Lesson video

Hi there, my name is Mrs. Massey.

How are you doing today? I hope you're well.

I'm gonna be working with you through your citizenship lesson today.

Okay, so let's get started on today's lesson.

The title of the lesson is, "Is the Physical Setup of the House of Commons Fit for Purpose?" And this is part of the unit on what is the nature of the British Constitution? The outcome for today is that by the end, hopefully you'll be able to recognise the layout of the House of Commons and consider the benefits and drawbacks of this layout.

Our keywords that you will see throughout the lesson today is Parliament, the institution of government in the UK.

It comprises of the three parts: House of Commons, House of Lords, and the Monarch.

Its purpose is to debate, make laws, and to scrutinise the government.

We've also got House of Commons, elected body currently consisting of 650 Members of Parliament where MPs debate make laws and scrutinise the government.

It's the Lower House of Parliament and meets in the Palace of Westminster.

We've also got Member of Parliament, MP.

The representative elected to represent a constituency and formally elected to the UK's national legislative body.

So outline, we are gonna start with, how is the House of Commons physically laid out? So in order to get there, we're just gonna have a look at this slide here.

So this building here, you might recognise, you might have even visited it, but this is where laws are debated and made and the work of government is scrutinised.

Do you know where this building is? So this is in London, if you knew that.

And this is what the Parliament building looks like.

It's also called the Palace of Westminster.

Now, Parliament itself is made up of three parts.

So we've got the House of Commons, you might be able to work out the next one, which is the House of Lords, and then we've also got the Monarch.

Now the Monarch, some people tend not to realise that that's also part of Parliament.

So we do have the Monarch involved as well.

As we go through, you might see how they are or how they're not involved in the House of Commons.

The House of Commons is the publicly elected chamber of Parliament.

So you might have heard of people when they elect somebody, if they have, it's probably to do with the House of Commons.

This is located in the building that we just saw, which is the Palace of Westminster.

Now in the House of Commons, the MPs discuss big political issues and debate and vote on proposals for new laws and changes to existing laws.

So quick question to check.

Who sits in the House of Commons? Take a few seconds to have a think.

It is the Member of Parliament.

Now, the Monarchs and the Lords are on there because they're the other parts that make up Parliament.

It's also important to remember actually, the Monarch is not allowed in the House of Commons.

They must remain politically neutral.

Now, we've got the different areas of the House of Commons, which are allocated to different people.

Here, you've got the picture of the House of Commons there.

You might recognise the layout.

You might be able to guess what some of them different numbers and what the positions and roles are.

You might have been there.

But if not, we will make a start.

So we'll start with number one.

If you managed to work that one out, that is the speaker.

And after this, we'll go through what each of their roles are.

At the moment, it's just going through what each number and where they sit in House of Commons.

So we've got the Leader of the Opposition at number two.

Opposite them, you might know this one, this is the Leader of the Government.

So that is the Prime Minister.

Number four, you've got the Shadow Cabinet.

So they sit on the front benches behind the Leader of the Opposition.

We've got the Cabinet.

Again, they sit behind the Prime Minister and they're also the frontbenchers.

We've got the backbenchers who sit across the back of the House of Commons.

Seven, we've got the Clerks.

Eight, the Serjeant at Arms. So who are they? We've got the Speaker.

If you've heard of the speaker before or if you think about what the word speaker means, this is the person that leads the debates.

They also represent the House on ceremonial occasions and events.

They are assisted by three Deputy Speakers.

The most important thing about the speaker, they are politically neutral.

So if you ever think, maybe if you've ever been in a situation, you've been in a debate, we tend to have somebody in the middle that is chairing it.

If that person was biassed and one-sided, then our debate wouldn't be quite fair.

So this is the role of the speaker in the House of Commons.

So this is the Leader of the Opposition and they're there to challenge.

It's good.

So the idea is that we have people challenging the government and what they are suggesting.

So they sit obviously opposite.

So position three, we've got our Prime Minister.

Just have a quick think.

Do you know who our current prime minister is? It's Keir Starmer, that's who we've got at the moment.

And he's the leader of the government and responsible for the policy and decisions of the government.

