British Government Publications

Introduction

The University of York Library maintains substantial holdings of British government publications, within its Government Publications section, elsewhere within its collections and electronically. These web pages provide more information about the Library's collections and how to use them. Additional information is also provided on the range of government publications freely available on the Internet, and on how to cite publications.

British Government Publications: a Quick Guide provides an overview of the Library's collections. For more detailed information on the use of the collections for historical research, see .

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Parliamentary Publications

Parliamentary publications are those papers needed by Parliament to conduct its business and those papers resulting directly from the proceedings of Parliament. These publications often reflect the flow of legislation, from a consultative document (Green Paper) to an initial statement of government policy (White Paper), a Bill, Debates on the Bill, an Act of Parliament, and the subsequent Delegated Legislation (usually in the form of Statutory Instruments).

Parliamentary publications fall into three groups: Sessional papers, Debates, and Legislation.

Parliamentary sessions

The parliamentary session does not correspond to the calendar year. It usually begins in November when Parliament resumes after the summer recess and runs to October, but there is also a new session after every general election so that, for example, in 1974 there were three sessions:

Session 1973-74
    Nov 1973 - Feb 1974
Session 1974
    Feb - Oct 1974
Session 1974-75
    Oct 1974 - Oct 1975

Sessional papers

The working papers of Parliament and documents which embody the results of its deliberation are known as sessional papers.

There are four types of sessional paper: Bills, House of Commons Papers, Command Papers, and House of Lords Papers and Bills.

Bills

Bills are drafts of proposed Acts of Parliament. There are three categories of Bills: Public Bills, Private Bills, and Private Members' Bills.

  • Public Bills.
    The passage of a successful bill in the House of Commons entails the following stages: first reading, second reading, Committee stage, report stage, and third reading. At the first reading the bill is ordered by the House to be printed: at the second reading it is discussed and passed to a Standing Committee; at the report stage the House considers any amendments that have been made, and after the third reading the bill passes to the Lords. If it is amended at this stage it returns to the Commons and continues to pass between the two Houses until agreement has been reached.

    Each Public Bill bears a number at the bottom left hand corner of its first page. The number on bills originating in the Commons appears within square brackets and those originating in the Lords within round brackets. The last clause of a bill gives its official short title, and a bill should be cited by this short title, the session and its number. A new sequence of numbers starts at the beginning of each parliamentary session. There may be more than one version of a bill if amendments have to be incorporated. Each new version of a bill has its own number, but all are brought together in the sessional volumes.

  • Private Bills concern either particular localities or individuals and, if passed, become Local Acts or Personal Acts.
  • Private Members' Bills. A member of Parliament who does not hold office in the government may under certain circumstances introduce a Public Bill. If successful it will pass through the normal stages of a Public Bill. However, many Private Members' Bills are unsuccessful and go no further than the second reading.

More information on the progress of a Bill through Parliament can be found in the
House of Commons factsheet L1 (PDF).

House of Commons Papers

House of Commons Papers are the papers which arise out of the deliberations of the House or are needed for its work. They include reports of its own committees and accounts of official bodies set up by Parliament. The papers are numbered in sequence for each parliamentary session at the bottom left hand corner of the cover, as a plain figure.

More information on House of Commons papers can be found in the
House of Commons factsheet P12 (PDF).

Command Papers

Technically, Command Papers are presented to Parliament by Command of the monarch, but in practice they are presented by one of her Ministers acting on his/her own initiative. Unlike other sessional papers they may be presented during a parliamentary recess. This series includes statements of government policy (white papers), reports of Royal Commissions, the annual reports of some government departments, and papers concerned with foreign affairs in the treaty series.

The numbering of Command Papers is continuous throughout many sessions of Parliament. So far there have been six series covering the following periods:

1st series [1] - [4222] 1833-1869
2nd series [C.1] - [C.9550] 1870-1899
3rd series [Cd.1] - [Cd.9239] 1900-1918
4th series [Cmd.1] - [Cmd.9899] 1919-1956
5th series [Cmnd.1] - [Cmnd.9927] 1956/7-1986
6th series [Cm.1] - 1986/87-

It is essential, therefore, to give the correct abbreviation of Command when citing a Command Paper e.g. Cmnd. 5444, Cd. 510.

