Hello, my name's Ms. Wyatt, and I'm so glad you could be here with us today.

Welcome to our lesson.

Welcome to today's lesson on Can Citizens Change Laws? From the Unit, "What is the law and how has it changed?" By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to describe methods citizens use to influence lawmakers and provide an example of how a citizen has changed the law.

We have some ground rules in our lesson today due to the sensitivity of it.

Laura says, "We need to listen to others.

It is okay to disagree with each other, but we should listen properly before making assumptions or deciding how to respond.

When disagreeing, challenge the statement not the person." Andeep says, "Respect, privacy.

We can discuss examples, but do not use names or descriptions that identify anyone including ourselves." Izzy says, "Choose level of participation.

Everyone has the right to choose not to answer a question or join discussion.

We never put anyone on the spot." And Jacob says, "No judgement.

We can explore beliefs and misunderstandings about a topic without fear of being judged." So our main ground rules for today's lesson are to listen to others respect, privacy, choose your level of participation and no judgement.

I'm hoping you are mature enough to be able to follow our ground rules and respect them.

We have some key words today, and these may be new to you, but please don't worry.

They will be used quite a lot in our lesson and you will become used to their definitions.

We have citizen, law, lawmaker, and parliament.

A citizen is a person who was born in a particular country and has certain rights or has been given certain rights because of having lived there.

Law are rules usually made by parliament that are used to order the way in which a society behaves.

Lawmaker is a person who helps create debate and decide on new laws.

In the UK, lawmakers are MPs, members of Parliament and members of the House of Lords.

Parliament is the body that makes laws in the UK, is made up of the House of Commons, House of Lords, and the Monarch.

Our lesson is broken up into two parts today.

The first part we're going to be exploring the question of what methods can be used to influence lawmakers.

And the second part is how have citizens changed the law? So when we're ready, we're going to start with the first part of the lesson.

Laura says, "It's not fair.

My brother ate the last piece of cake that I wanted!" I wonder if any of you have ever been in that position before.

Alex says, "That's annoying.

My sister always gets to choose what goes on TV, it drives me mad." And Aisha says, "I hate it when things aren't fair.

Sometimes I see things in my community that I don't think are fair, like in my town, that aren't enough safe spaces for kids to play.

But what can we do?" Everyone has said the words, it's not fair before.

I've said it, you've probably said it.

What happens when we think something is unfair in our local community or country? As citizens how can we influence those in positions of power like lawmakers? These are some of the questions we need to consider.

Democracy means ruled by the people.

In a democracy the people or citizens can take part in the decisions that affect the way their community or their country is run.

UK is a democracy, which means the citizens of the UK can have a say in how the country is run, including the law.

In the UK, laws are made by Parliament, also known as the legislature.

Parliament has three parts.

Can you name them? Can you name the three parts of Parliament? Do you remember? They are the House of Lords, the House of Commons, and the monarchy.

So the king for the UK.

Each part of parliament has a role to play in the law making process.

The House of Commons is the elected part of Parliaments.

This means that they are elected to be in the House of Commons.

Every citizen has an MP or a member of Parliament who represents them and their constituency within the House of Commons, there are 650 MPs In total.

Part of the role of an MP is to debate and vote on changes to the law.

For a bill to become an Act of Parliament, which is a law, at least 50% of MPs must vote for us.

At least half of them must vote for it.

The House of Lords is the second chamber of UK Parliament And it is unelected.

It is made with life peers, hereditary peers, and lord's Spiritual.

Their role is to review and challenge proposed laws by debating them.

While they cannot stop bills completely, they can delay them and ask the House of Commons to reconsider decisions.

So proposed laws and bills will go back and forth between the House of Commons and the House of Laws with suggested changes.

Let's check our understanding.

In which part of parliament would you find MPs who represent the citizens within their constituency? Is it A, the House of Commons.

B, the House of Lords.

or C, the monarch? Pause the video and make your decision.

