asked, ministers would not answer them since they are not compelled to do so. It is possible in this way to prematurely terminate question time, although this is rare in the House and essentially unheard of in the Senate. During the Keating Government, the prime minister attempted to limit the number of questions asked in
1846-651: The European Union . The upper house may either contain the delegates of state governments – as in the European Union and in Germany and, before 1913, in the United States – or be elected according to a formula that grants equal representation to states with smaller populations, as is the case in Australia and the United States since 1913. Tricameral legislatures are rare;
1917-668: The Legislative Assembly of Ontario is formally known as Oral Questions. In the Quebec National Assembly , the practice is called Oral Questions and Answers . In the Oireachtas , Ireland's parliament, questions are asked in Dáil Éireann , the lower house, to which the government of Ireland is responsible. The Ceann Comhairle (speaker) has wide discretion on allowing questions, which are directed to
1988-673: The Massachusetts Governor's Council still exists, but the most recent national example existed in the waning years of White-minority rule in South Africa . Tetracameral legislatures no longer exist, but they were previously used in Scandinavia. The only legislature with a number of chambers bigger than four was the Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia ; initially established as a Pentacameral body in 1963, it
2059-550: The Parliament of the United Kingdom , the floor of the legislature frequently sees lively debate. In contrast, in committee-based legislatures like the United States Congress , deliberation takes place in closed committees. While legislatures have nominally the sole power to create laws, the substantive extent of this power depends on details of the political system. In Westminster-style legislatures
2130-553: The Westminster system of the United Kingdom , and occurs in other countries, mostly Commonwealth countries, who use the system. In practice, the questions asked in question time are often pre-arranged by the organisers of each party, although the questions are usually without notice. Questions from government backbenchers are either intended to allow the Minister to discuss the virtues of government policy, or to attack
2201-479: The cube root of its population ; that is, the size of the lower house tends to increase along with population, but much more slowly. Question time A question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (including the prime minister), which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be cancelled in exceptional circumstances. Question time originated in
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2272-457: The prime minister of Canada , or any minister of the Cabinet of Canada . In addition to the House of Commons of Canada , question period is also a convention that is practiced in the various legislative bodies of the provinces and territories of Canada . Like the federal House of Commons, Question Period in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia , Legislative Assembly of Manitoba , and
2343-554: The Commons since November 2007. For question time, Government whips organize "support groups" of government MPs whose duty it is to support the ministers who answer questions by asking questions helpful to the government and shouting in its support. In addition to government departments, there are also questions regarding the Church of England , House of Commons reform and Law Rulings. Questions for oral answer are selected by ballot
2414-641: The Estates . The oldest surviving legislature is the Icelandic Althing , founded in 930 CE. Democratic legislatures have six major functions: representation, deliberation, legislation, authorizing expenditure, making governments, and oversight. There exist five ways that representation can be achieved in a legislature: One of the major functions of a legislature is to discuss and debate issues of major importance to society. This activity can take place in two forms. In debating legislatures, such as
2485-592: The European assemblies of nobility which the monarchs would have to consult before raising taxes. For this power to be actually effective, the legislature should be able to amend the budget, have an effective committee system, enough time for consideration, as well as access to relevant background information. There are several ways in which the legislature can hold the executive branch (the administration or government) accountable. This can be done through hearings, questioning , interpellations , votes of confidence ,
2556-456: The House of Commons lasts for an hour each day from Monday to Thursday (2:30 to 3:30pm on Mondays, 11:30am to 12:30pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 9:30 to 10:30am on Thursdays). Each Government department has its place in a rota which repeats every four to five weeks when the House is sitting. The larger Departments generally have the full hour for oral questions whereas smaller Departments will have less time allocated. In addition, Questions to
2627-416: The House of Representatives or the Senate – but the discussions on this issue have never gotten past an exploratory stage. President George H. W. Bush once said of PMQs, "I count my blessings for the fact I don't have to go into that pit that John Major stands in, nose-to-nose with the opposition, all yelling at each other." In 2008, Senator John McCain ( Republican Party nominee for president of
2698-483: The Minister any question related to immigration during the allowed period). The Lords usually do not have a call list, as the Commons does, so Peers rise to ask a question themselves and they alternate between the Government, opposition and crossbench sides of the chamber. Unlike the Commons, where only the Speaker can call a member to order, any Lord can call any other Lord to order, and on many occasions noble Lords intervene to ensure fair distribution of questions around
2769-452: The Minister’s verbal reply, I will let MPs continue asking Supplementary Questions (SQs) for further clarifications. I will remind both front and back benches to say more with less, so that as many MPs who wish to ask SQs can do so." He has called the tone of Singaporean Question Time "more measured" compared to similar proceedings in other countries. In the United Kingdom , question time in
2840-756: The Prime Minister takes place each Wednesday from noon to 12:30pm, and questions are asked each Thursday (Questions to the Leader of House of Commons ), about the business of the House the following week. The larger departments also have a Topical question period for the last 15 minutes of their hour for questions, where the Secretary of State outlines recent developments in their department and then backbench MPs can ask any question relating to their department, for which ministers are not given prior notice. Topical questions have been part of each question time in
