Library Resource Spotlight: Hansard
Want to stay up to date with parliamentary debates and decisions? Hansard is for you!
Hansard, named after Thomas Curson Hansard, the first official printer to the parliament - is the official report of all parliamentary debates as well as the reports on decisions taken during a sitting and records how members voted to reach those decisions in divisions!
Each House of Parliament has its own publications, with the Commons Hansard including proceedings in the Commons Chamber and Westminster Hall as well as ministerial statements, petitions and ministerial corrections; whilst the Lords Hansard includes proceedings in the Lords Chambers and Grand Committee. Both the Commons and Lords Hansards are responsible for producing the transcripts of Select Committees’ evidence-taking sittings!
Hansard is an ongoing project involving the Commons and Lords Hansards and the Parliamentary Digital Service, and you can access records of debates from the early 19th Century to the present day!
You can find members, their contributions, debates, petitions and divisions from published Hansard reports dating back over 200 years, with daily debates from Hansard being published online the next working day. There’s also a customisable search function where you can filter your results by century/collection, paper type and document features as well as combining advanced search functions to perform even more powerful searches!
Hansard is also available through the Library’s A-Z of online resources as well as on the UK Parliament website.
