Hansard is the official record of parliamentary debates in The Bahamas. The Hansard Department records, transcribes, edits and publishes the spoken contributions made during proceedings of the House of Assembly and the Senate, preserving an authoritative record of parliamentary debate for Members, researchers and the public.
The Hansard Department is the official verbatim transcript of proceedings of the Parliament of The Bahamas.
During sittings of the House of Assembly and the Senate, parliamentary debates and proceedings are recorded and subsequently transcribed, edited and prepared for publication as Hansard.
Hansard provides a detailed historical record of the discussions, arguments and contributions made by Members of Parliament and Senators during parliamentary proceedings.
The Department’s work supports parliamentary accountability, transparency, historical preservation and public access to the proceedings of the Legislature.
Through its work, Hansard ensures that the words spoken during parliamentary debate are preserved as part of the institutional record of the Parliament of The Bahamas.
Hansard is the official written record of parliamentary debates.
It records the contributions made during proceedings of the Parliament and provides a permanent reference for understanding what was said and debated during a sitting.
Hansard allows users to:
The name “Hansard” originates from the Hansard family, particularly Thomas Curson Hansard, whose printing business became associated with the publication of parliamentary debates in the United Kingdom. The term subsequently became widely used by legislatures across the Commonwealth for their official or substantially official records of parliamentary debates.
The Hansard Department is committed to producing an accurate, reliable and accessible record of parliamentary debates.
Hansard staff work carefully to reproduce the substance of parliamentary contributions while applying established editorial conventions to the preparation of the official record.
The production process includes transcription, proofreading, editorial review and quality control.
Hansard records are prepared as an official parliamentary publication and are maintained as part of the permanent record of parliamentary proceedings.
Editorial practices may include correcting obvious transcription errors, applying consistent formatting and punctuation, identifying speakers and organizing proceedings according to established parliamentary conventions.
The Hansard record should be distinguished from a verbatim audio or video recording of proceedings. The published transcript is prepared according to the Parliament’s established Hansard practices and editorial standards.
The publication of parliamentary debates contributes to public understanding of the work of the Legislature.
Hansard allows citizens, journalists, researchers, students and other users to examine parliamentary debates and follow discussions on legislation and matters of public importance.
By preserving and providing access to parliamentary debates, Hansard contributes to the transparency and historical record of the Parliament of The Bahamas.
Hansard is the official written verbatim transcript of parliamentary proceedings.
Hansard records parliamentary debates and proceedings according to the Parliament’s established reporting and editorial practices.
In a sense, yes. Hansard is an official parliamentary record, but its production involves transcription and editorial processes. It should not automatically be described as a raw word-for-word transcript. Members sometimes make mid-sentence change in their utterances. These will be altered to reflect what the member intended to say and provide for a smoother reading.
Yes. Our website provides a searchable Hansard archive.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes, Hansard records can be found on our website in the ‘Archive’ section.
Yes, debated can be viewed on the Parliamentary Channel or our office YouTube Channel.
Yes