|
On behalf of the Official Report (Hansard), part of the Department of Chamber and Committee Services, I welcome all visitors to our site. Hansard is an indispensable aid for Members and others within the House and for those outside it who need an accurate and independent account of the proceedings. We are always anxious to improve on what we do. I therefore welcome any observations or suggestions that would enable us to do that.
Lorraine Sutherland, Editor
The Official Report - also known as Hansard - is responsible for producing reports of the proceedings of the main Chamber of the House of Commons, of Westminster Hall and of Standing Committees. It also reports certain Select Committees. The Official Report directorate also operates the annunciator system and is responsible for printing written questions and answers.
Hansard is an edited verbatim report of proceedings, in which Members' words are reported in accordance with terms of reference drawn up by a Select Committee in 1907 and reproduced in "Erskine May", the authoritative source on parliamentary procedure.
They state that Hansard is:
"a full report, in the first person, of all speakers alike, a full report being defined as one 'which, though not strictly verbatim, is substantially the verbatim report, with repetitions and redundancies omitted and with obvious mistakes corrected, but which on the other hand leaves out nothing that adds to the meaning of the speech or illustrates the argument.'"
