Hansard

Hansard

A record of all that is said in debates in Parliament. It is an extrinsic aid to statutory interpretation . Up to 1992, the courts were not allowed to read Hansard to assist them in deciding what Parliament meant by unclear words or phrases in Acts of Parliament. However, in Pepper v Hart (1993) , the House of Lords decided that Hansard could be consulted, but only if all the following conditions are satisfied:

• the legislation in question was ambiguous or obscure, or led to an absurdity;
• the material relied on in Hansard consists of statements by a minister or other promoter of the Bill and any connected matters such as the questions which led to the statement;
• those statements are clear.