A Power-Point presentation on using Hansard for legal research.

1. RESEARCH USING
HANSARD
October 2012

2. WHAT IS HANSARD?
Official word-for-word report of proceedings of House of
Commons and House of Lords.
Also includes votes, written ministerial statements and
written answers to parliamentary questions.
When Commons and Lords are sitting, reports of latest
proceedings published roughly three hours after live event
and updated throughout sitting.
Following (working) day this becomes Official Report
(Hansard), published on UK Parliament website by 6am.

3. WHY IS HANSARD USEFUL?
Can follow single Bill from start to end - useful background
information to passing of Bill and appropriate context.
Debates by MPs and Peers - controversial or contentious aspects
discussed, amendments tabled. Much useful information– drafting
disagreements, contemporary public issues, relevant news stories,
official reports or statistics, issues raised by pressure groups,
companies, charitable organisations, individuals via local MPs etc.
Can be used to trace history of health service, economy, political
changes and developments, world wars etc.
Possible to follow every word a certain politician has said during
their parliamentary career.

4. HOW DO I ACCESS HANSARD?
UK Parliament website (official) –http://www.parliament.uk/
 Commons debates can be read back until November 1988,
Lords debates until 1995-96.
Historic Hansard - http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/
 Debates from both the Commons and Lords from 1803-2005.

5. HOW DO I SEARCH HANSARD
(COMMONS)?
 Browse by…
 Today’s Commons debates (three hours delay)
 Today’s Written Ministerial statements (made by Ministers on policy or government action)
 This week's Public Bill & General Committee debates (when Committees are sitting, reports of
their latest proceedings updated throughout week)
 Public Bill Committee debates (arranged by session and Bill committee name)
 General Committee debates (arranged by session and committee name)
 By date (debates, statements and written answers by date since November 1988)
 By MP (debates, statements and questions by MP back to 2006-07)
 Use Advanced Search - http://www.parliament.uk/search/advanced/
 Search by keyword, phrase
 Narrow down by Document Type (Business Papers, Debates & Answers, Committees & Reports,
Bills & Legislation)
 Refine by MP name, PQ (Parliamentary Questions) number or date

6. HOW DO I SEARCH HANSARD
(LORDS)?
 Browse by…
 Today’s Lords debates (three hours delay)
 By date (debates, statements and written answers by date since November
1995)
 By Lord (debates, statements and questions by Lord back to 2006-07)
 By category (bills, delegated legislation, statements, questions, introductions,
general debates, divisions)
 Use Advanced Search - http://www.parliament.uk/search/advanced/
 Search by keyword, phrase
 Narrow down by Document Type (Business Papers, Debates & Answers,
Committees & Reports, Bills & Legislation)
 Refine by MP name, PQ (Parliamentary Questions) number or date

7. HOW DO I SEARCH HANSARD
(HISTORIC HANSARD)?
 Historic Hansard is a prototype digitisation project by the Libraries of both
Houses.
 Currently no Search mechanism in place
 Browse by…
 Date
 Volume
 Monarch
 MP
 Act

8. FINDING HANSARD DEBATES
ON SPECIFIC ACT (COMMONS)
 Public Bill Committee debates for the session in which Act was passed
(for example, 2009-10 for Bribery Act 2010)
 Listed alphabetically by Bill name
 Includes Committee members and staff; full transcripts of all sittings;
associated memoranda including written submissions by outside bodies and
individuals; timeline of Bill progress with links to each reading/sitting
 By date
 Find session in which Bill was passed
 Check Index to Hansard volumes for discussion on Bill in question – listed
alphabetically by topic

9. FINDING HANSARD DEBATES
ON SPECIFIC ACT (LORDS)
 Lords:
 Lords debates by category (Bills) for session in which Act was passed (2009-10
for Bribery Act 2010)
 Listed alphabetically by Bill name
 Includes full transcript of debate; information on which Peer tabled Bill; copy of
Bill as tabled; explanatory notes; Commons amendments
 By date
 Find session in which Bill was passed
 Check Index to Hansard volumes for discussion on Bill in question – listed
alphabetically by topic

10. FINDING HANSARD DEBATES
ON SPECIFIC ACT
(PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS)
 Full breakdown of Act (from 2006-2007 only):
 Parliamentary Business -> Bills & Legislation by session
 Listed alphabetically by Bill name – key indicates Bill’s progress
 Includes summary of Bill; full text of legislation passed; type and sponsor(s) of
Bill; full transcripts of all sittings; associated memoranda including written
submissions by outside bodies and individuals; timeline of Bill progress with
links to each reading/sitting

11. HANSARD ALERTS AND UPDATES
 Alerts for updates on Bills currently before Parliament
 RSS feeds
 Email alerts
 Email alert bulletins - http://www.parliament.uk/site-information/email-
alerts/
 Parliament Week bulletins
 Bills & Legislation before Parliament
 Hansard
 Committees
 House of Commons
 House of Lords
 Jobs at Parliament
 Parliament on Social Media

12. CONTACTS & REFERENCES
Caroline Ball, Subject Librarian for Law & Criminology
Ext. 1760 / c.ball@derby.ac.uk
Subject Resources for Law:
https://ulib.derby.ac.uk/library/hero/melange2subject_interm
ediary.php?subject=Law