British Government Publications – Resource Guide

BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS: (aka ‘what Parliament did’)

The term Parliamentary Papers may be used to refer to the Journals & Debates of Parliament, but in many cases it refers only to the following series of information:

• Bills
• Reports
• Papers

These are the working papers of Parliament. They are usually called Sessional Papers because they are arranged by Parliamentary session. Throughout the history of the sessional papers there has been considerable overlap between the House of Lords and House of Commons. Since the end of World War I, the Sessional Papers of the House of Lords has consisted primarily of Bills.

The Sessional Papers of the House of Commons are arranged in the following manner:

1. Public Bills

2. Reports of House of Commons committees

3. Command Papers (is the collective name given to various papers prepared by the British Government and presented to Parliament.)

4. Accounts & Papers (dealing with financial or statistical info and treaties.)

Within each section items are grouped under alphabetical subject headings.

Sessional Papers @ the Central Library

Title	Years Covered	Location	Call #
British Sessional Papers – Commons	1731-1900	GOV-4^th-FL	MiPrint 19
House of Lords Sessional Papers	1986-1999	GOV-4^th-FL	MiFiche 711
House of Commons Sessional Papers -- Bills	1987-1990; 1995-2005	GOV-4^th-FL	MiFiche 708
House of Commons Sessional Papers -- Papers	1987-1990; 1995-2005	GOV-4^th-FL	MiFiche 707
House of Commons Sessional Papers -- Cmnd papers	1987-2005	GOV-4^th-FL	MiFiche 709

DEBATES/HANSARDS: (aka ‘what was said in Parliament’)

The debates of Parliament are commonly referred to as Hansards. The debates are issued daily, with a bound edition published at the end of the annual session. Each bound volume covers approximately three weeks.

The bound volumes include indexes by member name and subject. An index is included in each volume of the bound set, as well as a one volume index that covers the entire session.

Parliamentary Debates @ the Central Library

Title	Years Covered	Location	Call #
Parliamentary History	1066-1803	5^th Floor Stacks	JN 505.P375 1966
Hansards	1803-1891	GOV-4^th-FL	MiPrint 22
Parliamentary Debates	1892-1908	Annex	328.42 G78p
Parliamentary Debates (Hansards) –Lords	1914-1942	Annex	J 301.J22
	1943-1988	5^th Floor Stacks
Parliamentary Debates (Hansards) – Commons	1909-1987	5^th Floor Stacks	J 301.K22
Parliamentary Debates (Hansards) –Lords	1986-2002	GOV-4^th-FL	MiFiche 710
Parliamentary Debates (Hansards) – Commons	1987-2002	GOV-4^th-FL	MiFiche 706
Hansards – Lords	1994-	Free Online	www.parliament.uk/hansard/hansard.cfm
Hansards- Commons	1988-	Free Online	www.parliament.uk/hansard/hansard.cfm

STATUTES:

Like the US Statutes at Large, the Acts of the UK are pulled together into ‘Public General Acts.’ The Acts are the Bills (both public and private) that are passed by Parliament and receive the ‘royal assent’.

Vanderbilt’s collection of British Statutes is located at the Law Library.

Title	Years Covered	Location	Call #
The statutes at large	1225-1800	LAW	KD130 1225 .R83
Chronological table of the statutes	1235-2004	LAW	KD142.3 .G74
Acts and ordinances of the interregnum, 1642-1660	1642-1660	ANNEX	KD130 1642 .F57 1911
The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and an index	1801-1869	LAW	KD130 1225 .R83
A collection of the public general statute: passed in…	1840-1865	LAW	KD129 .C64
The law reports, public general statutes	1866-current	LAW	KD135 .L3 G74
Current law statutes annotated	1985-1993	LAW	KD135 .C8 G74
Current law statutes	1994-current	LAW	KD135 .C8 G74

JOURNALS:

The Journals of the House of Commons and the Journals of the House of Lords serve as the official, permanent records of the workings of Parliament. Published annually, the Journals date back to 1547 for the Commons and 1509 for the Lords. The Journals are used largely within Parliament as the authority on procedure and precedent. For researchers, the pre-nineteenth century Journals of the House of Commons provides access to numerous committee reports.

Journals @ the Central Library

Title	Years Covered	Location & Call#	Search Tips
Journal of the House of Lords	1509-1714	Annex 328.42 G784j
Early English Books	varies	Library Online	· Search for either “journals of the house of commons” or “journals of the house of lords” in Acorn. · Use links within individual records.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online	varies	Library Online

NON-PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS: (aka Official Publications or Stationary Office Publications)

This class of British government publications has increased considerably since 1921. At that time there was a change in what types of documents were included in the Parliamentary Papers. There are three main groups of non-parliamentary publications:

1. Statutory Instruments: The regulations published by an agency that relates to a specific act of Parliament.
2. Reports: Primarily the work of various ad hoc committees, these reports cover a wide variety of topics.
3. Informational materials: These generally contain information for the general citizen on topics ranging from recipes to guide books to understanding pension benefits.

The collection of non-parliamentary publications at Vanderbilt University is limited. It will likely be necessary to request the item through Interlibrary Loan. To locate publications, use one of the following indexes:

Title	Years Covered	Location	Call #/URL
BOPCRIS	1688-1995	Free Online	www.bopcris.ac.uk
HMSO monthly catalogue (name changes several times, but all volumes are together.)	1924-current	GOV-4^th-FL (British Index Shelves)	Z 2009

INDEXES:

A number of indexes to British Parliamentary and non-Parliamentary papers are located in the GOV-REF Alcove. The last three shelves are considered the “British Index Shelves.” In addition, we have the following Online indexes available:

Title	Years Covered	Location	URL
BOPCRIS	1688-1995	Free Online	www.bopcris.ac.uk
British Parliamentary Papers Indexes (Bunsei Shoin)	Commons:1801-1944 Lords: 1801-1922	Library Online
British Parliamentary Papers Index	1990-	Library Online