Hello, everyone.

My name is Miss Wyatt and I'm so pleased that you could join me here today for our citizenship lesson.

Welcome to today's lesson on How Can Citizens Change the Law? From the unit What tools can we use to challenge injustice in our communities? By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain what tools citizens have to take action to change the law.

We'll be using the following keywords throughout today's lesson, and these keywords are: lobbying, select committee, surgery and Private Member's bill.

Lobbying is when an individual or a group who tries to persuade someone in Parliament to support a particular cause or change a law.

Select committee is a group of members of a legislative body chosen to investigate and report on specific issues or topics.

Surgery is a meeting held by an MP in their constituency to give people an opportunity to meet them and discuss matters of concern, and Private Member's bill is a proposal for a new law or change to an existing law introduced by a member of legislative body who is not part of the Government.

So some of these keywords may be new to you today, but please don't worry as I'm here to guide you.

Our lesson on How Can Citizens Change the law? is broken up into four parts today.

The first part of the lesson, we're going to be exploring what a lobbying group is, and then looking at what a select committee is, moving on to What is a surgery? And then ending the lesson by exploring What is a Private Member's bill? So when you're ready, let's begin today's lesson.

Parliament acts like a factory that makes laws.

A new law starts with a bill, which is a proposal for what the law should be.

A bill can be made in the House of Commons or the House of Lords, but it must pass through both houses.

The King gives Royal Assent making the bill a law, known as an Act of Parliament.

Although it is Parliament that makes decisions on new laws and changes to existing laws, anybody can speak up if they want to change or introduce a new law.

Citizens might want to bring about a change for a range of reasons.

Lucas says, "To make the law fairer for everyone in society." Or Sofia says, "To help grow the economy and create more jobs for people." So lots of different people want to bring about different change for lots of different reasons.

There are many ways citizens can change the law, and one way is through lobbying a group.

So one of our keywords, remember.

Aisha said, "The group of people with the same goal of changing a particular law can form a lobbying group." Now together, they target Parliamentary officials like MPs or Peers to try and persuade them to support their campaign.

There are many case studies of lobbying groups who have successfully changed the law.

So for example, in 1996, 16 children and their teacher were tragically killed in a school shooting in Dunblane, Scotland.

In response, families affected by the tragedy launched the Snowdrop Campaign, which was a lobbying group that aimed to change the law to ban private handgun ownership in the UK.

As part of their campaign, they gathered over 700,000 petition signatures and encourages people to contact their MP to support stronger gun laws.

So as a result of the tragedy, this group came together and gathered this many signatures on a petition and then encouraged people to contact their MP.

Now, the lobbying group's campaign led to a change in the law thankfully.

In 1997, the Government passed the Firearms Amendment Act, which banned most private handgun ownership in the UK.

Now, why was being a lobbying group important to the success of the Snowdrop Campaign? Let's have a think about this for a second.

Well, Jacob says, "United voices to make the Government listen and act." So them coming together as one.

And Jun says, "They gained public support to push MPs for stronger gun laws." Let's check our understanding so far.

So the Snowdrop Campaign aimed to ban what? Was it A, B, C, or D? Pause the video, read through the options and make your choice.

Okay, hopefully we've all said C, the Snowdrop Campaign aimed to ban private possession of handguns.

Well done if we got that right.

In 2007, after a long campaign by the lobbying group, ASH, or Action on Smoking and Health, smoking was banned in all enclosed workplaces and public places in the UK to protect people from secondhand smoke.

ASH used research, public support, media campaigns and meetings with MPs to lobby for change.

ASH's work helped lead to the Health Act 2006, which made smoking in enclosed public spaces illegal from 2007.

This aimed to protect people's health by reducing the exposure to secondhand smoke.

Why was ASH an important lobbying group in bringing about the law that banned smoking in enclosed public spaces, then? Hopefully we've said what Jacob said.

So Jacob says, "ASH helped show MPs how secondhand smoke harms people's health." And Jun says, "They used facts and public support to get the new law passed." So ASH aimed to ban what? Again, you've got four choices here.

Pause the video and make your decision.

Okay, hopefully we said D, smoking in enclosed public places from 2007.

Well done if we got that right.

For this task, you need to explain what a lobbying group is.

Now in your explanation, you need to include a definition, why they're important to citizens changing the law, and an example of a successful case study.

So we've looked at two, so pick which one you want to give an example of and have a go at this task.

Okay, everyone.

So how does your answer compare to Andeep's? Andeep says, "A lobbying group tries to influence Parliament officials like MPs to change or create laws.

They are important because they help citizens raise their concerns and push for legal change.

One example is ASH, or Action on Smoking and Health.

