LibGuides: Official Publications: Parliamentary Papers

House of Commons Papers

UK Parliamentary Papers This link opens in a new window
House of Commons Papers 1715-2005
Public Information Online This link opens in a new window
House of Commons Papers 1951 onwards

Official Documents
The official reference facility for recent Command Papers, House of Commons Papers and key Departmental Papers. Command Papers and House of Commons Papers are available in full text from 17 May 2005 to the present. You can also browse a selection of material from before this date.

Search Parliamentary Papers

A new service is being trialed by Parliament UK which includes House of Commons Papers.

Bills

The bills and legislation section of the Parliament UK website

Public Information Online
Commons bills 1919 onwards
Lords bills 1901 onwards

State Papers

Medieval and Early Modern Sources Online (MEMSO) This link opens in a new window MEMSO is a digital library of historical sources for the history of Britain and Ireland in the medieval and early modern periods to the late 18th century. The collection is principally from the major collections of governmental records of England, Scotland and Ireland published during the nineteenth century, such as the Calendar of Close Rolls, Calendar of Patent Rolls, and Calendars of State Papers, Domestic and Foreign. These texts are fully searchable, and for many there are links to manuscript images from the UK National Archives, Kew.
State Papers Online, 1509-1782 This link opens in a new window Part 1: State Papers Domestic, Military, Naval and Registers of the Privy Council
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Command Papers

UK Parliamentary Papers This link opens in a new window
Includes command papers from 1833-2005
Public Information Online This link opens in a new window
Command Papers from 1835 onwards

The command paper numbering sequence and prefix has changed many times over the years and can cause confusion. Wikipedia have a useful chart.

Reports of special commissions and public inquiries are often known by the names of the Chair e.g. the Scarman Report is actually titled The Brixton Disorders and is cmnd 8427. You can search by Chairs on the UK Parliamentary Papers Database or there are indexes to chairs held in the Rare Books room.

Parliament Rolls

Parliament Rolls of Medieval England This link opens in a new window
PROME contains the full text and translation of the meetings of the English parliament from Edward I to Henry VII, covering the years from 1272 to 1504. All surviving records of the parliaments, including many texts never before published, are given in full, with new scholarly introductions to each parliament. The parliament rolls themselves are freshly transcribed from the original documents, while the transcripts incorporate precise information about the text in the documents (e.g., deleted and unreadable text) never before available.
British History Online This link opens in a new window
The parliamentary section of the site contains the full text of the Lords Journals, 1509-1764, 1776-1793 & 1830-2, and the Commons Journal, 1547-1699 & 1830. Other full text primary sources include Acts of the Privy Council, and the Calendars of Close Rolls.

Department Papers

Some government departments issued their own publications that do not come under any of the numbering schemes. These can be harder to track down but should still have been deposited with the University Library so initial inquiries should still be directed to the Rare Books team.

One example is Home Office material such as Home Office Circulars. The University Library has a well stocked collection of circulars and these are frequently requested.

Public Information Online has a section of Key Non Parliamentary Papers section which is worth checking. More recent publications will probably be online on the gov.uk website. If the University Library does not hold what you require, ask at the relevant department library for advice.

House of Lords Papers

UK Parliamentary Papers This link opens in a new window
House of Lords Papers 1714-1805
Public Information Online This link opens in a new window
House of Lords Papers 1901 onwards

Search Parliamentary Papers

A new service is being trialed by Parliament UK which includes House of Lords Papers.

Command Papers

Cabinet Papers 1915-1984

Cabinet Papers 1915-1984 This link opens in a new window These collections of Minutes and Memoranda constitute a fascinating record of the way in which the British government grappled with the events of the 20th century, including the outbreak and events of the first and second world wars, the post-war division of Europe, the creation of the welfare state and the end of empire.

Physical & Digital Collections

Official Publications: Parliamentary Papers

Parliamentary Papers

House of Commons Papers

Bills

State Papers

Command Papers

Parliament Rolls

Department Papers

House of Lords Papers

Command Papers

Cabinet Papers 1915-1984