2.2.4 How Parliament interacts with the Executive Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Politics, Unit 2

The 20 questions

1. Which weekly session gives MPs the chance to question the Prime Minister directly?

   • Question Time
   • Executive Questioning
   • Prime Minister's Questions
   • Prime Minister's Debate

2. What term describes MPs and peers who hold no ministerial or front-bench office?

   • Backbenchers
   • Crossbenchers
   • Frontbenchers
   • Privy Councillors

3. What is the primary function of departmental select committees in the Commons?

   • Appointing cabinet ministers
   • Forming government policy
   • Passing primary legislation
   • Scrutinising government departments

4. Which committee examines the detailed clauses of a bill line by line?

   • Public bill committee
   • Privileges committee
   • Liaison committee
   • Select committee

5. What is the key constitutional role of the Official Opposition?

   • Passing government bills
   • Holding ministers accountable
   • Drafting royal assents
   • Appointing civil servants

6. What right does parliamentary privilege grant MPs inside the chamber?

   • Tax exemption status
   • Absolute criminal immunity
   • Veto over legislation
   • Freedom of speech

7. Which convention prevents the Lords from blocking manifesto bills at second reading?

   • Prorogation rule
   • Sewel Convention
   • Salisbury Convention
   • Parliament Act

8. Under the Parliament Acts, what power does the Commons hold over the Lords?

   • Suspending peerages
   • Overriding Lords' veto
   • Abolishing the Lords
   • Appointing all peers

9. What action by government backbenchers can cause a government defeat?

   • Prorogation
   • Rebellion
   • Abstention
   • Filibustering

10. What is a select committee's primary formal power regarding evidence?

    • Imprisoning ministers
    • Summoning witnesses
    • Issuing binding laws
    • Overturning verdicts

11. What feature of oral questions allows MPs to probe ministers further?

    • Private notices
    • Written answers
    • Urgent debates
    • Supplementary questions

12. At which legislative stage are individual clauses of a bill examined in detail?

    • Second reading
    • Royal assent
    • Report stage
    • Committee stage

13. What do opposition days grant the Official Opposition in Parliament?

    • Legislative veto
    • Cabinet seats
    • Supply funding
    • Debate control

14. Which factor makes a government with a slim majority especially vulnerable?

    • Royal intervention
    • Backbench rebellions
    • Lords amendments
    • Civil service strikes

15. What process occurs when a bill is passed back and forth between Lords and Commons?

    • Legislative ping-pong
    • Double reading
    • Bicameral deadlock
    • Chamber cycling

16. Which feature of the UK political system most limits Parliament's control of the executive?

    • Lords veto power
    • Royal prerogative rights
    • Government Commons majority
    • Judicial review limits

17. Which parliamentary body has most improved the independent scrutiny of government departments?

    • Backbench Business Committee
    • Privy Council
    • House of Lords
    • Select committees

18. Which criticism is most commonly levelled against Prime Minister's Questions?

    • Party theatricals
    • Excludes backbenchers
    • Insufficient duration
    • Lacks public broadcast

19. What can the Commons use to bypass Lords rejection over two sessions?

    • Parliament Acts
    • Secondary legislation
    • Royal assent
    • Salisbury Convention

20. Which chamber holds ultimate legislative dominance under the UK constitution?

    • Supreme Court
    • Privy Council
    • House of Lords
    • House of Commons

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