Hopefully you remembered that it is A, The House of Commons that represent citizens within their constituency.

So well done if you got that correct.

Let's track our understanding with this question.

True or false? In order for a bill to become an act of parliament, at least 40% of MPs must vote for it.

Is it true or is it false? Pause the video and have a think about this question.

If you remember that it is false.

It's false because for a bill to pass through the House of Commons, at least 50% of MPs must vote for it.

So more than 40%.

Most bills are introduced by the government to represent an area of policy.

However, other bills called private members bills, can be introduced by any MP.

Peers in the House of Lords can also introduce bills to parliament.

There can be hundreds of bills making their way through Parliament at any time.

Recent examples include Animals in Medical Research, Prohibition Bill.

This is a bill to ban the use of animals in medical research.

There is the Homelessness Prevention Bill, which is a bill to make provision about the duties of public bodies to prevent homelessness.

And then we have Road Traffic Offences Cycling Bill.

This is a bill to amend the Road Traffic Act of 1988 and the Road Traffic Offenders Act of 1988 to create criminal offences relating to dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling and cycling without compulsory insurance.

Aisha says, "Not all bills will become laws." Which I think is really important and interesting to know.

Laura says, "So if we wanted to try and get a law changed or a new law created, what could we do?" The government website is a good starting point.

You can use the website to research existing laws and see what bills are currently making their way through Parliament.

It's quite a good activity actually research on the government website what bills there are at the minute that are trying to make their way through Parliament.

If you discovered there were no existing laws or felt that the current laws were insufficient, your next step would be to gather support for your campaign.

The more people that know about the issue and agree that a change the law is needed, the more likely that those involved in the lawmaking process will take notice, so petitions.

By getting citizens to sign a petition saying they agree that they want a law changed, it shows the government that there is public support for the issue.

UK citizens or residents can create a petition on the government website.

If it gets 10,000 signatures, the government will respond With a 100,000 signatures, it may be debated in parliament.

You can use social media to influence lawmakers.

Social media is a powerful tool for raising awareness about important issues and gaining support for changes to the law by sharing information, stories, facts, and research about the issue.

You can reach a large audience quickly.

I think many of you might have social media or have come across social media before, and think about when you post something, how quickly it gets to other people.

So it can be a brilliant tool if it's used in the correct way for raising awareness about important issues.

So true or false, a petition with 10,000 signatures may be debated in parliament.

Is that true or is that false? Okay, let's check our answer.

Hopefully we all said False.

If a petition gets 10,000 signatures, the government will respond.

But actually you need a 100,000 signatures for it to be considered for a debate in parliament.

Well done if you picked up on that one.

You can also use surveys as a method to influence lawmakers.

Surveys are a great way to show support for a law change.

By asking people if they agree with your idea.

You can gather responses from friends, family, and the community.

With enough data, you can prove that many people support the change, which decision makers often pay attention to.

Local and national news.

So local and National news can help spread your message to a large audience.

By contacting journalists or writing to the media, you raise awareness and influence public opinion.

If the story gets coverage, it can attract the attention of lawmakers and pressure the government to act.

The more and more people hear about it and the further it spreads the better.

So we need to have a go at filling in the missing words to our sentences.

So it says, surveys can help gather something for a something or law change.

Lawmakers pay attention to surveys because they show what people something about an issue.

So can we remember what the missing words were? Let's pause the video and have a good think about this.

Okay, time for answers.

So we had surveys help gather support for a new law or law change.

Lawmakers pay attention to surveys because they show what people think about an issue.

Well done if you manage to remember all three missing gaps.

Which other organisations could help when it comes to influencing lawmakers? Well, partnering with charities and non-governmental organisations or NGOs can boost your campaign's credibility and reach.

These organisations have large networks and experience in influencing laws, offering support, resources and advice.

And working together you can have a bigger impact.

You could also have a go at lobbying politicians.

