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<c.S1>The power sharing government
 of Northern Ireland</c>

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<c.S1>is made up of the Assembly 
and the Executive.</c>

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<c.S1>They have different roles to play.</c>

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<c.S1>The Assembly is formed by elected MLAs,</c>

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<c.S1>members of the legislative assembly, 
voted in by the people of Northern Ireland,</c>

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<c.S1>to represent their views.</c>

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<c.S1>Most MLAs are members 
of political parties,</c>

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<c.S1>and parties aim to have as many of 
their candidates elected as possible.</c>

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<c.S1>The more MLAs a party has elected,
the more ministers it can appoint.</c>

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<c.S1>Ministers sit on the Executive Committee 
or Executive,</c>

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<c.S1>which meets in Stormont Castle.</c>

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<c.S1>So how does the Assembly decide
 who gets what?</c>

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<c.S1>Step forward Belgian mathematician, 
Mr D'Hondt.</c>

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<c.S1>He came up with a mathematical formula</c>

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<c.S1>for sharing out the
 government departments between parties,</c>

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<c.S1>according to how many seats parties win 
in the Assembly election.</c>

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<c.S1>Let's see how it works.</c>

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<c.S1>The largest party picks the first department,</c>

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<c.S1>and names one of their MLAs to be 
the minister in charge of that department.</c>

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<c.S1>The total number of seats 
for that party is then divided by one,</c>

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<c.S1>plus the number of ministers 
they already have.</c>

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<c.S1>Let's look at the figures again,
to see who the largest party is.</c>

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<c.S1>It's the largest party at each stage
 that gets to choose a department,</c>

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<c.S1>so that party will now make their selection</c>

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<c.S1>and name one of their MLAs to be 
the minister in charge of that department.</c>

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<c.S1>The total number of seats for that party</c>

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<c.S1>is then divided by one plus the number
of ministers they already have.</c>

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<c.S1>The D'Hondt formula runs again</c>

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<c.S1>to determine who the largest party is 
this time.</c>

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<c.S1>In this case,
the party now has two ministers,</c>

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<c.S1>so after they choose this time,
their total would be divided by three.</c>

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<c.S1>Remember, the D'Hondt formula</c>

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<c.S1>is one plus the number of
ministers they already have.</c>

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<c.S1>D'Hondt continues to run until all the 
departments have a minister in charge.</c>

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<c.S1>The First and deputy First Ministers
(one Unionist and the other Nationalist)</c>

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<c.S1>are not chosen using the D'Hondt formula.</c>

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<c.S1>The largest party in the Assembly 
chooses the First Minister,</c>

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<c.S1>and the largest party 
from the other community</c>

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<c.S1>(either Unionist or Nationalist)
chooses the deputy First Minister.</c>

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<c.S1>They jointly manage the work of the 
Executive and have equal powers.</c>

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<c.S1>Ministers have the power 
to make decisions in their own departments</c>

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<c.S1>and are responsible for delivering 
the services that we all need,</c>

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<c.S1>such as hospitals, schools, roads 
and public transport.</c>

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<c.S1>They develop an action plan called a 
Programme for Government,</c>

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<c.S1>and a Budget, stating how much money 
each department should get.</c>

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<c.S1>Ministers also suggest new laws, 
called Bills.</c>

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<c.S1>This work must all be passed 
by the Assembly before it can take effect</c>

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<c.S1>and the Assembly may make
 some changes along the way.</c>

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<c.S1>For every minister,
there is an Assembly committee of MLAs</c>

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<c.S1>that scrutinises the work of that minister.</c>

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<c.S1>In the chamber, MLAs question ministers 
during question time,</c>

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<c.S1>and highlight issues and debates 
that they think ministers need to consider.</c>

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<c.S1>And who holds MLAs to account?</c>

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<c.S1>We do.</c>

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<c.S1>The voters at the next election.</c>