The UK Parliamentary Papers collection from Proquest is an interdisciplinary resource that encompasses nearly every aspect of life in the life in the United Kingdom, British Empire, and The Commonwealth from 1695 to the present day. As Proquest state, these Papers ‘constitute a major part of the world’s historical record’ and can be used by researchers in many subjects, in particular law, politics, history, economics, education, health, and science. The content includes Hansard debates (speeches and reports in Parliament) from 1803-2005; all Bills and Acts and Acts of Parliament 1695-2022; and House of Commons papers 1715-2022. You can see the detailed gathering of evidence for Royal Commissions and select committees, command papers (1715-2022), petitions to Parliament, proposals for legislation, the debates in the Commons and the Lords outlining different political, economic and philosophical perspectives on issues, the laws passed, and subsequent amendments. There are biographies of MPs (up to 2005), the public offices they held, and their contributions to debates.
Much of the content applies to issues at national or international level, for example relations with Europe and Britain’s role in the world, slavery and colonialism, debates about euthanasia/assisted dying, education, healthcare, the economy and taxation, but there are specific topics such as the Royal Commissions on Hand-loom weavers in 1841, and much at local level, for example reports of inspectors of coal mines in County Durham, and one for all of us, from 1832 An Act to enable the Dean and Chapter of Durham to appropriate Part of the Property of their Church to the Establishment of a University in connexion therewith for the Advancement of Learning.
There is a comprehensive advanced search, use of which is highly recommended given the vast scope of this collection. You can search the full text of documents for your search words, then filter results by date, type of contribution (for example Bills, Reports of Committees or Hansard), by number (for command papers and petitions), and by Parliamentary session. Information can be downloaded as PDFs or saved with permalinks.
Related to UK Parliamentary Papers, you have access to State Papers Online (the government of England, Britain and its colonies from 1509 to 1782), the History of Parliament, and extensive information on the UK Parliament website.
Access: From library databases webpage https://libguides.durham.ac.uk/az.php?a=u or search Discover for “UK Parliamentary Papers”.