Lobbying is when you try to influence politicians to support your cause.

You can write to or meet with your MP, explaining why the law should change.

If enough people support it, politicians may raise the issue in parliament or speak about it publicly.

I wonder how many of you actually knew that you could write or meet with your local MP? Let's check our understanding.

Which of the following is an example of lobbying to change a law? Is it A, writing a letter to your MP to ask them to support a law change? B, posting a photo on social media to raise awareness about an existing law, or C, organising a protest to encourage people to sign a petition about changing a law.

Which one? Okay, so our answer should be A.

A, writing a letter to your MP to ask them to support a law change is an example of lobbying.

Well done if you got that right.

What I would like us to do for this task is to make a list of two things in this country that you think are unfair.

For each issue, write down the reason you think it is unfair and who this issue affects.

You can use the table below to help you.

As an example, you could think that homelessness, the issue of homelessness is unfair and why you think it's unfair.

So pause the video and think of two things in this country that you think are unfair and tell us why.

Have a go and have fun.

Okay, so we should have made a list of two things that we think are unfair in this country and write down the reasons why you think it's unfair and who it affects.

So we chose homelessness and the fact that some children can't access online education.

So I think homelessness is unfair because everyone deserves a safe place to live and people shouldn't have to sleep on the streets or in unsafe conditions.

It can also make it harder for people to get a job or take care of themselves.

And the issue is some children can't get access to online education.

Well, everyone should have the same chance to learn, and if they can't get online education, they fall behind in their studies.

Everyone deserves access to education no matter where they live or how much money they have.

So I wonder if you chose any of the same issues as I did, or perhaps they're different.

I would then like us to have a go at picking one of the issues that we chose to complete this table.

So we need to think what is our issue, which issue we're going to choose out of the last two that we just did, what new law could be introduced to help tackle this issue, can you think of one? And describe two methods you could use to gain support for this change to the law? So pause the video and have a go at this table.

Well done everyone.

So our answers might look something like this.

So we chose the issue of homelessness.

We said a new law could be made that says local councils and public services have to do more to help prevent people from becoming homeless by offering support and finding them a place to stay before they lose their homes.

Then we needed to describe two methods that we could use to gain support for this change to the law.

So using surveys, I could create a survey asking if people think that councils should be required to help prevent homelessness.

I share it with friends and family to show that many people support the idea.

And using social media.

I could post facts about homelessness on social media and explain why new law is needed.

I'd ask people to share the post and use hashtags like #stophomelessness to get more attention.

We have now looked at what methods can be used to influence lawmakers, and we're going to be moving on to the final part of the lesson, which explores the question of how have citizens changed the law.

Now just a for warning.

This is a sensitive story and it may cause some upset to you.

Remember our ground rules of listening and respecting privacy, and do your best to listen to what I have to say.

So PC Dave Wardell was a police officer who campaigned for a change in the law to ensure that people who injure or kill service animals like police dogs or horses face stronger consequences.

PC Wardell was motivated to change the law because of his own experiences in the police force, especially with a police dog named Finn.

Finn was a highly trained police dog, and PC Wardell was his first handler.

In October, 2016, during an attempted arrest, Finn was repeatedly stabbed.

His injuries was so serious that he needed four hours of life-saving surgery, and then 11 weeks to recover.

After his recovery, Finn returned to active duty and he retired in March, 2017.

If Finn hadn't been there to protect PC Wardell during the arrest, it's likely that the officer would've suffered serious injuries or even lost his life.

After the incident, PC Wardell was shocked to discover that UK law didn't have specific offences for injuring a police animal on duty.

Attacks on police animals were happening often, but very few were being taken to court.

So why did PC Wardell campaign for a change in the law? Did he want to raise awareness about animal cruelty both locally and nationally? Did he want stronger consequences for people who injure or kill service animals? Or did he want to stop animals from being used in police investigations? Which one was it? Can you remember which one? If we said B, he wanted stronger consequences for people who injure or kill service animals, that would be correct.

