Anguilla Legislature launches new accessible website
The Anguilla House of Assembly held a virtual launch event for its new website on 16 December 2025. The development project has seen two major features added to the new online platform for the Assembly.
Hon. Shellya Rogers-Webster, MHA outlined the developments that have been made. The first project has established a dedicated, independent online platform for the Anguilla House of Assembly, providing a central hub for parliamentary information and public engagement. In addition to hosting Hansard reports, Bills, acts, livestreams, and educational resources, the website also incorporates strong accessibility features such as screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, alternative text for images, closed-captioned livestreams and multi-format document repositories.
The development of the accessible website has been funded through the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities (CPwD) network, ensuring barrier-free access for all citizens, including persons with disabilities.
The CPA Secretary-General, Stephen Twigg spoke via video link at the website launch and outlined how the CPA’s funding was aimed at removing barriers to participation and encouraging democratic involvement.
The Hansard AI project is the second aspect of the online update and is a major step in modernising parliamentary recordkeeping in Anguilla by introducing an intelligent transcription system that converts audio recordings of Assembly proceedings into fully formatted Hansard-style transcripts. These records will be available as downloadable PDFs and searchable online, ensuring timely access and reducing administrative workload.
Complementing this is a new Hansard chatbot, an interactive tool designed to assist users by answering questions about sessions, Bills and Members, and guiding them to relevant documents. This initiative is funded through the Government of Anguilla’s Capital Budget, reflecting a strong commitment to transparency, efficiency and innovation in legislative processes.
Hon. Cora Richardson-Hodge, MHA, Premier of Anguilla and Hon. Tara Carter, Speaker of the Anguilla House of Assembly thanked all those who had worked on these projects.
The CPA has been working with the Anguilla House of Assembly on a number of projects in recent years as part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2021, following a CPA Benchmarks for Democratic Legislatures self-assessment and subsequent CPA Technical Assistance Programme from 2020-2022. These programmes have built on the success that Anguilla has made around parliamentary strengthening which includes updating the Standing Orders, establishing an Administration Committee and increasing public engagement and outreach.
