UK Parliament - Members' Names Data Platform

The Members' Names Data Platform has been created in order to provide interested parties with full access information about Members of Parliament and peers sitting in the House of Lords. Data is available for current and previous members and is exposed in a number of formats.

The recommended approach for the majority of data consumers is via data services. These XML services provide full data about members, but are accessible via clear RESTful HTTP calls and return easily transformable XML content.

Data obtained via this method will be accurate to the data held on the platform. Queries will be executed based on simple parameters passed in by consumers and therefore the chance of human error in generating queries against a complex database are removed.

Advanced users can use the OpenData platform - this allows full access to the underlying database, but queries and the results returned are not guaranteed for accuracy as they depend completely on what is requested by the user.

The query API, fixed scope and reference data services may be accessed via a versioned URL to ensure compatibility when enhancements to the Data Platform are delivered that alter XML schemas. The URLs in the documentation will always related to the current version of the services, however it is possible to alter the base url in order to access prior versions of the plaform (i.e. replace http://data.parliament.uk/membersdataplatform/services/mnis/... with the url in the table below).

Versions available are listed below

Version	Date	Base URL	Notes
1.0	1st January 2013	http://data.parliament.uk/membersdataplatform/services/mnisv1.0/...	Initial schema

The platform is a beta product, and is likely to change to change over time. Parliament accepts no responsibility for any problems caused by its use. We also reserve the right to remove or change it's content and outputs, or to reduce bandwidth to the public without notice. Data stored on the platform will be correct to the best of our knowledge, but we cannot guarantee to hold a full representation of information about any individual member.