How parliaments correct the official record

Two kinds of correction

Parliaments separate a reporting error from a speaker's own mistake. The Scottish Parliament fixes errors the Official Report made, but a correction cannot alter meaning or add new information ². A member who gave wrong information uses a separate members' corrections mechanism ².

In the UK House of Commons, Hansard makes some minor corrections before or after publication, which the Clerk described as silent or editorial ¹. A Minister who stated a wrong fact submits a formal written correction ¹.

UK House of Commons

In September 2022 evidence, the Clerk of the House said a proposed ministerial correction needs to be agreed by the Hansard Managing Editors ¹. A department sends the date, column and proposed wording, and agreed corrections appear in a Ministerial Corrections section on the next sitting day with a link at the original text ¹. Erskine May says such corrections should not be used to provide new information ¹.

For a clarification or substantive change, a Minister can issue a written ministerial statement instead. The Clerk said about five have been issued in each of the last ten years, with some years having none ¹. House of Commons Hansard includes corrections from Ministers and Members ⁹.

Scottish Parliament

Only the person whose words were reported can ask for a review, and no one can ask on their behalf ². Requests must be made within 20 working days of publication, and agreed corrections are made no later than 35 working days after publication, when the report is finalised ². Corrections are listed publicly with the speaker, date, column, original text and corrected text ².

Australia and British Columbia

In Australia, members can suggest corrections to the proof Hansard, mainly names of people, organisations and places, historical facts, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander words ³. They cannot rewrite or improve the record ³.

In British Columbia, Canada, Members may report misheard words and transcription errors but may not polish or rewrite their speeches ⁴. Corrections for morning sittings are due by 4 p.m. the next day, and for afternoon sittings by noon on the second day ⁴.

US House of Representatives

Members may make only technical, grammatical and typographical corrections to their verbatim remarks ⁵. Unparliamentary remarks may be deleted only by permission or order of the House ⁵. A speech revised in substance is printed as delivered and then as revised in distinctive type ⁵. No corrections may be submitted after the permanent edition of a volume is published ⁵.

European Parliament and India

A 2007 version of the European Parliament's rule on verbatim reports required speakers to return corrections to typescripts of their speeches to the Secretariat within one week ⁶. The current text of the rule was not checked for this page ⁶.

In India's Lok Sabha, Rules 379 to 381 cover the preparation and publication of proceedings, expunction, and how expunction is shown ⁸. Rule 380 lets the Speaker expunge words judged defamatory, indecent, unparliamentary or undignified, and requests to restore expunged words have mostly been turned down, as reported by Apoorva Mandhani for ThePrint ⁷. The same report says the Supreme Court has held that an expunged portion may in law be treated as never spoken ⁷.

Correction rules side by side