The House of Commons publishes a number of documents every day the House meets to help you in your work.
Among the most useful are:
- Order Paper: the day’s agenda and future business
- Hansard: the record of what’s said in the Chamber, Westminster Hall and committees (also known as the Official Report).
The daily business papers (sometimes known as the vote bundle) also include:
- Votes and Proceedings: a record of the decisions made each day in the Chamber and of documents, including statutory instruments, formally laid before Parliament
- a list of questions tabled on the previous sitting day
- a list of Private business for that day and future days
- a list of early day motions tabled on the previous sitting day
- amendment papers for Committee of the whole House, report stage or Lords amendments
This material, along with bill documents and European documents, is available on Parliament’s website, via the HousePapers app, or in hard copy from the Vote Office.
All parliamentary and some non-parliamentary documents for the current session are available from the Vote Office. Older documents will be printed on request. The Vote Office can also provide you with parliamentary publications specific to your areas of interest.
In addition to reading reports of debates and committees, you can watch video and audio footage on parliamentlive.tv. You can watch live or there’s an archive going back to 2007. There’s information about how to share and download clips on the site.
As well as documents related to the business in the House, there are publications that are sources for the rules and conventions in the House:
- Standing Orders: rules agreed by the House about how business in the Chamber and Committees is conducted
- Erskine May: the authoritative book on the law and practices of both Houses of Parliament