Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Harris, and I'm the person who's going to be guiding you through today's lesson.

The lesson today is called How Does Devolved Government Work?

And it's part of a larger series of lessons called How Does the Political System Work in the UK?

By the end of today's lesson, you're going to be able to say, I can describe some of the powers and responsibilities of the devolved governments and explain some of the pros and cons of devolution.

Some of this learning might be new to you.

Some of it might be challenging.

I'm going to guide us all the way through it, and we're gonna do it together.

First of all, let's start with our key words.

I'm going to say the key word, you're going to repeat it back, and then I'll tell you the definition.

Government.

That's the group of people with the authority to govern a country.

In the UK, the government is chosen and led by the Prime Minister.

Devolution.

It's the transfer of political powers from a central government or parliament to a national, regional or local government or parliament.

Regional.

Regional means when it's relating to a particular area or part of an area of a state or a country.

Our first learning cycle is called, what is devolution?

The word govern means to manage or control something.

So for example, I like to say, I govern my household because I'm managing control of the things within it.

I make the rules, and I make lots and lots of decisions for the people who live in my house.

When we talk about governing a country, it means making decisions about how that country is run and making laws for that country and all the people living within it.

A government is the group of people who've been given that authority.

They've been elected or chosen to make those rules and laws for the country.

Government has ideas and policies, and they want to put those in place to improve life for people living within that community and within that society.

And Alex is reminding us that society means the people living in an ordered community.

The United Kingdom is made up of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and it is a democracy.

That's the name of the political system that the UK uses.

After being elected by citizens in free and fair elections, the leaders that have been chosen, they will form the central government.

And Lucas is there telling us that the central government of the United Kingdom is based in London.

And this picture here is showing the UK Parliament, which is found within the Palace of Westminster.

It's a very iconic building and one that you might recognize.

I'll first check for understanding, then.

So you are going to choose the correct word to complete each sentence.

I'll read the sentences out to you.

The word govern means to either control or give away something.

And the second one is, a government is the group of people given the, is it society or the authority to rule?

Take a few seconds to think about it.

Okay, so the answers are, the word govern means to control something, yes.

And the second one is, a government is the group of people given the authority to rule.

Very well done if you got those first two.

Now, in the UK, before 1997, the majority of the important decisions were made by the central government.

So that's the government that is based in London.

And there was limited authority given to regional and local governments.

And that model, that way of organizing there is called centralization.

So there we've got the UK Parliament and it's flagged there.

And you've got most of the decisions that are being made by the UK Parliament with limited decisions going to local and regional governments.

Now, over time, this has changed and regional governments have been given more and more power to govern their own areas.

So this means that the authority to control certain parts of the nation, it gets transferred from the central government to these regional governments and to be able to make their own decisions.

And this transfer of powers has a name and that name is devolution.

And devolution is very much the opposite of centralization.

Remember, centralization means it's all done centrally, it's all taken over by that central government, but devolution is passing it on.

The word devolve comes from the Latin word devolvere.

And then we've got the word devolve and the prefix there de means from, away or out of.

And the vol part of it means to roll around or to bring around.

So when we use the word devolve in a government sense, it's talking about rolling authority down or taking authority out of and passing it down to a different government or the transfer of power to a different level.

Sophia now has some facts for us.

So in 1997, people in Scotland voted to have their own parliament and people in Wales voted to have their own assembly.

In 1998, just a year later, the Good Friday Agreement gave Northern Ireland the right to its own governing assembly.

And Lucas explains this further.

He says, as a result, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have the authority to make decisions on both the day-to-day running of the area, that's the executive control.

So how things are implemented and how things run in general, but they also have authority on the legislative control and that's about making laws and rules for that nation.

Another check for understanding then, for this one, you are going to choose the correct pair of words to complete the sentence.

I'll read the sentence to you now.

Devolution is when powers are transferred from the hmm government to hmm governments.

Let's have a look at the pairs of words.

So A, is it when powers are transferred from the local government to central governments?

Is it B, from the central governments to regional governments?

Or is it C, from the regional governments to central government?

Take a few seconds to think about it.

Okay, let's choose this correct pair of words then.

So devolution is when powers are transferred from the central governments to regional governments.

Excellent job if you got that correct pair.

Let's look a little bit more in detail then about these devolved governments.

So there we have, we've got the UK Parliament on there and that devolves powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly and there it is with the Northern Ireland flag.

We have what was the Welsh Assembly but is now known now as the Senedd Cymru or the Welsh Parliament.

And we have the Scottish Parliament.

Just like the UK Parliament, each of these devolved governments have their own buildings as well.

