Filtering
You can filter your results by:
- House of Commons and House of Lords.
- Date - by default, your search will show results from the last five years.
- View all years - broaden your search to include all the years that the Hansard records cover.
Using the graph
The graph is a visual representation of the results of your search (this doesn’t appear on mobile devices):
If using a computer or laptop, you can click on the graph and select an area to show a specific time period:
Advanced search
If you are searching for something specific, there are some advanced search functions available to help filter your results.
Filter by a particular Member
This function allows you to filter your results to a particular Member.
For example, if you want to see contributions made by Winston Churchill, you can search for:
spokenby:Winston Churchill
This will show all contributions that Winston Churchill has made in the Hansard records.
Filter by a particular topic
This will show you when topics have been discussed at specific debates. You do not need to know the exact name of the debate as this function will show partial matches.
For example, if you are looking for contributions from a specific debate about hospitals:
debate:hospital
This will show all contributions that have taken place where the name of the debate contains the word hospital.
Combining advanced search functions
You can combine advanced search functions to perform even more powerful searches.
If you want to find a particular speech made by a particular member you can use the spokenby function and add a section of the speech in quotation marks to return the exact result you are looking for.
For example, you can perform the following searches to find Winston Churchill’s famous “fight on the beaches” speech:
spokenby:churchill words:"fight on the beaches"
or
"fight on the beaches" spokenby:churchill