So quick check, where does the speaker sit? They're on the left side of the chamber, the right side, or in the middle of the chamber? Just take a few seconds to have a think.

If you went middle of the chamber, yup.

And we're just remembering why the speaker is in the middle of the chamber.

It is they're impartial.

They chair the debates and they keep order.

They call the MPs to speak.

We want them to not be biassed.

So moving on to our other people that we've got in the House of Commons now.

We've got our frontbenchers.

Now, quite literally, they sit in the front seats.

We have two types.

We've got the shadow cabinet and the cabinet.

So our cabinet is for the people that are part of the government and our shadow cabinet is our opposition.

So they are the ones there to challenge what the cabinet and what the prime minister and the government is suggesting.

Then we move on to our backbenchers.

So just having a think.

If we've got our frontbenchers sitting at the front, where might our backbenchers sit? Yup, they sit at the back.

And these are just quite simply the other people and the other MPs that are not in government or opposition spokespersons.

And they sit behind.

They still get involved in House of Commons and they get involved in the debates, but they just don't have a select seat.

If we move on to number seven, can you remember what number seven was? If you said clerk, yes.

Now, you might have heard of a clerk before in maybe another kind of setting at all, but our clerk is our senior official at the House of Commons.

They advise the House on its practise and procedures.

Again, having a think, the speaker sits in the middle, the clerk sits in the middle.

Do we think they are politically affiliated? If you think no, you're right.

Yeah, they're neutral.

They sit in the middle, they're there to advise.

So we again, we don't want them biassed.

Then this one I mentioned earlier, if you've heard of the Serjeant at Arms, if not, just having to think, they're sat by the door of the House of Commons.

Who might we expect to see at the door when we're going into a room? So if you thought that they might be something to do with security, then you're right.

So they're responsible for keeping the order within the Commons.

Again, just a quick check.

So the Clerk of the House sits between the government and the opposition.

Is that true or false? Just take a few seconds.

It is true.

Why is it true? Back to this idea again, they're politically impartial or neutral, and they do not sit on either side of the House.

Some of the other parts that we didn't mention, so which ones have we missed so far? We haven't done nine.

Nine, we've got the press gallery, the press being the media.

For number 10, we've got the public gallery.

So if you didn't know actually and you were interested in a debate or what's going on in the House of Commons, you can go and sit and watch.

So that's something to always remember.

We've got the dispatch boxes and these are either side of the table, they're not used to contain documents or dispatches, but hold the Bible and other items used when members take the oath.

Right, we are going to move on to the task now.

So task, if you can draw a diagram of the layout of the House of Commons and use a key to label the diagram, so remembering the different main roles.

We've got them there, like the Speaker, Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, frontbenchers-cabinet, frontbenchers-shadow cabinet, the backbenchers, the Clerk of the House, Serjeant at Arms, press, gallery, public gallery, and the dispatch boxes.

Now, if you can go and go on to write a sentence to describe each of these roles, so what the Speaker, the frontbenchers, backbenchers, Clerk of the House, and Serjeant at Arms do.

If you take a sec just to pause the video and then come back when you are done and we can feedback and go through it.

How did you find that? Hopefully you've got the rectangular layout and you might have something similar to this below.

You might have done your diagram a little bit different.

That's fine.

You might also have the backbenchers in a little bit of a different place as long as they are obviously at the back benches, but the rest of the positions we want in the same place.

Now, if you moved on to writing a sentence to describe each of the roles, you could have included, so obviously we've got the Speaker chairing the debate.

Once again, we're going over that that speaker is politically neutral, along with the clerk as well.

We've got the frontbenchers and they're the government ministers or opposition spokespeople and they sit at the front.

And our backbenchers, they sit in the rows behind.

So you just said the Clerk as well.

And our Serjeant at Arms, they're responsible for keeping the order within the Commons.

So that is how the House of Commons is physically laid out.

We are gonna move on to comparing this to other chambers in the UK.

Now if you didn't know, each country in the UK has its own devolved parliament or assembly.

Now, yes, if you've got them.

So we've got the green, the Northern Island Assembly instalment; the blue there, that's the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood; and the Welsh Parliament or Senedd in Cardiff in yellow.

