canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/parliament.uk/parliament-uk-bills

# UK Parliament Bills API

UK Parliament Bills API provides comprehensive access to information about legislative Bills, their parliamentary stages, amendments, publications, and associated news articles. The API enables searching and filtering Bills by session, house, member, department, stage, type, and keywords, retrieving Bill details and stage information, listing and searching amendments with decisions and sponsors, accessing publications and documents with download capability, querying Bill types and publication types, and subscribing to RSS feeds for Bill updates. Public and unauthenticated access.

## For AI agents

Search UK Bills, retrieve stages and amendments, access publications and documents for legislative tracking and research.

## Scope

Does not include voting records (use Commons Votes or Lords Votes APIs), member biographies (use Members API), or Hansard transcripts - use only for Bill lifecycle, amendments, and publication metadata.

## Capabilities

- Search Bills by session, house (Commons/Lords), originating house, member, department, stage, type, and keywords
- Retrieve Bill details including title, session, current stage, sponsors, and timeline
- List Bill stages and retrieve stage details with sitting dates and publications
- Search and retrieve amendments with sponsor information, text, and decision outcomes
- Access Bill publications grouped by stage with document metadata and download links
- Download publication documents as PDFs or other formats
- Query Bill types (public, private, hybrid) and publication types
- Retrieve Bill news articles and media coverage
- Subscribe to RSS feeds for all Bills, public Bills, private Bills, or specific Bills

## Use cases

### Legislative Tracking Dashboard

Build dashboards for policy analysts, lobbyists, or civic organizations to monitor Bills of interest. GET `/api/v1/Bills` with filters for Session, BillStage, or DepartmentId returns matching Bills. Combine with GET `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/Stages` to show progression and GET `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/Stages/{stageId}/Amendments` to track proposed changes. RSS feeds provide real-time updates.

Example prompt: GET `/api/v1/Bills`?Session={sessionId}&BillStage={stageIds} for Bills of interest, then GET `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}` for details and `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/Stages` for stage history.

### Amendment Research and Analysis

Legal researchers and policy teams use the API to study amendment patterns and voting outcomes. GET `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/Stages/{stageId}/Amendments` with Decision and MemberId filters identifies amendments by sponsor or outcome. GET `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/Stages/{stageId}/Amendments/{amendmentId}` retrieves full amendment text and sponsor details.

Example prompt: GET `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/Stages/{stageId}/Amendments`?MemberId={memberId} to find amendments by a member, or ?Decision=Agreed to filter by outcome.

### Document Archiving and Research

Academic and media researchers access Bill publications and documents for historical analysis. GET `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/Publications` lists all publications by stage. GET `/api/v1/Publications/{publicationId}/Documents/{documentId}` retrieves document metadata, and GET `/api/v1/Publications/{publicationId}/Documents/{documentId}/Download` fetches the PDF or file.

Example prompt: GET `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/Publications` to list publications, then GET `/api/v1/Publications/{pubId}/Documents/{docId}/Download` to retrieve the PDF.

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | `/api/v1/Bills` | Search and filter Bills |
| GET | `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}` | Get Bill details |
| GET | `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/Stages` | List Bill stages |
| GET | `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/Stages/{billStageId}/Amendments` | List amendments for a Bill stage |
| GET | `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/Publications` | List Bill publications |
| GET | `/api/v1/Publications/{publicationId}/Documents/{documentId}/Download` | Download publication document |

## Key resources

- **Bills** — Legislative Bills with metadata, sponsors, stages, and status
- **Bill Stages** — Parliamentary stages (First Reading, Committee, Report, Third Reading, Royal Assent) with dates and publications
- **Amendments** — Proposed changes to Bills with sponsor, text, and decision outcomes
- **Publications** — Official Bill documents grouped by stage (Bill text, explanatory notes, impact assessments)
- **Documents** — Downloadable PDFs and files for publications

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the UK Parliament Bills API by hand means pointing a client at its public host, shaping the Bills, Stages, and Amendments routes, and handling pagination and retries yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the Bills API from the API Directory, and your agent calls it with no credential to manage.
- **Permission scoping:** The Bills API puts the bill id in the URL path (`/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/...`), so a rule can pin your agent to one bill or to the read-only bill lookups. Since this public API only reads bill lifecycle, amendments, and publications, the agent stays limited to retrieval.
- **Credential handling:** The Bills API is public and open, so there is no credential to store; Jentic shapes the request and parses the response at execution time. No token ever enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'find UK bills' or 'track bill amendments', and Jentic returns the matching Bills operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **Commons Votes API** — Commons Votes tracks division voting on Bills and amendments while Bills API tracks Bill metadata and stages.
- **Lords Votes API** — Lords Votes tracks House of Lords division voting while Bills API tracks Bill progression through both Houses.

## FAQ

### Does the Bills API require authentication?

No. The Bills API is public and does not require authentication or API keys. All endpoints are freely accessible for research and civic use.

### Can I track amendments to a specific Bill?

Yes. GET `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/Stages/{billStageId}/Amendments` returns all amendments for a stage. Filter by MemberId to see amendments by a specific MP or by Decision to filter by outcome (Agreed, Disagreed, Withdrawn, Not moved).

### How do I download Bill documents?

First GET `/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/Publications` to list publications, then GET `/api/v1/Publications/{publicationId}/Documents/{documentId}/Download` to retrieve the PDF or file.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the UK Parliament Bills API?

Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which Bills operations your agent may call, and this API is read-only, so the agent is confined to retrieving Bill details, stages, amendments, and publications. The bill id sits in the URL path (`/api/v1/Bills/{billId}/...`), so a rule can pin the agent to a single Bill or to the read-only lookups you approve. Since it is a public API with no credentials, no write or download route runs unless your configuration permits it.