More information on Command Papers can be found in the
House of Commons factsheet P13 (PDF).

House of Lords Papers and Bills

Unlike the Commons series the House of Lords papers and bills form one numerical sequence, their numbers being enclosed in round brackets.

Debates

Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)

Parliamentary debates... (Hansard) are the substantially verbatim official records of things said in Parliament. They are issued in daily and weekly parts, and then cumulated into bound volumes, which are the final official version. As well as reporting all speeches delivered in the course of debate, they include answers to both written and oral questions, and records of divisions. Weekly indexes are published and each bound volume has its own index. For each session there is an further index volume which indexes the names of speakers, their official position, if any, and subjects. The indexes refer to column numbers not page numbers and for written questions and answers the column numbers are in italics. These will be found in a separate sequence at the end of each bound volume and interspersed in the weekly parts.

The period before 1803 is reported by Cobbett's parliamentary history which covers the years 1066 to 1803. Since 1803 there have been six series of Hansard, some privately published. The fifth series, begun in 1909, was initiated by Parliament itself. Debates in the House of Lords have been reported separately since 1909; before then a summary had been published in the same volume as the Commons debates.

The six series for the House of Commons are as follows:

1st series 1803-20
2nd series 1820-30
3rd series 1830-91
4th series 1892-1908
5th series 1909-1981
6th series 1981-

For more information on the development of Hansard and its current use, see the
House of Commons factsheet G17 (PDF).

Standing Committee Debates

Standing Committee debates are published in unrevised daily parts and later are bound sessionally in chronological order of bills within each standing committee. There are several standing committees each session. There is an index of speakers and subjects for each volume but no general index to the sessional set. House of Lords Standing Committee debates are included in the Lords' Hansard.

Journals

Journals are the record of the proceedings of the House and the permanent official record of decisions taken. They record what is done in the House rather than what is said. A single volume of the Journals covers one session and contains an index.

Votes and Proceedings

Votes and proceedings of the Commons and the Minutes of the proceedings of the Lords are a provisional record of the Houses' proceedings, of which the Journals provide a more formal and permanent record.

Legislation

Acts of Parliament

  • Public General Acts are the Acts most commonly quoted. They are Public Bills which have received the Royal Assent. They are published separately and later cumulated in annual volumes. Numbering is by chapter number, abbreviated to c. Since 1963 chapter numbering has been within the calendar year, but before 1963 it was by parliamentary session, indicated by regnal year or years.
  • Local and Personal Acts originate as Private Bills. No annual volume is published although a list is issued annually. When citing Local and Personal Acts the general rule is followed but the chapter numbers of Local Acts are expressed in lower case roman numerals. For Personal Acts the chapter number is cited in arabic numerals in italic type.
  • General Synod Measures are the measures passed by the General Synod of the Church of England. Before they come into force they have to receive the Royal Assent. They are published individually as well as collectively in the annual volumes of Public General Acts and General Synod Measures. Before 1972 the legislation of the Church of England was made up of the Church Assembly Measures.

Delegated Legislation

Delegated legislation arises when Parliament specifically empowers another authority, usually a Minister, to make rules and regulations which have the effect of law. Most delegated legislation is in the form of statutory instruments (SI); from 1891 to 1947 they were known as Statutory Rules and Orders (SR & O). They are numbered consecutively throughout the calendar year and published daily, then in annual volumes. Until 1961 the annual volumes were in classified subject order and included only those orders still in force at the end of the year. To identify a SI it is necessary to cite both the year and the serial number.

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Non-Parliamentary Publications

These are documents produced by government departments for use outside the parliamentary context. Since 1921 many publications formerly issued as Command or House of Commons Papers have been transferred to the non-parliamentary category. This was largely an economy measure to reduce the number of sessional papers which are distributed free to MPs. There is no official system of numbering these publications.

