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FAQs : Legislation

How can I find parliamentary debates?

The full text of recent parliamentary debates (also known as "Hansard") may be found on the web site of the United Kingdom Parliament.

Within the UK Parliament site, choose Parliamentary Business from the menu at the top of the page, then select Publications and Records. You will notice that there are both House of Commons debates and House of Lords debates. When you enter the Hansard page, House of Commons debates are automatically displayed first. If you wish to view House of Lords debates, simply click on the tab labelled "Lords".

Debates for the current session of Parliament are displayed in the Daily Debates section. If you wish to view debates from a previous session, you should instead go the Bound Volume Debates. You can access the full text of debates online back to 1988-89 (for the House of Commons) and 1994-95 (for the House of Lords).

If you know the exact date on which a debate took place in Parliament, it will usually be relatively straightforward to locate the full text. However, if you do not know the date on which the debate took place, then you may need to go Bound Volume Indexes (for previous sessions). You should be aware that using the indexes can be a time-consuming process.

For example, imagine that you wish to look for debates on a particular subject during the 2003-04 session. Within the Hansard page, click on Bound Volumes Indexes (for the House of Commons) and then "Session 2003-04". You will notice that there is not a single index for this session. Rather, there are 12 separate indexes, covering different time periods within the 2003-04 session. If you wish to be comprehensive in your search, you may need to check each of these 12 separate indexes.

Law students should be aware that there are also Standing Committee debates. These are separate from the debates in the chambers of the House of Commons and House of Lords. There are a number of different Standing Committees which operate within Parliament (e.g. Standing Committee A, Standing Committee B, etc), and the Standing Committees consider Bills before Parliament in more detail. Within the "Hansard" page, you will notice a link towards the end of the page to Standing Committee debates on Bills.

If you have any questions about finding a particular parliamentary debate, please do not hesitate to contact the Online Library for assistance.