ASH campaigned to stop smoking in public places by lobbying MPs with health facts and evidence about the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Their efforts helped lead to the Health Act of 2006, which made it illegal to smoke in enclosed public places from 2007." So I wonder if you used the same example case study as Andeep did.

Well done on your efforts.

We are now going to look at what a select committee is.

So the Government is scrutinised and held to account to make sure it's acting fairly and effectively.

Otherwise, it would just do what it wants.

Aisha says, "Select committees help with this by checking and questioning their decisions." So select committees are groups in the House of Commons or the House of Lords.

They're independent and they check the Government departments are doing their jobs properly.

In the House of Commons, there is a select committee for each government department.

These departmental committees have up to 11 members.

Lords select committees do not follow specific government departments.

Instead, they investigate specialist topics using the expertise of members and the extra time they have compared to MPs to look at issues in more detail.

So why is it important that select committees are independent? Why are they not part of the Government? Why do they exist separately to the Government? Well, Lucas says, "Select committees are independent so they can check the Government's work without being told what to say." And Sofia says, "Being independent helps select committees ask fair questions of government ministers." There's no bias or anything like that.

So true or false? A select committee scrutinises the work of the Government by checking and questioning decisions.

Is that true or false? Hopefully, we've all said this is true.

They do scrutinise the work of the Government and they ask questions.

Select committees invite people to give written or oral evidence to help them understand the issue and make recommendations.

Sam says, "Anyone with relevant knowledge or experience can give evidence to a select committee." So why is it important that anyone with relevant knowledge or experience can give evidence at a select committee? Why do we think it might be important that someone can do that? Well, Lucas says, "People with experience help select committees check if the Government is doing its job properly." Because they have experience in it." And Sofia says, "Advice from people with knowledge helps select committees make fair decisions and ask useful questions." So in 2019, the Home Affairs Select Committee held an inquiry into serious youth violence and knife crime.

Ordinary citizens, including young people, parents, teachers and youth workers gave evidence about their personal experience and the impact of violence in their communities.

Their views helped shape recommendations for better youth services, education, and policing strategies.

In 2022, the Work and Pensions Select Committee investigated how the cost of living crisis was affecting people across the UK.

Single parents, pensioners and people on Universal Credit gave oral and written evidence about how they were struggling to afford essentials.

The committee recommended more support.

This helped influence government decisions like increasing benefits and the cost of living payments.

So true or false? Only MPs can give evidence at a select committee.

Hopefully we've all said this is false.

Anyone with relevant experience or that knowledge can give evidence at a select committee, including ordinary citizens.

We just learnt about the Work and Pensions Committee in 2022.

There was single parents there, there was pensioners there.

Anybody can give that experience or knowledge.

For this task, we need to explain what a select committee is.

Now we need to include a definition of a select committee, why they're important to citizens actually changing the law, and can you give an example of one? So when you're ready, pause the video and have a go at this task.

Okay.

So how does your answer compare to Alex? So Alex says, "A select committee is a group in Parliament that scrutinises the effectiveness of government.

They're important because they allow ordinary citizens to share their experience or knowledge of an issue, which can lead to a change in the law.

For example, in 2022, people affected by the cost of living crisis gave evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee about how rising costs impacted their lives.

So I wonder if you mentioned this select committee or the Home Affairs Select Committee.

Whatever you did, well done on your efforts.

We have now explored What is a select committee? and we're going to move on to look at what a surgery is.

So each MP represents an area called a constituency.

There are 650 in the UK.

The people represented by MPs are called constituents.

An important part of an MP's role is to represent their constituents, and one way they gather their views is by holding surgeries.

The timing and location of these surgeries vary depending on the MP.

Sam says, "A surgery is when MPs meet their constituents and see how they can help them." Constituents can go to their MP with all sorts of personal or local concerns such as housing or local healthcare.

The MP may choose to raise the issue in Parliament.

So why is holding surgeries an important part of an MP's role? Perhaps we said what Jacob said, and that holding surgeries is important because it gives MPs a chance to listen to their constituents and understand their problems." Remember, they're representing them in that area.

In 2016, Lauren Backler, a constituent in Eastbourne, went to her MP, Caroline Ansell, during a surgery to ask for help.

Lauren's mum died of bowel cancer at 56.

She was too young for the screening programme in England, which started at the age of 60.

Caroline took the issue to Parliament, presented a petition with over 216,000 signatures and asked for the screening age to be lowered to 50 like in Scotland.

The Government agreed, and from 2018, they began lowering the screening age to save lives through earlier cancer detection.

So true or false? MPs cannot bring constituency issues from their surgeries to Parliament.

What do we think? Hopefully, we're all saying false.

