Jargon Buster

Acts of Parliament are laws made by the UK Parliament. Proposals for new laws (Bills) are debated by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. If both Houses of Parliament vote for the proposals then the Bill is ready to become an Act. It can only be described as an Act when it has received Royal Assent from the Monarch. They are sometimes also referred to as Statutes.

The racist policy, operating until 1993 in South Africa by which different racial groups were kept apart in most circumstances, largely to the benefit of the white population.

The 60 elected representatives forming the Welsh Assembly.

Any proceedings of the Welsh Assembly (i.e. plenary), committees or sub-committees of the Welsh Assembly.

The Audit Committee is the only committee that is required by the Government of Wales Act 2006. It must be chaired by an opposition AM.

Independence or freedom.

An ordinary Member who does not sit on the Government front bench or is not a Member of the Shadow Cabinet.

The draft or first version of a new law that will be discussed in Parliament.

An election for Parliament or the Assembly in one constituency or ward held because of the death or retirement of the person first elected.

A committee formed of the most important members of the government chosen by the First Minister, Prime Minister or President to be in charge of the main government departments.

European countries that are in the process of meeting EU criteria and are awaiting entry. These include Turkey, Croatia and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The part of parliament or any other legislature where the members or a committee of that legislature meet. The debating chamber at the Welsh Assembly is known as the Siambr. The UK Parliament has two chambers - the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

A government in which no party has complete control where a group of two or more political parties come together to form a government. The current One Wales government and the UK government are examples of a coalition government.

There are three kinds of committee in the Assembly: committees that scrutinise LCOs and Measures; Scrutiny Committees and Standing Committees such as the Audit Committee.

This is when legislation is considered in detail by all AMs rather than just by those elected to a committee. It is a common practice across other legislatures. For example, the Government of Wales Act 2006 itself was scrutinised by a Committee of the whole House of Commons.

A group of countries with common policies, product regulation, production factors such as labour, which trade with each other.

A social system in which all property is owned and shared by society as a whole, with none belonging to individual citizens. This ideology was common in central and eastern Europe up until the end of the 1980s.

The name for a small area within a principal area or unitary authority.

A constituency is the geographical area that an elected official represents. The Assembly Member who represents your local constituency is the one who has won most votes from all of the candidates who stood in the election.

A constitution is the set of laws, rules, principles and procedures that specify how a state is to be governed, and define the relationships between the branches of government, and between the government and the individual. Most countries have a constitution written down in a single document but the UK is said to have an "unwritten constitution". In fact, its constitution is found in a range of sources including Acts of Parliament, case law and custom and precedent.

During the First Assembly (1999-2003) and the Second Assembly (2003-2007) the Welsh Assembly was constituted as a corporate body with a single legal identity. The Government of Wales Act 2006 has put into effect the legal separation of the executive (the Welsh Assembly Government) and the legislature (the Welsh Assembly.)

The Chief Legal Adviser to the Welsh Assembly Government. The Counsel General is not a Welsh Minister but is a member of the Welsh Assembly Government. The Counsel General can be an AM but can also be appointed from outside the Assembly.