digitalStatesbeta

About digitalStates

digitalStates is a free to use website that provides access to the public records of the States Assembly of Jersey. It processes official Hansard documents and voting records to make them searchable and analyzable.

The core feature of digitalStates is currently is what we call the 'Digital Hansard'. Digital Hansard is a data native version of the States Assembly Hansard (assembly transcripts). Whereas Hansard is provided as a single PDF for each day that the States sit, Digital Hansard is fully searchable and linkable to which States Member spoke, and to the topic or debate that was being debated.

For the first time for Jersey's States Assembly, it is now possible to see the speeches made by a States Member, read the Assembly Transcript on a debate right from the proposition page, and interrogate the data in new and powerful ways. We also provide a full-text search across all of this Assembly term's Hansards.

digitalStates also presents the Assembly voting data in different ways to the Assembly website. On a States Member's page, it is possible to see their voting record, including how many votes they have cast this sitting, and how similarly they vote to other members. This is a function that local sites such as theyworkforyou.je and ourdemocracy.je have previously provided, and we're happy to be able to provide this data source again (and thank them for their work in this area).

Data Sources

All information presented on this site, including speeches, debates, and voting records, is derived from publicly available data published by the States Assembly. The goal with the site is to provide a different way to access and interact with this existing public information that may make it easier to search and navigate.

Project Status

digitalStates is an independent project, designed, built and run by Deputy Alex Curtis in his personal time at no cost to the public.

It is currently in a beta development phase. Data may contain errors or omissions. Features and urls are subject to change.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

How was Digital Hansard and digitalStates created?

For the technically interested, Digital Hansard works by parsing Assembly Hansard PDFs. We have created a custom pipeline for extracting each part of Hansard that is finely tuned to the States of Jersey Hansard schema. This means that Hansard is processed without the use of Large Language Models, ensuring that the contents is extracted straight from the original source, and has been hallucinated. Before publishing, the data goes through several automated checks to ensure the structuring and matching of Hansard is sufficiently good quality to publish, however given the unstructured source of data we work with, there are minor occasional mismatches in processing Hansard in to Digital Hansard (see Errata)

The codebase for the frontend and backend of digitalStates were written by Deputy Alex Curtis, code-assisted by Large Language coding models for some code generation and quality checking. The frontend is a NextJS 15 application and the backend is served as a FastAPI application. Data is hosted in S3 compatiable storage and Postgresql.

Why was digitalStates created?

digitalStates was created to make it easy to access and search Assembly data. The idea came after seeing a similar implementation for the UK Parliament by the organisation Our Society/They Work for You. As Alex has career background in digital and data first projects, it was also hoped that building new ways to make data accessible and showcase how we in Jersey can build digital platforms using modern techniques.

Is digitalStates objective/apolitical?

Yes. digitalStates aims to be an objective and apolitical source of Assembly data. As a resource provided by an active States Member, it is important that is understood to be a tool for all, and not to progress a political ideology. As such, there are no 'featured contributions' or algorithms that aim to favour any one member or disadvantage another.

Could digitalStates be extended to cover previous States Assembly terms?

Yes. Our Hansard parser has been tested on previous assembly sittings, potentially exposing almost 20 years of Assembly transcripts in an easy to access and index format.

Is digitalStates is competition with the States Assembly website?

We hope not! digitalStates is best viewed as a companion site to the Official States Assembly website. The official site provides the foundations and access to all Assembly content, from proposition and reports to Scrutiny and Assembly transcripts.

Disclaimer and Errata

Disclaimer

digitalStates is for informational purposes only, to improve access to Assembly data for the public. For official records and definitive information, please refer to the Official States Assembly website. Before quoting any data, please ensure you have checked the original official source of the information.

Errata (last updated 15th June 2025)

  • Some States Members' voting history are missing a couple of votes. This has been identified as an issue with the vote data stored by the Assembly. A report of missing votes per member has been provided to the States Greffe for backfilling and we will update our data once these have been provided.
  • A very small minority of contributions (speeches) in the case of oral questions by States Members are not attributed seperately to the questioner. This has been identified as an edge case in our segmentation pipeline but is currently considered to affect a suitably small minority of records to not reprocess the Hansard dataset at this time. Any text is still fully searchable.
  • The semi-automated matching of debatable items (propositions, amendments) to Digital Hansard is not currently 100% accurate. Some errors arise where Hansard has misspelt a proposition number, or used an unconventional naming format. Whilst most of these have been corrected, there are still some examples of unlinked debatable items, and some amendments do not capture the whole assembly debate, as some of it is grouped with the main proposition (so look there or click through to Hansard to find the full transcript)
  • Not all Hansard agenda items are currently linked to their nature ('Question', 'Statement' etc). As such, for the widest search, do not filter by nature.

Terms of Use

By accessing and using digitalStates.je, you agree to the following terms and conditions. These terms are designed to ensure a fair and safe environment for all users, consistent with our mission to provide accessible public records.

1. Purpose and Data Accuracy digitalStates provides a searchable and analyzable interface for publicly available States Assembly records. While we strive for accuracy, the site is currently in a beta development phase, and data may contain errors, omissions, or be subject to change. It is provided for informational purposes only and is not the official record of the States Assembly. Always refer to the Official States Assembly website for definitive information.

2. Permitted Use You may use digitalStates for personal research, educational purposes, and to gain insight into the States Assembly's public records. We encourage the use of our data for analysis and public understanding, provided proper attribution is given to digitalStates as the source of the interface and the States Assembly as the original data source.

3. Prohibited Use You agree not to use digitalStates for any unlawful or malicious purpose, including but not limited to attempting to disrupt the site's operation, unauthorized access to systems, or misrepresenting data in a way that implies official endorsement or guarantees accuracy beyond what is stated. Large-scale commercial reproduction or redistribution of the site's unique interface or processed data for profit without prior agreement is not permitted.

4. Intellectual Property The underlying data presented on digitalStates is derived from public domain documents published by the States Assembly. The design, functionality, and unique processing methods of digitalStates, including its codebase, are the intellectual property of Alex Curtis.

5. Limitation of Liability digitalStates is provided 'as is' without any warranties, express or implied. We are not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use or inability to use the site, or from any errors or omissions in the data.

6. Responsible Disclosure Policy We are committed to maintaining the security and integrity of digitalStates. If you believe you have discovered a vulnerability, security flaw, or any significant data discrepancy on our website, we kindly request that you disclose it to us responsibly. Please contact us immediately at digitalstates@curtis.je with a detailed description of the issue. We ask that you do not publicly disclose the issue until we have had a reasonable opportunity to investigate and address it. We appreciate your help in keeping digitalStates secure and accurate, and we will respond promptly to all legitimate reports and work diligently to resolve confirmed issues. Exploiting any discovered vulnerability for personal gain or malicious intent is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action.

7. Changes to Terms We reserve the right to modify these Terms of Use at any time. Your continued use of the site after such modifications constitutes your acceptance of the new terms.

8. Contact For any questions regarding these terms, please contact info@digitalstates.je.

Privacy Policy

digitalStates is operated by Deputy Alex Curtis, a registered data controller as a States Member (JOIC Registration Number 71036)

All data provided on the website is generated from public sources.

digitalStates does currently use 'user tracking cookies'. We take privacy centric model, using Plausible Analytics to provide anonymous monitoring which is far less intrusive than most other analytics providers.

If you have any privacy or data related concerns please contact on info@digitalstates.je