Until 1988, many non-parliamentary papers were published by H.M.S.O. (Her Majesty's Stationery Office). Some papers are now published by T.S.O. (The Stationery Office) but most are produced by the government departments themselves.

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Library Holdings

The following section provides a summary of the Library's main holdings of British government publications in print and on microform. The Library also subscribes to some sources online. Please note that many recent publications are freely available on the Internet. See online availability for more information.

Government Publications section

The Library's main collection of parliamentary publications in print and on microform is held in the Government Publications section. This is located in North Room 2 on the ground floor of the JB Morrell Library. The section contains most of the parliamentary publications series listed above. The Government Publications section is arranged by series. Please note that individual items within these series are not listed on the Library Catalogue. Items from the section are for reference use only. Many items are provided in a microfiche or microcard format; microform reading and printing facilities are provided in the Raymond Burton Library Microform Room.

Parliamentary Papers

Sessional Papers

The Library's main print and microform holdings form part of the Government Publications section as follows:

  • Irish University Press series 1801-1899
    A selective reprint collection of 19th century papers, arranged in sets of subject volumes.
  • British Sessional Papers Collection of Indexes 1696-1900
    Available on microcard.
  • British Sessional Papers House of Commons 1731-1964/65
    Available on microfiche stored in the corridor adjacent to North Room 2.
  • House of Commons Sessional Papers
    1962/63-1978/79 in print format bound by subject.
    1979/80-1983/84 in print format bound by series.
    1984/85-2005/06 on microfiche by series.
  • House of Lords Papers/Bills
    1968/69-1986/87 in print format.
    1986/87-2004/05 on microfiche.

Some sessional papers, for example, important Command Papers are also purchased in hard copy and placed in the main collections. These are listed on the Library Catalogue by title, author, etc.

Debates

The following series are available in the Government Publications section:

  • Cobbett's Parliamentary History 1066-1803
    Print format.
  • Parliamentary Debates Series 1-4 1803-1908
    Available on microcard.
  • House of Commons Hansard Series 5 and 6 1909 -
    1928/29-1937/38 available on microcard.
    1919-1928/29, 1938/39-1945/46 available as bound sessional volumes. Lacks vols 120, 134, 135, 137, 139, 147-153, 157, 158.
    1946/47 onwards available in mainly bound volumes, with some weekly editions.
  • House of Lords Hansard Series 5 1909 -
    1909-1918 available on microcard.
    1961/62 onwards available in bound volumes with some weekly editions. Lacks numbers 1630(1995), 1770(1997)-1733(1998).
  • Standing Committee Debates 1960/61-1979/80
    Print format.

Journals

The following series are available in the Government Publications section:

  • Journals of the House of Commons 1547-1979, 1984-86
    Print format.
  • Journals of the House of Lords 1509-1971/2 (incomplete), 1984-86
    Print format.

Votes and proceedings

Not held by the Library.

Legislation

The following series are available in the Government Publications section:

  • Statutes at Large 1225-1840
    Print format.
  • Statutes of the UK 1801 -
    Print format. Includes the annual volumes of Public General Acts 1881 - .
  • Statutory instruments 1962 -
    Print format. Annual volumes.
  • Halsbury's Statutes
    Print format. Comprises the statute law of England and Wales from the earliest times to the present day. Provides an up-to-date version of the amended text of every Public General Act and Church of England Measure currently in force, and also of a number of private and local Acts. Annotations relating to debates, amendments and appeals are included. Arranged alphabetically by topic. Comprises the main volumes, cumulative supplements and updates.

Some Acts are also purchased in hard copy and placed in the main collections. These are listed by title on the Library Catalogue.

Non-parliamentary Publications

The Library obtains selective non-parliamentary publications. Use the Library Catalogue to check for holdings.

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Online Availability

The Library provides access to several major online collections of parliamentary papers. Many recent parliamentary and non-parliamentary papers are freely available via the Internet.