Let's take a look.

So we have the Northern Ireland Assembly which was established in 1998 and their parliament is situated in Belfast and the first minister as of February 2025 is Michelle O'Neill.

The Scottish Parliament was established in 1999 and that building is situated in Edinburgh and that first minister again of February 2025 was John Swinney.

And then we have the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd Cymru which was established in 1999 and that building there is situated in Cardiff.

Its first minister is Eluned Morgan as of February 2025.

So another check for understanding then.

Can you match the country to its corresponding parliament assembly or senate?

So there we have the three different buildings and they are the buildings of which devolved nation?

There are the flags.

Take a few seconds to think about it and match them up.

All right then so A, picture A is the Scottish Parliament.

Yes.

B is the Senedd Cymru building and C is the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Very good job if you recognize those ones.

Devolved powers are areas that the UK parliament used to control but now that power, that authority has passed down to the separate UK bodies.

So the way to think about it is knowing whether it's a devolved power is to think about what impact does it have?

Does it talk about a regional impact or does it talk about something which affects the whole of the nation?

And that's a general rule to help decide which kind of power it is.

So let's have a look at that.

So there in the UK parliament box we've got things like international relations, we've got national security, changes to the constitution, so that's things like the power of the monarchy and so on.

We've got things like border control and immigration.

Those are the things that have a larger impact than just the region.

So that means the devolved powers are things like transport, it's talking about education policy and how that is rolled out in the area.

Things like policing, health and social care and housing as well.

So they have a regional impact which means they come under devolved powers.

So as I've touched on then, so the ones that come under the UK parliament are called reserved powers.

It's like reserving a seat for yourself, reserving a table.

The UK parliament reserves the authority on some decisions and just like devolved powers consider regional impacts, the UK parliament considers things which have a UK-wide or an international impact.

So again things like international relations, national security, changes to the constitution and border control and immigration, they are reserved powers because they affect more than just Scotland, just Wales, just Northern Ireland or England.

It's a UK-wide effect so that is reserved by the UK parliament.

Another check for understanding, this time it's a true or false.

Reserved powers are policy decisions that are passed to regional governments.

Is that true or is that false?

Take a few seconds to think.

Okay let's check the answers then.

So reserved powers are policy decisions that are passed to regional governments.

That is false.

Why is it false?

Take a few seconds to think about that.

Let's check the answer then.

Well reserved powers are policy decisions that are still controlled by the UK government.

They reserve that for themselves and the devolved powers are the ones passed to regional governments.

Really good job if you got those too.

So far we've looked at Northern Ireland and Scotland and Wales but we haven't mentioned the fourth nation of the UK, that's England.

Now England doesn't have the same system of devolution as the other three nations and its policies and laws are controlled mainly by the UK parliament.

However it does have some limited devolution for local regions and this is usually talking about urban areas, so areas surrounding cities and towns, but it is much more limited because it's only about the executive control, that's the day-to-day running of different areas and policies, and rather than legislative control.

So the English devolution system, you cannot make your own laws for England, that has to come from the UK parliament.

Now often this kind of devolution is called combined or mayoral authorities.

Now as of February 2025 there were 12 devolved regions of England, let's have a look at them on this map.

We've got West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City region, West Midlands, the West of England, Greater London, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, East Midlands, South Yorkshire, York and North Yorkshire, Tees Valley and the North East.

That's as of February 2025.

Most evolved areas tend to have a directly elected mayor, so kind of like another local leader for that region and that gives them lots of control over local issues, things like transport, housing, health and social care, policing, education and skills and also stuff like energy planning as well for that area.

A quick check for understanding then, so the control that English regions get through devolution, is executive, executive and legislative, or legislative?

What's the kind of control that English regions get?

Take a few seconds to think about the answer.

Okay you might remember me saying that the English regions get a different kind of devolution to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, and their devolution only covers executive and there's Sophia explaining.

So English regions which have devolved powers, they do not get to make laws in the same way as the devolved governments do in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Fantastic job if you got that one correct.

It is time for your first task.

This is task A.

Now the first part of this task is to write a short summary as to why some areas fall under devolved powers and others stay under reserved powers.

A really helpful tip here is to think about where devolved governments work and where the UK parliament work and the areas which they have control over.

Pause the video now to give yourself time to do the task and then we'll come back and look at a suggested answer.

Okay then let's have a look at this short summary then as to why some areas fall under devolved powers and others stay under reserved powers.

Your answer might look like this one.

Some matters are under devolved powers because they are important for that particular area like health, education and transport.

