The Queen is gearing up for the State Opening of Parliament with a speech that will outline what the government's doing in its first year.

What time will it kick off? Why does the Queen give a speech? And what can we expect to hear from Her Majesty when she visits Parliament?

Here's everything you need to know:

What time is the Queen's speech?

Events will kick off just after 11am in the following order:

11am (approx): The Queen leaves Buckingham Palace in a grandiose carriage for a short trip to the Palace of Westminster.

11.15am: She arrives at the Sovereign's Entrance at the Houses of Parliament.

11.30am: The monarch delivers the speech, which has been written for her by David Cameron's government, in the House of Lords.

2.30pm: MPs begin debating the contents of the speech. It's the first major Commons clash of the new Parliament and expect fiery exchanges between David Cameron and Harriet Harman.

It'll then descend into hours of debate, with the influx of new MPs lining up to make their maiden speeches.

5pm: Protesters are planning marches from Trafalgar Square and Downing Street to protest against the austerity measures by the Tory government.

What is the Queen's speech?

The Queen makes her speech at the State Opening of Parliament which is the formal start to the parliamentary year.

Each year, the Queen makes a speech highlighting what we can expect from the government - and because the next one marks the start of a new government, it's particularly significant.

When is this year's Queen's Speech?

The Queen's Speech will take place during the State Opening of Parliament, on Wednesday (May 27).

What happens at the speech?

The State Opening is one of the major events of the parliamentary calendar - it attracts massive attention from people and gets a lot of coverage on TV.

The Queen arrives at the Houses of Parliament, through the Sovereign Entrance. She then puts on the Imperial State Crown and Robe of State, and leads a procession through the Royal Gallery into the chamber of the House of Lords.

The members of the House of Commons then join the Lords in their chamber - but not until a House of Lords official, known as "Black Rod" is sent to summon them.

It's ceremony that the Commons slam the door in his face, to signify the separation of the Commons from the Lords. He then bangs on the door three times, they open it and follow him through.

Then, the actual speech itself is delivered from the throne in the House of Lords. Although the Queen speaks it, being the Queens Speech, it is actually written by the Government.

Then, the Queen leaves, a new parliamentary session starts and everyone gets back to work.

What do we know will be in the speech?

Raising the tax allowance

The Conservatives have announced that they will be raising the tax threshold from £10,000 to £12,500, a move which should benefit a lot of people and will be fully implemented by 2020. Further tax cuts have been promised for those earning over £42,000.

Full Employment

Cameron plans on introducing "day one work requirements" for young people with no experience of work. It essentially means that from the first day of being on benefits, you have to contribute back to the community.

Cameron also plans to create 3m more apprenticeships, which would be paid for by reducing the benefit cap to £23,000.

A Counter Terrorism Bill

Cameron will announce a counter terrorism bill; the main aims of which are to restrict the "harmful activities" of an extremist individual. The definition of harmful is posing a threat to functioning democracy, being a risk to public disorder, being a risk of harassment, alarm or distress. It would mean that the police have the power to apply to the High Court to limit the activities of anyone deemed harmful or extremist. It would also seek to stop those trying to radicalise young people.

The EU referendum

One of Cameron's key manifesto selling points was the promise of an in/out referendum on the EU, and he has confirmed that this will be in the Queen's speech - with a bill published the day after.

Cameron wants to hold a referendum on the EU before the end of 2017.

Failing or Coasting Schools

A bill will be introduced which seeks to make it easier for failing, or coasting schools to be turned into academies. It would mean that schools that are not performing as well as they could be would be put on immediate notice to improve, as well as potentially having their management replaced. Teams of top headteachers would be parachuted into these failing/coasting schools to oversee improvement plans and changes; but if the school failed to improve, they would face being turned into an academy.

Smith Commission Recommendations

The Smith Commission Recommendations are, as the name suggests, a list of recommendations on devolving powers to Scotland and the Scottish Parliament- and there will be a bill to implement these changes.

The recommendations were drawn up last year following the independence referendum, and include points about the Scottish Parliament having power to set tax rates, having increased borrowing powers from the UK parliament and having the power to extend the vote to 16/17 year olds.

Double Free Childcare for working families

The amount of free childcare given to working families would be doubled to 30 hours, in a measure which would allegedly save working families £5,000 per year.

All childcare would be tax free, also.

Snooper's Charter

David Cameron has promised to bring in a new Communications Data Bill, (nicknamed a Snooper's Charter). In the coalition, Nick Clegg blocked plans to introduce something similar- requiring phone companies and internet providers to keep records of texts, emails, web browsing and phone calls.

Extending the Right to Buy scheme

A housing bill will be announced, which will extend the Right to Buy to the 1.3m housing association tennants. The current Right to Buy scheme gives council tenants the opportunity to buy their council house at a discount, and the plans are to extend this to housing association tenants too.

Sajid Javid on helping businesses

The business secretary's pledge to save businesses £10bn by cutting red tape will be one of the bills spoken about in the queen's speech. The Conservative plan is to create 2m jobs in the next five years, along with introducing a new government-funded body to help small businesses out.

What other points were in the Conservative manifesto?

There will be a free vote on the hunting ban

Cameron has made no bones about the fact that he doesn't agree with the hunting ban - he even wrote about it for the Countryside Alliance magazine. In his manifesto, he promises a free vote on the hunting ban - but it hasn't yet been announced as an item that will be included in the speech, probably because it detracts from Cameron's vision of one-nationness. Opponents of the ban in the party are itching for this one, though.

£8bn to be made available to the NHS

Cameron promised that the NHS would be a true seven day NHS, with GPs being accessible seven days a week.

An 11-year-old schoolgirl has penned a letter to David Cameron willing him to help the NHS and the poorest in society.

Inheritance tax abolished on estates less than £1m

The threshold for inheritance tax would be raised to £1m per couple. Currently, inheritance tax is charged on any estate worth more than £325,000 - so £650,000 for couples. Cameron wants to raise the threshold to £500,000 - or £1m for couples.

65% of people support this action - BUT actually, only 4% of people will benefit.

Basic State Pension to increase

Along with capping the cost on residential care, the Conservatives said in their manifesto that they would increase the basic state pension by 2.5% a year and enable pension savings to be passed on tax free after death.

What won't be in it?

Human Rights Act

David Cameron has been forced to climb down on plans to repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights - at least for now.

He faced stiff opposition from Labour and the SNP - as well as progressives within his own party, and it didn't look likely that the bill was going to make it through Parliament.

It's also thought senior Tories always assumed the plan would be vetoed by the Lib Dems if they formed a new coalition.

But the absence of the bill from the Queen's Speech will anger many on the right of the Conservatives - particularly Eurosceptics who feel too much British sovereignty is being ceded to Strasbourg on Human Rights.

More than 230,000 people have signed a petition asking David Cameron to hold a referendum on the Human Rights Act.

Originally published on Mirror Online.