MPs represent their constituencies in Parliament so they can bring local issues like healthcare, housing, public safety to Parliament to change or improve laws.

Why is it important for MPs to listen to personal experiences, then, during surgeries from their constituents? Well, Izzy says, "Personal experiences help MPs understand how real people are affected by problems, and this can lead to changes in the law or policy, like lowering the bowel cancer screening age." So why is it important for MPs to listen to personal experiences during surgeries? You have four options here.

Read through them, pause the video, and make your decision.

Okay, so it's important for MPs to listen to personal experiences during surgeries because it helps MPs understand how laws are affecting real people's lives.

They're getting that genuine, authentic lived experience of it.

For this task, we need to explain what a surgery is.

So like before, we need to include a definition, why they're important to citizens changing the law, and an example.

So when you're ready, pause the video and have a good go at this task.

Okay, everyone, it's time for our answers.

So how does your answer compare to Sofia's? "A surgery is a meeting where constituents speak to their MP about concerns or experiences.

They're important because MPs can take these issues to Parliament and push for change.

For example, after Lauren Backler's mum died from bowel cancer at 56, she told her MP the screening age was too high.

The MP raised it in Parliament, helping to change the policy so screening starts at 50." We have now looked at What is a surgery? and we're going to look at the final part of our lesson, which is a Private Member's bill, what is it? So a Private Member's bill is a law idea from an MP or a Lord who is not a government minister.

So Jacob says, "It works like any other law, but has less time in Parliament.

So it's harder to pass." Izzy says, "Even if it doesn't become law, it can raise awareness and influence future decisions." In Scotland, Member of the Scottish Parliament or MSP Monica Lennon introduced a Private Member's bill in 2019 to make period products free in public buildings.

She wanted to help fight period poverty and support people's health and dignity.

The bill became law in 2021, known as the Period Products Free Provision in Scotland Act.

People supported the bill in many ways, such as signing petitions and attending demonstrations.

Scotland is the first country in the world to pass a law making access to free period products a legal right, aiming to tackle period poverty.

So true or false? A Private Member's bill is a proposal for a new law from a government minister.

Hopefully, we've all said this is false.

A Private Member's bill allows MPs or Lords who are not part of the Government to suggest a new law or change an existing one.

So not from a government minister.

In 2021, Dr.

Liam Fox, the MP, introduced a Private Member's bill to improve support for people with Down Syndrome.

The bill became law in 2022 and is called the Down Syndrome Act.

It makes sure people with Down Syndrome are recognised in law and get better support from services like health, education, and housing.

The bill received strong support from families and charities and was the first UK law focused on people with Down Syndrome.

Izzy says, "Citizens can help a Private Member's bill by signing petitions, asking their MP to support the bill, sharing personal stories or joining campaigns." So why is it important for citizens to ask their MP to support a bill? Well, Jun says, "It's important because MPs represent their constituency in Parliament.

If constituents ask for a change, the MP should share their views and support the bill on their behalf." Lucas says, "I don't think that ordinary citizens have any real influence over the laws made in Parliament." Now is Lucas correct? Andeep says, "Citizens can speak to their MP at a surgery, and the MP might support a Private Member's bill to change the law." So actually ordinary citizens can have an influence over the laws made in Parliament.

Okay, for our last task, we need to explain what a Private Member's bill is.

So our last keyword that we had to learn today.

So we need to include a definition to show that we know what it is, why they're important to citizens changing the law, and an example of one.

So when you're ready, pause the video and have a go at this task.

Okay, everyone, good job.

So how does your answer compare to Laura's? Laura says, "A Private Member's bill is a law idea introduced by an MP or a Lord who is not part of the Government.

These bills are important because they give MPs a chance to raise issues brought to them by the public.

For example, the Period Products Free Provision Scotland Act started as a Private Member's bill and became law in 2021 after strong public support.

It made Scotland the first country to provide free period products in schools and public buildings." So I wonder if you use the same example as Laura or the Down Syndrome Act.

We have now come to the end of our lesson.

I would like to summarise it into a few points for us.

So citizens can help change the law in many ways.

One way is to join a lobbying group like ASH, which helped ban smoking in public places.

Citizens can speak to their MP at a surgery, like Lauren Backler, who raised concerns about bowel cancer screening and helped lower the screening age.

People can give evidence to a select committee, as many did during the cost of living inquiry.

Citizens can campaign for an issue and ask their MP to support a Private Member's bill, such as the one that led to the Period Products Free Provision in Scotland Act.

Ordinary citizens have a voice in shaping laws.

I hope you've taken a lot from today's lesson about "How Can Citizens Change the Law?" and have also enjoyed it.

I hope to see you the next one.

Bye-bye.