This one here, this is the Scottish Parliament and this is where the Member of Scottish Parliaments sit.

So straight away, we might see one main difference, see if you can spot that, but we actually, if we think about some similarities, what could we think of that's similar to what we've just seen with the House of Commons? If you think about the layout, actually yes, it might look different in shape, but it's still formal and there are still set places for seats, which we are gonna look at as well.

Some of the differences, I've just kind of mentioned one, we've got this shape here, which is an ellipse shape.

Yeah, and the House of Commons, which is rectangular shape.

So straight away, what are your thoughts looking at the differences? Do you think there would be a difference in the outcome of the debate or will it not make an impact? What do you think? In the Scottish Debating Chamber, the seats will face the presiding officer and the public gallery stretches around the back, which you can kinda see in the photo there.

And then right to the middle, we've got everyone facing in.

Obviously in the House of Commons, the seats face each other and they are either side with the speaker in the middle and the public gallery is on one end.

So here, Jun is asking, "Is the presiding officer like the speaker?" Izzy replied replied, "Yes, they're impartial and in charge of chairing the debates." Now if we have a look, we can see it probably better on the diagram, the presiding officer's at the front in the middle and then we've got the first minister who is facing them.

Now, the first minister would be a similar position to like the Prime Minister in UK Parliament.

And then again, like we've got the frontbenchers at the Commons, we've got the Cabinet Secretary and Ministers in the Scottish Chamber.

And then you've got the Member of the Scottish Parliament sat around the back, a bit like the backbenchers in the House of Commons.

Other parts of the chamber.

You've got the public gallery.

Yup, so we've got the clerk there, and if you think back to what the clerk did in the House of Commons, it's the same thing.

We've got our official report.

So where does the first minister sit? Yup, first minister faces the presiding officer.

So they are facing each other and they are the Head of the Scottish Government.

What else have we got? So we've got the Senedd, which is the debating chamber of Wales.

Again, first looks, what do you think of this one? So again, a bit different as well.

Maybe more similarities to the Scottish one.

And we've got the debating chamber of the Welsh Parliament, also known as the Siambr, which means chamber in Welsh.

So what similarities can you see compared to the House of Commons here? Thinking back to the similarities we had with the Scottish Parliament as well.

Again, if you're saying it's formal, it's got the formal layout, we've got the set seats.

Again, the shape is just very different.

In this one, the public sits above and surrounds.

Every member has their own computer terminal.

So thinking that, do you think maybe this one might be a bit more modern? Chairs face the members and the government ministers sit in the first row.

So very quickly, can you match the name of the chamber with its picture? Take a few seconds.

So the Welsh Parliament is that end picture there.

Then we've got the House of Commons on the left and the middle one leaves us with the Scottish Parliament.

Can you draw a diagram of the physical layout of the Scottish Chamber and use some of the key terms? So we've got Presiding Officer, First Minister, Cabinet Secretary, and Ministers.

Now if you've done that, the second part of the task is to outline at least two key similarities and differences between the House of Commons and the Scottish Chamber.

If you take some time to pause and then restart when you are finished, might help to go back and have a look at the pictures as well to give you some ideas here.

How did you find that task? Hopefully that one should have been all right.

And we will have main ellipse shape of the Scottish Chamber.

So your design could look similar to what I've got there, but the main thing is that we're looking for that ellipse shape with the presiding officer facing the first minister and cabinet secretary and ministers.

That is your main difference with this one.

Now if you did that, some similarities and differences, you could have included yes, they've got set seats for some ministers and they've got someone to chair the debate even though they've got different names.

Main difference, the shape, and the House of Commons has to fit more MPs in.

You might have thought some other ideas as well.

We're just looking at how they're similar and how they're different.

So moving on to our final outline, which is now what are the benefits and drawbacks of the layout? So we're looking at the House of Commons now again and moving on.

So all the debating chambers are shaped differently.

Does this have an impact in debates? Yeah, there are gonna be some benefits and drawbacks to each of them.

What do you think the benefits of the layout of the House of Commons might be? So we've seen we've got that rectangular shape, we've got everyone facing each other.

What is good about that? Yeah, we've got the direct eye contact.

