The statute book is a large, complex system, and it changes incredibly rapidly, making it difficult to understand. The research.legislation.gov.uk project aims to help you research, interrogate and understand the statute book through access to its data. We are developing some powerful tools to help you navigate the raw data without requiring sophisticated programming skills, to allow you to perform your own data-oriented research.
The beta version of this website provides access to the first of these tools as well as access to the raw data for you to download and use with your own analysis tools. During our public beta phase we are actively seeking user feedback to help inform future improvements. You can find out more about the development of the website and how to contribute here.
Statute Book Data
All the data from legislation.gov.uk, packaged and ready to download in bulk. Download legislation text as data as well as details of how legislation has changed over time.
Query Builder
Build your own queries to interrogate the statute book. From simple keyword searches to more complex queries for words in close proximity, or within specific elements of a document.
Words Explorer
Explore the frequency of use of words or phrases in legislation over time, identifying trends and changes in the drafting styles.
Looking for legislation?
The research.legislation.gov.uk site is for researchers interested in exploring legislation data. Legislation.gov.uk carries most types of legislation and accompanying explanatory documents. If you would like to read current or historical legislative texts, you can find these on the Legislation website.