2911-575: The State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The exact meaning of this clause has never been worked out fully, although it is the constitutional basis for the modern State of the Union address. There was some discussion at various times about whether this clause would allow something similar to a Westminster style question time – for instance, having Department Secretaries being questioned by
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2982-462: The United States in the 2008 presidential election ) stated his intention , if elected, to create a presidential equivalent of the British conditional convention of Prime Minister's Questions . In a policy speech on 15 May 2008, which outlined a number of ideas, McCain said, "I will ask Congress to grant me the privilege of coming before both houses to take questions, and address criticism, much
3053-422: The area of the minister's responsibility. Questions require that all facts be authenticated. Before a question is asked it is checked that it meets the requirements of the House's standing orders, before being transmitted to the relevant ministers. In New Zealand oral questions are asked at 2pm on each sitting day. Twelve principal oral questions are asked, with supplementary questions also given that must relate to
3124-419: The budget involved. The members of a legislature are called legislators. In a democracy, legislators are most commonly popularly elected , although indirect election and appointment by the executive are also used, particularly for bicameral legislatures featuring an upper house . The name used to refer to a legislative body varies by country. Common names include: By names: By languages: Though
3195-510: The chamber. If unable to settle who the next speaker is, usually the Leader of the House will intervene. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , call lists had been in use in the Lords from April 2020 to December 2021 as some Peers participated virtually. A peer may also table up to six questions for written answer on any day the House is sitting. In Finland's parliament Question hour ( kyselytunti )
3266-440: The conclusion of questioning. Also, New Zealand's free-to-air digital television network, Freeview , provides live coverage of the debating chamber when it is in session on Parliament TV . There is no limit to the written questions that any MP can ask and can be submitted each working day before 10.30am. Submission and publication of the question is an electronic process with no hard copy record. Ministers have 6 days to respond to
3337-477: The day. There is a 30-second time limit for questions by the Opposition and a four-minute time limit for answers in the House of Representatives. Crossbench MPs get a time limit of 30 seconds, the same as Government and Opposition members. This was reduced from 45 seconds when the standing orders were amended on 2 August 2022. In the Senate, a questioner may ask an initial question and two supplementary questions related to their initial question. Each question has
3408-498: The distribution of ministers between both chambers, ministers also take on representative roles, answering questions relating to portfolios that are not their own because the responsible minister sits in the other chamber. This allows questioners to ask questions about any government portfolio in either chamber. This normally includes the Leader of the Government in the Senate representing the prime minister in response to questions asked by senators about general government policy. Sometimes
3479-521: The executive (composed of the cabinet) can essentially pass any laws it wants, as it usually has a majority of legislators behind it, kept in check by the party whip, while committee-based legislatures in continental Europe and those in presidential systems of the Americas have more independence in drafting and amending bills. The origins of the power of the purse which legislatures typically have in passing or denying government budgets goes back to
3550-522: The federal Parliament with the exception of the Parliament of Victoria , where, since 2015, government backbenchers are no longer entitled to ask questions during question time. As a replacement, ministers can make two-minute ministerial statements to the chamber (see Dorothy Dixer ). Question time has been broadcast on ABC Radio since 1946 and televised since 1991 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . There
3621-655: The first meeting of a session, a meeting at which the president (the speaker ) of the council is elected, or the Chief Executive delivers the annual policy address to the Council. No more than 22 questions, excluding urgent questions that may be permitted by the president, may be asked at any one meeting. Replies to questions may be given by designated public officers, usually secretaries , orally or in written form. For questions seeking oral replies, supplementary questions may be put by any member when called upon by
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#17328015683613692-472: The formation of committees. Parliaments are usually ensured with upholding the rule of law, verifying that public funds are used accountably and efficiently as well as make government processes transparent and actions so that they can be debated by the public and its representatives. Agora notes that parliamentary systems or political parties in which political leaders can influence or decide which members receive top jobs can lead to passivity amongst members of
3763-507: The government. This is followed by a further two-hour question-and-answer session consisting of questions that were submitted in advance in writing. The questions in the Legislative Council are aimed at seeking information on government actions on specific problems or incidents and on government policies, for the purpose of monitoring the effectiveness of the government. Questions may be asked at any council meeting except
3834-442: The initial subject matter. The opportunity to ask questions is equally shared amongst the members of the house, excluding ministers. Urgent questions, while possible, are uncommon. The question is addressed to the portfolio of the minister receiving the question, and the questioner must ask the question as written. Once a question is asked, supplementary questions can be asked. SKY News New Zealand broadcasts this session from 2pm to
3905-416: The issue of relevance, as a Minister answering questions will normally attempt to redirect the answer to an attack on their opponents. However, as long as the Minister is talking on the general subject of the matter raised in the question, it is usually considered relevant to the question, even if it does not address the specific issue raised in the question at all. State parliaments adopt similar practices to