Parliamentary papers

Sessional papers

The following major online collections are available:

  • Eighteenth Century British Official Parliamentary Publications
    The Eighteenth Century British Official Parliamentary Publications portal includes House of Commons Sessional Papers 1801-1834, Reports from Committees of the House of Commons 1715-1801, House of Commons Sessional Papers of the Eighteenth Century 1715-1800, and House of Lords Sessional Papers 1714-1805.
  • Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty First Century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers
    Electronic access to House of Commons Bills and Command Papers 1801-1900, 2004/05 onwards. Eighteenth Century HCPP includes the content of the Eighteenth Century British Official Publications Portal (1688-1834).

Some papers are freely available online as follows:

  • House of Commons and House of Lords Bills
    United Kingdom Parliament provides access to Bills currently before Parliament and Public Bills before parliament 2002/03 onwards.
  • House of Commons Papers and Command Papers
    The Committee pages of United Kingdom Parliament provide access to Select Committee reports 1997/98 onwards.
    Official Documents Archive provides access to selected papers only from 1994-April 2005. Command Papers and House of Commons Papers from May 2005 onwards are available via Official Documents.
  • House of Lords Papers
    The Committee pages of United Kingdom Parliament provide access to Select Committee reports 1997/98 onwards.

Debates

Recent debates are available online:

  • House of Commons Hansard
    The United Kingdom Parliament website provides access to the Daily editions for last 5 days. The Daily edition is available from 8am on the day following the sitting. Bound volumes are available from 1989 onwards. Searchable from 1988.
  • House of Lords Hansard
    United Kingdom Parliament website provides to the Daily editions for last 5 days. Bound volumes are available from 1994/95 onwards. Searchable from 1995.
  • House of Commons Standing Committee Debates
    United Kingdom Parliament website provides access to debates on Bills and other debates from 1997/98 onwards.

The Eighteenth Century British Official Parliamentary Publications portal provides access to some debates (1660-1805).

Journals

Legislation

The following are freely available online:

The Eighteenth Century British Official Parliamentary Publications portal provides access to Private and Local Acts.

The Library provides further access to legal information via the law databases listed on Metalib.

Non-parliamentary Publications

Many recent non-parliamentary papers are made available via individual government departments' websites. Directgov provides links to government bodies.

Key websites

BOPCRIS
www.bopcris.ac.uk/

Directgov
www.direct.gov.uk/

Eighteenth Century British Official Parliamentary Publications portal (1688-1834)
www.bopcris.ac.uk/18c/

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (1688-1834, 1801-)
http://parlipapers.chadwyck.co.uk/

Office of Public Sector Information
www.opsi.gov.uk/

Official Documents
www.official-documents.co.uk/

Official Documents Archive
www.archive.official-documents.gov.uk/

TSO
www.tso.co.uk/

UK Statute Law Database
www.statutelaw.gov.uk/

United Kingdom Parliament
www.parliament.uk/

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Indexes and Catalogues

A range of print and online indexes are available to help trace government publications. More detailed information on tracing historical government publications is available in the guide to British government publications for the historian (PDF , 207kb). The print indexes are shelved in the Guides & Indexes area of the Government Publications section in North Room 2.

Indexes

  • BOPCRIS (British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Service)
    BOPCRIS provides information on official publications from 1688-1995. A small number of full-text links are available.
  • University of Southampton WebCat
    The University of Southampton Library Catalogue can be used to trace official publications from 1995 onwards. This data was previously provided by BOPCAS (the British Official Publications Awareness Service). Use the WebCat Advanced Searches option and select Material type British Official Publications.

Catalogues

  • T.S.O. Catalogues
    The Library holds the print catalogues 1995-March 2005. The TSO catalogue is also available online. These list all publications published by TSO (both parliamentary and non-parliamentary).
  • Annual Catalogue of Government Publications/H.M.S.O. Catalogues 1894-1994
    The Annual catalogue of government publications lists all H.M.S.O. publications, both parliamentary and non-parliamentary published during a particular calendar year. It consists of a numerical list of sessional papers, an alphabetical list of all publications by issuing body, and a subject index. Some cumulative indexes are also available, for example, R.M. Blackmore Cumulative Index to the annual catalogues of Her Majesty's Stationery Office published 1922-72.
  • Chadwyck-Healey catalogue of British Official Publications not published by HMSO/TSO 1980-2002
    An index to non-HMSO and non-TSO official publications.