So devolved governments are the best to make decisions about them.

So that's talking about the region isn't it?

Decisions that affect that region directly.

Other matters are reserved powers because they affect the whole of the UK.

Things like defense and immigration.

So they need to be handled by central government to keep everything the same right across the country.

Did you get some of those main points?

Really well done if you did.

Let's move on to the second part of task A.

Now thinking about what you've just written and why some areas fall under devolved powers and others under reserved, you're going to now decide if these following areas are devolved or reserved and what you're going to do when you've made that decision is to tick the correct box.

So here we have six different areas.

We have immigration, transport, defense, health and social care, education and foreign affairs.

Tick the correct box to show whether they are devolved or reserved powers.

Pause the video again to give yourself the time to do this and then we'll come back and look at the answers together.

Right then, let's check these answers together then.

So here we go.

Your answer should be like this.

Immigration falls under a reserved power.

That's a UK parliament issue.

Transport falls under devolved powers.

Defense again is a whole UK nation thing so that is a reserved power.

Health and social care comes under devolved.

Education comes under devolved.

And foreign affairs comes under reserved powers.

Very, very good if you got all those six in the correct place.

It's time for our second learning cycle now.

What are the pros and cons of devolution?

Devolution in the UK within the four nations is a really complex and ongoing process.

It's definitely not fixed and it's definitely not kind of finalized.

For example the 12 devolved areas within England that I was saying about earlier, there are more areas wanting to have that devolution, that chance to have authority over their areas and those conversations are still ongoing.

The UK government has to cooperate with the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd Cymru as well as the English devolved regions.

It has to be a collaborative effort.

They've got to make sure that their decisions are aligning and work well with each other, particularly if you've got policies which are overlapping and do impact on more than one area.

It's very, very confusing for citizens if one devolved area has one thing but then the UK parliament is wanting something different so that teamwork and that discussion is really, really important for the good of the citizens, that's the people who live within the devolved region and the UK as a whole as well.

For example a Scottish health minister might work with the UK health minister to make sure that their different policies about health care and social care match up and that they align and that they make sense with each other.

So they might meet to discuss the issues, they might agree on solutions together and they might also work out things like funding or resources and which area is going to pay for what and how that is then going to be rolled out again for the good of the citizens.

And this kind of collaboration really helps both make sure the regional and central governments are working together in the same direction especially on the really big issues that affect lots and lots of people.

Sophia likes this.

She says having to work together means that they can share resources and ideas.

Decisions are better coordinated and everyone gets the support they need.

But Alex doesn't seem to be too sure.

He says but working together might slow decisions down or even mean that regions have to compromise on what they want.

Ministers having to work together isn't all positive.

So we've got two conflicting views there.

One seeing the pros of devolution and that collaboration and Alex seeing the cons of that.

Let's have a check for understanding then.

So ministers working in devolved governments do not have to consider what ministers in central governments are doing.

Is that one true or false?

Take a few seconds to think.

Okay, so this answer is false.

No.

Ministers do have to consider what ministers in central governments are doing.

But why?

Take a few more seconds to think about it.

Right, well, ministers must try to work together.

That's because they need to make sure that regional and central governments are working in the same direction, that their policies align and make sense together, especially on the big issues that affect citizens every day.

Really good job if you got that one.

Let's look more closely now at these pros.

So the things that are positives that are advantages about devolution.

So one of these is that you get best fit decisions.

So regions have the power to make rules and laws that fit those communities better.

And things like the identity of a country might impact on this.

For example, some nations might have a really strong national identity and things that are really important to them.

Perhaps to do with history or the heritage, and devolution allows them to include that in the rules and laws that they're making, and the decisions that they make about the country and how it runs as a whole.

Another pro is having better representation.

So regional and local leaders are more likely to be in touch with the people they represent.

If they're from the area, if they've grown up in that area or had their families in the area, they're going to know that area quite well, aren't they?

And so that makes it easier for them to understand ideas and concerns and to understand about what other people think about the area and they can have their voices heard more easily than maybe you would do with a UK parliament, which is considering the whole of the UK, which can be very different depending which area you live in.

Another pro, another advantage of devolution is that it gives better focus.

So devolution helps areas focus on what they do best.

For example, cities that have got really big strengths, things like industry, technology, they can use that focus, use what they're good at and build around it more to improve the local economy, to create jobs and therefore improve the chances and the experiences of people living within that area.

Another pro of devolution could be unity.

It might actually encourage more unity in the UK as a whole.

If a region is being given control and authority that they can make decisions about the area that they live in, it might make them feel more confident in that, yes, although I belong to this larger region, this larger United Kingdom, we still get to have the control over things that really affect us.

