Search all Hansard files on the Hansard Home Page.

Production methods

Hansard production involves firstly converting digitally recorded sound to text, using a variety of up-to-date computer software and digital equipment.

Careful editing of the text is then carried out to ensure that this substantially verbatim report of Members’ speech conveys clearly to the reader what was said in the Chambers while remaining accurate to the audio.

In order to ensure online publication is underway as soon as possible, production starts during the ongoing sitting as soon as sufficient audio is available to begin the process.

The audio is also made available online both during and after the sittings as Listen Live and Listen Again facilities.

Publication formats

Rolling Hansards and Early Publications

During a sitting ‘Rolling Hansard’ files are uploaded to the Tynwald website as soon as sufficient text has been edited. The files continue to be replaced regularly as more text becomes available.

For guidance, the first section of the Rolling Hansard would normally be published within two to three hours of the sitting commencing. The time taken for the first and subsequent uploads varies according to the sequence, length and complexity of sittings.

For some long Tynwald sittings, the Hansard texts are split temporarily into morning, afternoon and evenings sessions to allow for earlier publication of Hansard for each session. These documents are labelled ‘Early Publications’ and are regularly updated and replaced in the same way as Rolling Hansards.

The Rolling Hansards and Early Publications are all fully edited and constitute an authoritative record of the relevant proceedings.

Early Written Answers 

Tynwald Early Written Answers are first added to the website after 2.30 p.m. on the first day of the sitting, in the format provided by Departments.

House of Keys Early Written Answers are first added to the website after 11.00 a.m. on the day of the sitting, in the format provided by Departments.

Final Hansard reports

The final part of the process is to collate all Rolling Hansards, Early Publications and Early Written Answers into a fully formatted, final Hansard report, one report for each sitting day.

These completed Hansard reports replace the corresponding Rolling Hansard, Early Publication and Early Written Answers files on the Tynwald website.

Hyperlinks to Hansard reports

The web address (URL) for any early version of the Hansard report is temporary only and will be replaced with a more permanent URL once the final Hansard report is published. Please note therefore that any hyperlinks created to early versions will be broken as soon as a more up to date version is published.

The URL web address for all final Hansard reports will remain unaltered and correct for the purposes of creating more permanent hyperlinks.

Publication timescales

The first hour of any Tuesday House of Keys or Tynwald sitting is normally published by 5.30 p.m. that same day, initially as a Rolling Hansard.

The Rolling Hansard will continue to be updated thereafter until the whole sitting is completed.

Publication targets for the completed final Hansards are as follows: 

• House of Keys – before 5 p.m. on Friday the same week;
• Legislative Council – before 5 p.m. on Friday the same week;
• Tynwald Court, first day – before 5.30 p.m. on Monday the following week.

If Tynwald Court sits for two or three days, the reports for the remaining days’ sittings will be published as Rolling Hansards and completed as quickly as possible, while Hansard publication continues to meet targets for subsequent House of Keys and Legislative Council sittings.

Hansard reports of Committee oral evidence

Hansard reports are produced of Committee public hearings of oral evidence, with the aim of publishing them online within 10 working days of the hearing.

Hansard Appendix

Additional information promised by a Member during a sitting which is then circulated at a later date is published to the Hansard area of the Tynwald website as a Hansard Appendix and labelled with the relevant Chamber, sitting date and Question or motion to which the information applies.