Breviates and Select Lists

A series of breviates and select lists by P. and G. Ford are available. The breviates (summaries or abridgements) contain details and abstracts of reports and other material issued by committees and commissions inquiring into economic, social and constitutional questions. They are not comprehensive and the select lists do not contain abstracts:

A breviate of parliamentary papers, 1917-1939. 1969.
A breviate of parliamentary papers, 1940-1954. 1961.
Select list of British parliamentary papers, 1955-1964. 1970.
Ford list of British parliamentary papers, 1974-1983. 1989.

Each volume contains an alphabetical subject index. A separate index of the chairmen and authors appears in each of the volumes.

Special Indexes and Digests

A number of specialist indexes are also available. Examples include:

E. di Roma and J.A. Rosenthal A numerical finding list of British Command Papers published 1833-1961/62. 1967.
    This arranges Command Papers numerically and gives the sessional volume in which they can be found. It is especially useful when consulting the microcard set of sessional papers.

S. Richard [and A.M. Morgan] British government publications: an index to chairmen and authors. [1800-1982]. 4 vols.
    This is a comprehensive index to chairmen and authors published in 4 separately published volumes, the one from 1941-1966 by A. M. Morgan.

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Citation

There is no absolute standard for citing British government publications but the following is a guide to reasonably standard practice.

Sessional papers bound in sessional order

Title and description/session/paper no./volume no./volume page no.
    e.g. Monopolies Commission. Chlordiazepoxide and diazepam. 1972-73 (197) xv, 857.

    Education: a framework for expansion. 1972-73 Cmnd. 5174, vii, 1013.

The volume page number is optional. If the page number of a particular document is to be referred to the form is:
    Title of paper/printed page no./session/paper no./volume no./volume
    e.g. Select Committee on Tax Credit. Report. p.30; 1972-73 (341) xxxiv, page no. 32.

Papers which are unbound or on microfiche

Title of paper/session/paper no.
    e.g. Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Bill 1994-95 [50]
    Equality in State Pension Age. 1993-94 Cm. 2420.

For House of Lords Papers which do not appear in the Commons set

Title of paper/session/paper no./volume no./volume page no.
    e.g. Select Committee on the House of Lords Offices. 1st report; 1973-74 (H.L. 18) iii, 89.

Debates

Volume no./House/series/date/column no.
    e.g. 845 H.C. Deb. 5s. 5 Nov. 1973, col. 801.
    For written answers the column numbers must always be in italics.

Journal

Abbreviated title (C.J. or L.J.)/Vol. no./session/page no.
    e.g. C.J. 219, 1963-64, 27.

Public Acts

a) Before 1963.
Title/Regnal year/Chapter no.
    e.g. Betting and Gaming Act, 8 & 9 Eliz. 2 c. 60.

b) 1963 to date.
Title/year/chapter no.
    e.g. Adoption Act 1976 c. 36.

Local Acts

a) Before 1963.
Title/Regnal year/Chapter no.
    e.g. Tolls and Charges on the Foss Navigation, 57 & 58 Vict. c. cc.

b) 1963 to date.
Title/year/chapter no.
e.g. Edinburgh Merchant Company Order Confirmation Act 1976 c. x.

Statutory instruments

Title/year/instrument no.
    e.g. The Ministerial and Other Salaries Order. 1977 S.I. 1977/1295

Non-parliamentary

Name of dept./title/publisher/date.
    e.g. Department of the Environment. Transport Policy: a consultation document. HMSO, 1976.

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Glossary

Act Papers
    Report or accounts required to be laid before Parliament under the provision of certain Acts. They are House papers and form part of the sessional papers.

