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.
Find out more about Parliament's archive collections.
Finding Parliament's proceedings and records
From 1997 onwards, most parliamentary proceedings, papers and records are available on the UK Parliament website via the publications and records pages. You can also search for records from this period using our search parliamentary material service.
Earlier hardcopy material can be found by searching the National Archives catalogue.
Where items are not held at the National Archives in Kew, or where alternative online sources exist for older parliamentary material, information has been collated at the links below:
Debates and divisions in both Houses: about Hansard online
Written parliamentary questions and answers: about written questions and answers
Bills and acts of parliament: about accessing bills and acts
Deposited papers : about public access to deposited papers.
Select committee reports and evidence: about access to parliamentary papers
Command papers: about finding command papers
Commons and Lords daily business papers: about access to past business papers
The Journals of the Commons and the Lords: about finding Journals of both Houses
Early day motions: about finding EDMs
Statutory instruments: about finding a statutory instrument
Find out more 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.