UK Data for Agents

bill_search

Read-onlyIdempotent

Finds UK Parliament bills whose title matches a keyword, newest-updated first so current bills come before old ones, with each bill's ID, type, current stage and house, whether it became an Act, and a link to its Parliament page. For journalists, landlords, campaigners and students asking "is there a bill about X". Source: UK Parliament Bills API, which covers recent parliamentary sessions; older bills may be missing. It matches bill titles only, not bill text, and does not cover Scottish, Welsh or Northern Ireland legislatures. (cost: 1 credit)

Tool call template

This tool declares no required parameters. Add optional parameters from the input schema as needed.

{
  "id": 1,
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "arguments": {},
    "name": "bill_search"
  }
}

Input Schema

Name	Required	Description
`q`	No	string, required, word or phrase in the bill title, e.g. renters
`skip`	No	integer, optional, matches to skip for paging (results are newest-updated first), 0-100000, default 0
`take`	No	integer, optional, results to return 1-100, default 10

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

AddedNov 5, 2026

TDQS

A4.4/5.0

Behavior5/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Beyond the readOnly/idempotent annotations, it discloses result ordering (newest-updated first), the fields each record carries (ID, type, stage, house, became-an-Act flag, Parliament link), the source API's coverage of recent sessions only, and a per-call credit cost. Those coverage and cost caveats are exactly the kind of context annotations cannot convey.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Front-loads the core purpose and return shape in the first sentence, with limitations and audience in following sentences. The trailing credit note is slightly tacked on and the first sentence is long, but nothing is redundant.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a simple read-only search with no output schema, the description covers the query semantics, result ordering, returned fields, data coverage limits and cost — everything an agent needs to decide to call it and interpret the response.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters3/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema coverage is 100% and each parameter already carries its own description, so the description only echoes the newest-updated ordering that the skip parameter already documents. No extra meaning about matching behaviour (e.g. whether keywords are ANDed or ORed, case sensitivity) is added.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

States a specific verb and resource ("Finds UK Parliament bills whose title matches a keyword") and narrows scope beyond the name: title matching only, not bill text, and excludes Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish legislatures, which separates it from legislation_search and statutory_instrument_search. An agent can pick this over bills_recently_updated or bill_status without opening a schema.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines4/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

Gives a concrete usage scenario ("is there a bill about X" for journalists, landlords, campaigners and students) plus explicit exclusions — title-only matching and missing older bills. It does not name a direct alternative sibling for full-text or historical searches, so it stops short of full routing guidance.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

All UK Data for Agents tools Inspect

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