And it builds people's confidence and makes people feel more secure in belonging to both at the same time.

A quick check for understanding.

Which one of the statements describes devolution giving better representation?

Okay, so these are all about the pros, but which one describes giving better representation?

We have A, people might feel confident in the country remaining part of the UK.

B, the evolution helps areas focus on what they do best.

C, regional and local leaders are more likely to be in touch with the people they represent.

Which one of these describes giving better representation?

Take a few seconds to think about it.

All right, then.

So the one that describes better representation is C, yes, being more in touch with the people they represent, knowing that area more, knowing what people need, that is giving better representation.

Well done if you got that one.

We've looked at the pros of devolution.

Now we're going to have a look at some of the cons.

So this is the side that Alex was touching on earlier.

An example of a con, a disadvantage, could be inequality.

Now, not all areas will have the same amount of money or resources.

And that might mean that some regions end up with better schools, better health care, better social care, or transport than others.

Which actually, instead of having a level approach, could actually lead to unfairness.

Another con of devolution could be having different rules.

So we've talked about devolved powers and reserved powers.

And for some people that could be really confusing because some rules might be different in Scotland than they are in England, which makes it sort of unclear for people to know exactly what is it that affects them directly.

Another con might be people feeling disconnected.

So the opposite of people feeling unified and feeling that unity, this could actually cause regions to focus too much on that area and not feel as connected to the UK anymore.

And also, regions might not always work very well together, which could increase those feelings of being disconnected.

Another con of devolution might be the cost of it.

So having separate governments in different regions can cost a lot more money because it's things like extra buildings, hiring more staff, there's things like extra paperwork to do, more rules to follow, and all of that can cost a lot more and make it much more expensive to have a devolved government rather than a centralized government.

Another check for understanding.

This time you're going to complete the sentence by choosing the correct missing word.

So A, we have giving regions more power could cause them to focus too much on their own.

B, having separate governments in different regions can cost a lot of.

And C, with some powers being devolved and others reserved, it could be.

And here are the three options.

We have money, area, or confusing.

Take a few seconds to match up these.

Okay, so A, giving regions more power could cause them to focus too much on their own.

is it money, area, or confusing?

The answer to that is area.

B, having separate governments in different regions can cost a lot of money.

And finally, C, with some powers being devolved and others reserved, it could be confusing.

Excellent if you matched those three correctly.

It's time now for task B, and this is considering the pros and the cons of devolution.

So here we have a quote, "Devolution is a good idea.

" You are going to use the hands method to list three arguments for this statement, agreeing with this statement, and up to three arguments against, disagreeing with this statement.

The hands method is thinking about one argument and then thinking the opposite argument.

So on one hand, it's a good thing because, and on the other hand, it could be a negative thing because.

Now it's time to pause the video to give yourself the time to do this task.

And when you're finished, restart the video and we'll come back together and look at some possible answers.

Okay, let's look at some suggested answers then.

So devolution is a good idea.

Your answer might have looked like this using the hands method.

On one hand, devolution gives regions more control over their own issues like health and education, meaning decisions can be made that better suit local needs.

On the other hand, it could cause confusion because different areas might have different rules, especially when people live in one place but work or study in another.

An alternative answer might have been something like this.

On one hand, devolution helps regions make decisions quickly and focus on their specific needs and what they're good at.

On the other hand, it could lead to problems and delays because the regions need to try cooperate with central government on similar issues.

And another alternative answer could have been this.

On one hand, devolution means people feel more involved in the decisions that affect them.

But on the other hand, it can create inequality because wealthier regions might have more money to provide better services than poorer areas.

Really good job if you got something like that.

Yours might have been slightly different.

The key here was using that hands method that on one hand is a positive, on the other hand, there is a negative or a con of that.

Really good for tackling that task.

Let's summarize our learning for today then in the lesson, How does devolved government work?

A government is the group of people who've been given the authority to govern a country or a state.

Over time, regional governments have been given more power to govern their own areas.

This transfer of powers is called devolution.

Devolved powers are areas that are controlled by the separate UK bodies.

Reserved powers are policy decisions that are still controlled by UK parliament.

Devolved powers are often for transport, housing, health, policing and education, all of which have that regional impact.

England is devolved differently from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

It has some limited devolution for mainly urban areas.

There are advantages and disadvantages of devolution, including having the freedom to make rules, yet it can cause confusion.

Really, really fantastic learning today on the topic of devolved government.

You have worked incredibly hard.

I hope to see you again soon.