Editorial policy

The House of Commons Library is a research and information service based in the UK Parliament. We publish impartial analysis and statistical research to help MPs and their staff scrutinise legislation, develop policy, and support constituents. We work for MPs of all parties.

We strive for accuracy and impartiality. Our publications are informed by evidence, our knowledge of the topics we cover and relevant sources. When covering politically controversial topics we often include a variety of views and sources to help MPs understand the range of opinions.  These do not reflect the views of the authors or the House of Commons Library.

Library authors and the Director of Research decide what to include, or omit, from Commons Library briefings. They are also responsible for when and how often we update briefings. We frequently update and amend our publications to take account of new information and updated source material. The publication date on a briefing paper indicates when it was last significantly amended. Minor changes to a paper, such as correcting typing errors or fixing broken links, do not prompt a change of publication date.

We aim to publish briefings on all major government bills and the top private members’ bills in time for their second reading debate in the Commons. We also aim to produce shorter briefings on the most important non-legislative debates. Decisions on what else to publish is informed by the amount of time available to our researchers, as well as the following factors:

  • Parliamentary business
  • Questions from MPs and their staff
  • New and topical issues
  • Developments in policy areas
  • New data releases
  • International events

While our work is primarily for MPs and their staff, anyone can read the research published on this website and sign up to be alerted to new content. Anyone is free to use the information available in our publications as part of the Open Parliament License. We are committed to making our publications accessible so they can be used by as many people as possible, and we follow Parliament’s accessibility statement.

We are not always able to engage in discussions with members of the public who express opinions about the content of our research, although we will carefully consider and correct any factual errors.

AI statement

The House of Commons Library and POST are staffed by people and it is those people that research, draft and review all of our work. We are committed to ensuring that impartiality and accuracy are central to everything we do, and this can only be achieved by having humans at the heart of our work.

We sometimes use AI tools to support our work – this could be to help find information, refine drafts or to improve accessibility. When we use AI, it is as a tool. AI cannot replace the expertise, experience and insight that our researchers bring to their work.

All Commons Library/POST publications are authored and peer reviewed by our expert (human) staff. Decisions about what to include or omit, and when to update our briefings, are made by our authors and editorial team in line with our editorial policy. AI does not replace human judgement, and we are wholly responsible for everything we publish.