Hansard Society

The Hansard Society was formed in 1944 to promote parliamentary democracy. Founded and chaired by Commander Stephen King-Hall, the first subscribers were Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee. The Society's co-Presidents are the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow and the Lord Speaker Baroness D'Souza, and the Vice-Presidents are the leaders of the Labour, Conservative and the Liberal Democrat parties. The Society is named after the Hansard Parliamentary Record, which publishes the proceedings of the British parliament.

More than 60 years on, the Hansard Society claims to be universally recognised as the independent and non-partisan authority on Parliament and democracy. Their work encompasses a wide range of areas, from citizenship education to the role of Parliament, from devolution to the impact of new media on politics. In addition, the Society organises a variety of events in Westminster with high-profile speakers, influential seminars and popular fringe events at Party Conferences.

The society has an Advisory Council who support the staff and work of the Society in an advisory capacity and across all the various programmes of work. It is composed of MPs and Lords, journalists, business people and academics. Within the council there is an Executive Committee, which acts as a Board of Trustees. The current Chair of the Advisory Council is Peter Riddell.

The Hansard Society functions through a number of different project teams, whose work includes:

The Citizenship Education programme works with young people through schools and colleges to educate and inform them about parliamentary democracy and develop innovative ways to involve them in participatory democratic activities. It aims to ensure that teachers have free access to knowledge, training sessions and stimulating resources for political education.

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