So when you're facing each other, it's clear who they are addressing and they can tackle each other's points clearly.

If you were in a debate with somebody and you are facing them, you can clearly focus on them and take in their ideas.

If you're sat around with someone, that might be a bit more difficult.

Can quite see the reaction of other people and how they're responding and then might respond accordingly.

True or false? It's hard for leaders of the opposition to tackle each other's points in the House of Commons? That is false.

Why? The rectangle shape allows them to face each other.

The leaders also stands in front of each other at the dispatch boxes.

So the drawbacks of the layout of the House of Commons, it's not inclusive, it doesn't encourage that collaborative discussion.

You know, it's a bit different when you're around a circle compared to this where it is two sides facing each other.

The layout might mean that opinions of different MPs may not be seen as having equal importance.

Obviously, we've got the people that are sat at the front and stood at the front as well, so it can be seen as their views might be more important.

And elected members face each other so the views can't be considered productively.

Again, that's what links in with that collaborative discussion.

True or false? The layout of the House of Commons could suggest that MPs' views are of equal importance? That is false.

With the frontbenchers at the front and the back, like we were just saying, it could be seen that the views are more important.

By having a circular shape, it allows everyone is included in the debate and it takes away that physical hierarchy.

So the Palace of Westminster needs essential restoration to preserve it for future generations.

It's currently undergoing some of that restoration now.

And as part of that, that will involve restoring the House of Commons.

So Laura says, "Could the size and layout of the House of Commons be changed?" Alex says, "The House of Commons is small.

And when it's full, there are not enough seats for all the MPs to sit down." Factors to consider if they are gonna change the layout of the House of Commons, size, the cost.

It could be quite expensive.

Yeah, does the shape need to change? We've got different shapes and different spaces across the UK.

Would that change for the House of Commons as well? But also the space that they have got there, or moving elsewhere.

Another one, if you noticed, what was the technology like in the Welsh Assembly? Does the House of Commons need to be modernised and be more up to date like that? So which of the following need to be considered for the future layout of the House of Commons Size, cost, space? It was all three.

Yeah, it's important that they're all considered to improve the future layout.

So moving on to our final task today, we've got Jacob and Sofia and they're debating over which chamber they prefer.

We've got Jacob who prefers the layout of the House of Commons, and we've got Sofia who thinks the debating chamber of Holyrood is much better.

Consider the physical layout of both chambers.

Which do you think works best? So you're gonna give reasons to justify your answer.

When you've done that, create your own design for what the House of Commons could look like in the future.

Now, if you just take a minute to pause here, and then when you are finished, we can, yeah, and then we will come back and hopefully look forward to seeing your interesting designs that you've created.

So to that first one, thinking about the physical layout of both chambers, which you think works best, your answer could include, so if you prefer the House of Commons, maybe it's because it's clear who the opposition is when they're facing each other, it's very direct.

If you preferred Holyrood, maybe it's because it allows everyone's opinions to be heard.

Everyone faces a presiding officer who's impartial.

The House of Commons focuses more on the leaders at the front.

Now, you could have many other reasons for what you preferred, as long as you've justified why.

Now for the second one, you may have written something, you may have drawn your design, which would be great as well, to see exactly how it should look.

Now, you could have changed it to a circular shape or maybe, you know, an ellipse shape.

You might have thought of something completely different, which is great as well, as long as you can show why that would improve the debate and the quality of debate in the House of Commons.

Now in this case, thinking about maybe adding individual computers to each desk because it would align the House of Commons with modern times.

So you might have thought of that in your design as well.

The type of equipment maybe, where people are sitting.

There's all different ideas that you could go with here.

So hopefully, you've created a really interesting design.

Yeah, so that brings us to a close.

Thank you for going through the setup of the House of Commons with me today.

Just to summarise, so the House of Commons is a rectangular shape.

An advantage of this is it's clear who's being addressed.

Disadvantage is it's small and cannot fit everyone in sitting down.

Other chambers follow different layouts, such as ellipse, circular, or U-shaped.

Advantage of this is it allows inclusive debate.

And a disadvantage, there's a lack of direct eye contact between key people.

Hopefully you've enjoyed working through this lesson today, and thank you and have a lovely day.