3976-435: The legislature consists of a number of legislators who use some form of parliamentary procedure to debate political issues and vote on proposed legislation. There must be a certain number of legislators present to carry out these activities; this is called a quorum . Some of the responsibilities of a legislature, such as giving first consideration to newly proposed legislation, are usually delegated to committees made up of
4047-604: The legislature. Will ended the piece by saying, "Congress should remind a President McCain that the 16 blocks separating the Capitol from the White House nicely express the nation's constitutional geography." In February 2009, just over a month after his inauguration , President Barack Obama invited serving members of the US Senate to a "fiscal responsibility" summit at the White House , during which Senators asked
4118-406: The lower house. In some systems, particularly parliamentary systems , the upper house has less power and tends to have a more advisory role, but in others, particularly federal presidential systems , the upper house has equal or even greater power. In federations , the upper house typically represents the federation's component states. This is also the case with the supranational legislature of
4189-513: The members may be protected by parliamentary immunity or parliamentary privilege , either for all actions the duration of their entire term, or for just those related to their legislative duties. A legislature may debate and vote upon bills as a single unit, or it may be composed of multiple separate assemblies , called by various names including legislative chambers , debate chambers , and houses , which debate and vote separately and have distinct powers. A legislature which operates as
4260-443: The minister in charge of the relevant Department of State . A question may be answered by any cabinet minister due to cabinet collective responsibility , or by a (non-cabinet) Minister of State at the relevant Department of State. Questions requiring departmental research may not have an answer available within the three-day notice period; these tend to be submitted for written rather than oral response. The Ceann Comhairle may permit
4331-534: The opposition. Question time, formally known as questions without notice , is an institution in the Commonwealth Parliament and in all state parliaments. Questions to government ministers normally alternate between government members and the opposition, with the opposition going first. Questions of ministers are generally asked by their counterpart shadow ministers (or in the case of a minister and corresponding shadow minister are each members of
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#17328015683614402-407: The party and less challenging of leadership. Agora notes that this phenomenon is acute if the election of a member is dependant on the support of political leadership. In contrast to democratic systems, legislatures under authoritarianism are used to ensure the stability of the power structure by co-opting potential competing interests within the elites, which they achieve by: Each chamber of
4473-572: The president about his fiscal policies in an event which was compared to Prime Minister's Question. Eleven months later, Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner invited Obama to the annual House Issues Conference in Baltimore , Maryland , where the president answered questions and criticisms from Republican members of Congress. Commenting on the event, Peter Baker in The New York Times , said "[the] back and forth resembled
4544-405: The president of the Senate will intervene if interjections become too frequent, if they contain inappropriate content, or if the member interjecting is disrupting debate. Given that question time is the only time of day when all members of Parliament are in their respective chambers, the appearance of question time can be rowdy and boisterous compared to the normally sedate activity during the rest of
4615-439: The president of the council for the purpose of elucidating that answer. Where there is no debate on a motion with no legislative effect at a meeting, no more than ten questions requiring oral replies may be asked; otherwise, no more than six questions may require an oral reply. The Chief Executive, who is the head of the region and head of government, attends Question and Answer Session of the council which are held several times in
4686-409: The principle of legislative supremacy , which holds that the legislature is the supreme branch of government and cannot be bound by other institutions, such as the judicial branch or a written constitution . Such a system renders the legislature more powerful. In parliamentary and semi-presidential systems of government , the executive is responsible to the legislature, which may remove it with
4757-462: The same as the Prime Minister of Great Britain [ sic ] appears regularly before the House of Commons ." George F. Will of The Washington Post criticized the proposal in an op-ed piece, saying that a presidential question time would endanger separation of powers as the president of the United States, unlike the prime minister of the United Kingdom, is not a member of
4828-428: The session be held every Tuesday for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to answer questions that are addressed to him and on Thursday, there will be the Minister's Question Time (MQT) session." He described this as a pilot, and said that amendments to the house's standing orders would be required to make question time a regular part of parliamentary proceedings. Questions asked to ministers must be concise and related to
4899-589: The specific roles for each legislature differ by location, they all aim to serve the same purpose of appointing officials to represent their citizens to determine appropriate legislation for the country. Among the earliest recognised formal legislatures was the Athenian Ecclesia . In the Middle Ages , European monarchs would host assemblies of the nobility, which would later develop into predecessors of modern legislatures. These were often named
4970-518: Was "Prime Minister, what did you have for breakfast this morning?". Japan's question time was closely modeled after that of the UK, and many Diet members travelled to the House of Commons to study the British application of the concept. Question time is 45 minutes long and questions are limited to the leaders of parliamentary caucuses (which must consist of at least ten members of either house). Although it
5041-519: Was turned into a hexacameral body in 1967. Legislatures vary widely in their size. Among national legislatures , China's National People's Congress is the largest with 2,980 members, while Vatican City 's Pontifical Commission is the smallest with 7. Neither legislature is democratically elected: The Pontifical Commission members are appointed by the Pope and the National People's Congress
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