Hansard (UK Parliament)

Business Profile

Core Value Proposition

Hansard (UK Parliament) provides the official verbatim report of all Parliamentary debates and proceedings, published online by the UK Parliament.

Target Customer

Researchers, journalists, policymakers, Members of Parliament (MPs) and Lords, Parliament staff, civil servants, students, and members of the public seeking the proceedings, debates, petitions and divisions of Parliament.

Key Differentiator

Rolling publication of debates when either House sits, a historical archive back to the early 19th century, an improved search tool with categorized results, and the ability to link to specific contributions and individual Members' pages.

Implementation Timeline

Rolling publication within approximately three hours of a Member speaking; the daily part is published the following morning; full day downloads are available after publication.

Pain Points

1Historical content lacks full metadata (e.g., search by Member or aggregation of a Member's output on a single page).
2A small number of volumes are missing from the site.
3OCR/scanning may introduce errors in historical content.
4Content from 2005-2006 requires a legacy site; written answers ceased in 2014.

Key Features

1Rolling publication of Westminster Hall and Lords Grand Committee proceedings; daily part published the following morning.
2Enhanced search with categorized results and the ability to link to specific contributions; individual Member contributions and voting records are accessible on their pages.
3Downloads and formats: PDFs and HTML downloads; whole-day records and sectioned downloads (Commons Chamber, Westminster Hall, etc.).
4Historical archive content dating back to the early 19th century.

Target Customer Industries

Decision Makers

1Member of Parliament (MP)
2Lord

Client Results

1Faster access to current debates and records (rolling publication within hours; daily part published next morning).
2Improved discoverability of debates and divisions through advanced search and categorized results.
3Ability to link to specific contributions and view per-Member contributions/voting history.
4Downloadable records in PDF/HTML formats for offline review.

Competitive Advantages

1Official, substantially verbatim transcripts edited to maintain meaning without repetitions or obvious mistakes.
2Fast, transparent access to current and historical debates via rolling publication and an enhanced search interface.
3Deep historical archive enabling research dating back to the early 19th century.
4Explicit per-Member contribution visibility and voting records on Member pages.

Key Benefits

1Access to official parliamentary transcripts and debates.

2Rapid publication shortly after debates occur.

3Advanced, category-based search and easy linking to specific contributions.

4Per-Member pages with contributions and voting history.

5Downloadable content (PDF/HTML) for offline use.

Additional Product Information

Product Description

Online repository and publication system for the official transcripts of Parliament (Commons and Lords), including debates, petitions, divisions, statements, and committee proceedings, with advanced search, downloadable formats, and a long-running historical archive.

Target Market

Researchers, journalists, policymakers, Parliament staff, students, and the general public seeking official parliamentary records.

Unique Value Proposition

Authoritative, officially edited verbatim transcripts with rapid rolling publication, a comprehensive historical archive, and advanced search capabilities for comprehensive parliamentary research.

Technical Requirements

JavaScript may be required for full site functionality; some parts may not work properly if JavaScript is disabled.

Pricing Model

Not specified; content suggests publicly accessible information.

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