Historical parliamentary records
Parliament's archive collection contains over 3 million records dating from the 15th Century onwards. In 2025, this archive of material was relocated to the National Archives in Kew, where the collection can now be accessed by the public.
For all enquiries regarding access to Parliament's archive collections please visit The National Archives website.
Finding Parliament's proceedings and records
From 1997 onwards, most parliamentary proceedings, papers and records are available on our website via the publications and records pages. Earlier hardcopy material is held largely by the National Archives who are able to provide digital copies on request.
The following links may also be useful:
Debates and divisions in both Houses, from 1803 to date, are available to read on our website. Find out more about Hansard online.
Acts of parliament that are still in force, and parliamentary bills since 2006, are available online. Find out about accessing bills and acts.
Deposited papers from 2007 onwards are available on our website, and copies of earlier deposited papers can often be provided on request. Find out about public access to deposited papers.
Select committee reports and evidence, and other Commons (HC) and Lords (HL) sessional papers, are available on our website from 1997 onwards, while Command papers since 2005 are published online by the government. Find out more about how to access parliamentary papers and command papers.
The daily business papers for the Commons and the Lords are available on our website from 1997 and 1998 respectively, while the House of Commons Journals are digitised from 1837. Find out about access to the past business papers and the Journals of both Houses
Find out about the History of Parliament Online
What's in Parliament's archive collections at Kew?
The National Archives' parliamentary holdings include:
- Original hardcopy records of both Houses of Parliament, including Acts, Journals, Hansard, deposited plans and appeal cases.
- Other collections relating to Parliament, including the papers of the Lord Great Chamberlain and the Lord President of the Council.
- Collections of private political papers and records of political bodies and pressure groups.
- Records about the Palace of Westminster, including the papers of architect Charles Barry.
Surviving the 1834 fire
A fire in 1834 destroyed most of the records of the House of Commons, so the bulk of records held on the Commons date from after 1834 (apart from a series of manuscript Journals and minutes that survived). Records of the House of Lords were undamaged and date back to 1497.