That's the change in the law that he wanted to see because of his own experiences.

So what action did they take to create change? PC Wardell and his supporters use lots of different methods, including online petition, media interviews, and lobbying politicians.

So writing a meeting with their MPs.

An online petition was created to gather as much public support as possible.

It actually reached 100,000 signatures in 11 days.

So a lot of the public was behind this issue.

And they were writing to MPs, supporters were encouraged to write their MPs to gain support for the campaign.

This would help ensure MPs voted for the law when it reached Parliament, helping it progress through each stage.

The campaign started to get noticed.

The story was covered by local and national newspapers and public support began to grow.

PC Wardell and his team of volunteers gained the support of Sir Oliver Heald MP.

In June, 2018, the Animal Welfare Service Animals bill, also known as Finn's law was introduced to Parliament.

It aimed to make it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to a service animal.

In 2019, the act perceived Royal Assent.

It was nicknamed Finn's Law.

The new law makes it more difficult for people to harm service animals to argue that they were acting in self-defense.

The government also planned to increase the maximum prison sentence for animal cruelty to five years, which was made law in 2021 under the Animal Welfare Sentencing Act.

So let's check our understanding from what we have just heard.

Which of the following methods did PC Wardell use to gather support for his campaign? Was it A, he started a petition that got a 100,000 signatures.

B, he got journalists to spread the words.

C, he created a TV show about Finn's story.

And D, he met with judges to discuss the law.

Which of the following methods did he use? Okay, time for answers.

So PC Wardell used petitioning and journalists to spread the word.

So he started a petition that got a 100,000 signatures and he got journalists to spread the word.

So well done if you pick that up from our story.

So what I would like us to do for this task is to explain how PC Wardell's campaign shows how citizens can change the law.

Make sure you cover the following in your answer.

So what was the aim of PC Wardell's campaign? Make sure we talk about the aim of it.

Describe at least two methods.

PC Wardell used to influence lawmakers, and what impact did the campaign have? What was the impact and the outcome of it? So have a go explaining how PC Wardell's campaign shows how citizens change the law.

Pause the video and have a good time with this task.

Okay, some of your answers might include the following, PC Wardell's campaign aimed to change the laws so that people who harm service animals like police dogs or horses would face stronger punishments.

He wanted to make sure that attacking a service animal was treated as a serious crime.

PC Wardell used several methods to influence lawmakers.

First, he created an online petition to gather support from the public.

The petition got a 100,000 signatures in just 11 days, which showed there was lots of public support for the cause.

Second, he encouraged people to write their MPs to get them on board with the campaign.

This helped make sure the law would be voted on and passed in Parliament.

The campaign was successful.

It led to the introduction of Finn's Law, which made an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to a service animal.

The law also made it harder for people to claim they were acting in self-defense if they harmed a service animal.

The campaign also helped increase the maximum prison sentence for animal cruelty to five years, which became law in 2021.

So well done if you managed to put some of the things that we did about PC Wardell's campaign and the impact that it had, good job.

We have now come to the end of our lesson on can citizens change laws? I'd like to just summarise the lesson into a few points for us.

So in the UK laws are made in Parliament.

Citizens can use various methods to change laws.

For example, lobbying politicians, contacting local and national newspapers, using social media, organising surveys and online petitions, or partnering with charities and NGOs.

One example of a citizen changing the law is PC Wardell.

He campaigned for Finn's Law after his police dog Finn, was injured during an arrest.

Ensuring stronger consequences for those who harm service animals.

I'd like to say thank you for your maturity to deal with this lesson.

I know there has been some sensitive topics discussed, but hopefully you have managed to cope with it okay.

And actually we have taken a lot from this lesson about how citizens can make a change to laws and make a change to society.

Well done on all of your efforts and hopefully I'll see you in the next one.