Acts 

Advisory Committee
    See Committees, Advisory

Bills
    Drafts of Acts of Parliament.

Chairmen
    Many reports become familiarly known by the name of the chairman. They can be traced by using indexes to obtain the full details of the publication.

Church Assembly Measure

Citation

Command Paper

Committees
    Advisory Set up by a Minister to provide him/her with a body of experts to whom (s)he can refer problems in a particular area of his/her department's work, as and when they arise.
    Departmental Ad hoc committees appointed by a Minister to inquire into or review a particular problem.
    Select Committees composed of members of a House (or, in the case of Joint Select Committees, of both Houses) chosen as representatives of each party. Their numbers reflect party strengths in the House. Select Committees are of three types:

  • Sessional Committees (qv).
  • Committees appointed to consider a bill.
  • Committees appointed ad hoc to conduct a particular inquiry.

    Standing Committees, representative of the whole house, which are appointed each session to deal with Public Bills in detail after their second reading. They are referred to as Standing Committee A, B, C, etc. Their debates are published daily.

Debates

Delegated Legislation

Department Committee
    See Committees, Departmental

Departmental Publications
    These are papers produced by government departments but not presented to Parliament. Some are published by HMSO/TSO, while others are issued directly by the departments concerned.

General Synod Measures

Green Papers
    "A statement by the Government, not of policy already determined, but of propositions put before the whole nation for discussion" (Michael Stewart, 747 H.C. Deb. 5s. 5 June 1967, Col.651.) They may be issued as non-parliamentary publications or as Command Papers.

Hansard
    Colloquial term for the official report of the debates in the two Houses of Parliament.

HMSO
    Her Majesty's Stationery Office was responsible for the publication of all Parliamentary papers and many non-Parliamentary papers until it was privatised in 1996. The Stationery Office (TSO) continues the publishing and sales work previously undertaken by HMSO. HMSO continues to exist as a residual crown body responsible for the supervision of statutory publishing and Crown copyright. It now operates from within the Office of Public Sector Information.

House of Lords Papers and Bills

Indexes

Journals

Laws

Local and Personal Acts

Non-Parliamentary Publications

Office of Public Sector Information
    The OPSI was set up in 2005 to be a focus for information policy and standard setting, and to encourage the re-use of public sector information. HMSO continues to operate within OPSI.

Order Papers
    The agenda for the day's sitting of the House.

Orders in Council
    These are made at meetings of the Privy Council. Some appear in the London Gazette, some as statutory instruments, some as non-parliamentary publications and some are not published at all.

Parliamentary Publications

Personal Acts

Private Bills and Acts
     A colloquial term for what are officially known as Local and Personal Bills and Acts.

Private Members Bill
    A bill introduced by an individual MP as distinct from the government. It has only a small chance of becoming law.

Royal Commissions
    A body set up by the issue of a Royal Warrant to carry out an investigation of a specified subject on which new legislation seems desirable. The Commission meets until its investigation is complete. Its report is usually issued as a Command Paper, but the evidence as a non-parliamentary publication.

Select Committees
    See Committees, Select

Session
    The period of time between the meeting of a Parliament and it prorogation.

Sessional Committees
    See Committees, Select

Sessional Papers

Standing Committee Debates

Standing Committees
    See Committees, Standing

State Papers
    Command Papers emanating from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office consisting of three series: Treaty, Country, Miscellaneous.

Statutes

Statutory Instruments

Statutory Rules and Orders

TSO
    The Stationery Office. Since its formation in 1996, following the privatisation of HMSO, the primary publisher for Parliament and other official bodies.

Votes and Proceedings

White Paper
    This has come to mean a government policy statement on which early legislation is envisaged, issued as a Command Paper.

Working Party
    A small group of experts appointed on an information basis to look into a particular problem.

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Further Information and Help

Further information is available from the United Kingdom Parliament website, including How Parliament Works and a series of factsheets on various forms of publication.

For help in using the Library's collections, please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian or email lib-enquiry@york.ac.uk.