In 2025, Parliament’s Archive Collections were relocated to The National Archives.
Parliament’s Archive Collections and services (formerly the ‘Parliamentary Archives’) will become available at The National Archives in phases, starting in December 2025.
To access the material, please consult The National Archives catalogue, Discovery, to check that the material you wish to see is available before booking a visit.
We are working hard to make Parliament’s records available. The planned availability schedule may be subject to change, and this page will be updated regularly.
Planned availability
December 2025
Available to order in advance from Friday 12 December for visits from Friday 19 December.
- Beaverbrook Library Collections, comprising the Papers of:
- Harold Harrington Balfour
- Lord Beaverbrook
- Robert Norman William Blake
- Andrew Bonar Law
- Ralph David Blumenfeld
- Robert Donald
- Frances Stevenson
- Sir Patrick Joseph Henry Hannon MP
- Timothy Michael Healy, KC
- David Lloyd George
- Frank OwenBaron Wargrave (Edward Alfred Goulding)
January to February 2026
- Journals and Proceedings of the House of Commons and House of Lords (Available)
- Sessional (‘Laid’) Papers, pre-1800 (Available)
- Printed Volumes of Acts (Available)
- Public Bill Office: Original Acts, 1835-2019 (Available)
- Private Bill Office: Original Acts 1835-2010 (Available)
- Ecclesiastical Committee: Original Measures 1920-1993 (Available)
March to April 2026
- Public Bill Office: Original Acts, up to 1834 (Available)
- Private Bill Office: Original Acts, up to 1834 (Available)
- Over 100 collections of personal papers including:
- Papers of George Henry Cadogan (1840-1915), fifth Earl Cadogan (Available)
- Correspondence, papers and press cuttings of Major A L Renton, MP (Available)
- Papers of John St Loe Strachey (1860-1927) (Available)
- Over 20 collections of records relating to the architecture of the Houses of Parliament including:
- Papers of Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860), architect (Available)
- Records of the Property Services Agency, 1972-1990 (Available)
- Records Created or Inherited by the Parliamentary Works Office (Available)
- A selection of photographic material including the House of Commons Library Photograph Albums and the House of Lords Record Office Picture Library. (Available)
- House of Lords: Private Bill Office: Deposited Plans (1794-2000). (Available)
- House of Commons: Private Bill Office: Deposited Plans (1795-1997). (Available)
- The records of a variety of Parliamentary Bodies including;
- The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (Available)
- The Parliamentary Group for World Government (Available)
- The Society of Clerks-at-the-Table (Available)
May to June 2026
- Sessional (‘Laid’) Papers, post 1800
- Judicial records
- Records of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee
Frequently asked questions
When will Parliament’s records be available at The National Archives?
Parliament’s records will become available in phases from December 2025.
Why can’t the whole collection be made available at the same time?
Due to the size and complexity of the collection (both physical and digital), entries on The National Archives catalogue, Discovery need to be published incrementally.
Why has this sequence been chosen?
We have prioritised making the ‘most ordered’ records available first.
How can I see Parliament’s records?
Please consult The National Archives catalogue, Discovery, to check that the material you wish to see is available before booking a visit. Currently, advance ordering (four working days in advance) applies. Find out more about how to book and what to expect.
Why do I need to order in advance?
While we are re-establishing the totality of the service over the coming months, we require a minimum of four working days’ notice to produce records. This also allows us to incorporate deliveries of documents stored offsite (which require three working days to produce) and a day to prepare the orders.
What are your opening hours?
Our reading rooms are usually open Tuesday to Saturday. We recommend you check our full opening times and closure dates when planning your visit.
Is everything that was on Parliament’s catalogue now available at The National Archives?
Everything that was previously on Parliament’s catalogue will be on The National Archives’ catalogue in time. If records are shown as ‘closed’ or as held by ‘UK Parliament’, then users can make a request for access to UK Parliament via the delivery options in The National Archives’ catalogue, Discovery, or it is possible to contact pki@parliament.uk.
Will any material that was previously held by the Parliamentary Archives not be relocated to The National Archives?
The Parliamentary Archives used the relocation to The National Archives as an opportunity to review their holdings. This mainly involved identifying and disposing of copies of records held in obsolete formats:
- CAM – Papers of William Camden. This consisted of a microfilm copy of Beinecke MS 370, held by Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.
- FAB – Glass slides relating to the fabric of the Palace of Westminster. This consisted of copies of records from elsewhere in the Parliamentary Archives collection.
- MIC – Microfilm copies of Parliamentary Archives records.
- APT – Aperture card copies of Parliamentary Archives records.
In addition HL/PO/RO/1/122, a wooden plate gifted to a Parliamentary delegation visiting Russia, was transferred to Parliament’s Heritage Collections as they already held other gifts from this visit; and FCP, the Forest and Commons papers were transferred to the University of Reading to join the archives of its parent body, the Open Spaces Society. All other archival material has been transferred to The National Archives.
Do I need to consider copyright permissions if I’m using records from Parliament’s collection?
As copyright in the records belongs to Parliament or third party rights’ owners, their permission might be required for certain uses of the material. You are responsible for ensuring that your use of the records does not infringe copyright, and we have published guidance on Using materials from The National Archives (PDF, 234KB) and Copyright and related rights (PDF, 877KB) to assist archive users.
Do you have people who can help me to research Parliament’s records?
Yes, there are records specialists with knowledge about Parliament’s records who can provide help and suggestions on how to do your research.
Can the National Archives research these records on my behalf?
We encourage you to visit The National Archives, where you can do your research and view documents free of charge, whether they are online documents or not online. If you want to pay someone to carry out the research on your behalf instead, you can use an independent researcher or our own paid search service.
Do I need to pay to access these records?
If the records are available to order on The National Archives catalogue, Discovery they can be viewed in our reading rooms at Kew for free. If there is a digital image already available, you can view and download this for free. If you require digital or paper copies of documents from the collection you can pay for our record copying service.
If you want to someone to carry out research on your behalf instead, you can use an independent researcher or our own paid search service.