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House of Commons Library Research Briefings

The House of Commons Library continuously produces in-depth and impartial reports which are published as briefing papers on the Parliament website.

This is an invaluable resource for establishing facts behind topical issues and news stories.

You can find the research briefings online here  as well as briefing papers from the House of Lords Library and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). You can also set up alerts by topic to stay informed.

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This video, produced by UK Parliament to mark 200 years of the House of Commons Library, highlights the impartial role of the Library and importance of the research it produces.

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About the House of Commons Sessional Papers

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The Sessional Papers are also known generally as the Parliamentary Papers. Until 1969, the Sessional Papers were grouped and published as Bills (legislative drafts), Reports of Committees/Reports of Commissions , and Accounts and Papers (statistics, census data, etc.). Since 1969 the Sessional Papers have been published under Bills , House Papers , and Command Papers . The Sessional Papers will include census data, statistical information and abstracts, and correspondence from officials. For more explanation of the British Parliamentary Papers, including what Bills, Reports, and House Papers are, see the HCPP summary .

Command Papers are the collective name given to government publications presented to Parliament "by command of His/Her Majesty." They include treaties and international agreements, government policy initiatives, government consultation documents, and statistics and annual reports of some government bodies. To find them in the UCLA Library catalog searach under:

Author : Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons Title : Sessional Papers Call Number : J301.K6

• Sessional Papers — House of Commons Microfilm (yrs. 1756-1800); Microprint (yrs.1801-1950); Print (yrs. 1934-1987); Microfiche (yrs.1987- )
• Collection of British parliamentary bills, 1774-1818 SRLF Special Collections
• British Parliamentary Papers: House of Commons Sessional Papers of the eighteenth century, George III: East India Company 1767-1773 SRLF
• HCPP - House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (19th c.)
• The Irish University Press series of British parliamentary papers (19th c.) The Irish University Press published a one thousand volume series of reprinted parliamentary papers from 1801 to 1900 on topics ranging from Colonies to Emigration to the Slave Trade.
• Official Documents [electronic resource]/ The Stationery Office, 2005 to Present Command Papers and House of Commons Papers available in PDF format, May 2005 to present, from The Stationary Office, UK's largest publisher.

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Important changes to our services. find out more, q. how do i reference uk government and parliamentary sources.

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Answered By: Referencing Enquiries Team Last Updated: Dec 16, 2021     Views: 54932

There are different types of government and parliamentary sources of information. The type of source it is will determine how it should be referenced.

Here are different types of government and parliamentary sources and how to identify them. Once you have identified the source, refer to the appropriate reference type in the MMU Harvard referencing guide and follow the format for that source.

• Government command papers are issued by Government and presented to Parliament by Command of Her Majesty.  Reports produced by UK government bodies can be command papers, along with green papers, white papers and treaties. 

Command papers can usually be identify by an official command paper number on the first or second page of the document and the number is preceded by an abbreviation of command, for example: Cmnd , Cmd, Cd, Cm, or CP .

Use reference type:  Government command papers

• Acts of parliament or primary legislation are statute law passed by Parliament. This source of information will have 'Act' in the title, for example, the Housing Act 2004.

Use reference type: Acts of parliament

• Bills are proposed legislation under consideration by Parliament. Once a bill has been enacted it becomes an Act of Parliament/Statute.

Use reference type: Bills

• Statutory instruments  (SI) are secondary legislation, known as regulations, rules or orders.

Use reference type: Statutory Instruments

• Parliamentary papers can be papers produced by Parliament and its committees. These papers are published as House of Commons or House of Lords papers. Parliamentary papers can also be papers presented to Parliament by bodies outside of Parliament. Many of these papers are then published under Parliament’s authority as House of Commons Papers.

Parliamentary papers can usually be identified by an official House of Commons or House of Lords reference number , which will be preceded by HC or HL respectively, for example: HC 395-I

Use reference type: Parliamentary papers

• Parliamentary debates are held by both Houses of Parliament .  Transcripts of Parliamentary debates are known by the publication name of  Hansard.

Use reference type: Parliamentary debates

• House of Commons Library briefing papers are research publications produced by UK Houses of Parliament Libraries to inform Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords. They will be clearly marked as a briefing paper and include a briefing paper number.

Use reference type: Briefing papers

• For other sources by government departments, accessed as PDF documents, that do not fall under one of the specific types above, follow the format for an Online PDF document
• Sometimes you may access information on a Government webpage, ie not downloaded as a PDF document. In this case, you should follow the format for a Webpage . See our FAQ How to cite information from the GOV.UK webpages for guidance on citing from this source.
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House of Commons Parliamentary Papers

Between 1715 and 2000, around 9.5 million pages for over 184,000 parliamentary papers were published. Since 2001, the number of papers has grown by approximately 4,000 for each parliamentary session. HCPP delivers searchable full text for each paper, along with a detailed subject index. 

Q. How do I reference a House of Commons Briefing paper (OSCOLA)?

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Answered By: Claire Mazer Last Updated: 16 Oct, 2023     Views: 8630

See the example used here:  Shale gas and fracking (parliament.uk)

Use the pattern described at OSCOLA s.3.4 Other Secondary Sources: author, | ‘title’ | (additional information, | publisher | year) also adding: <URL link> accessed date month year.

The author and title are immediately clear from the document. In the centre of the citation you have (additional information, | publisher | year) so use the following information: (Briefing Paper No CBP 6073, House of Commons Library 31 March 2020). The link to the paper should be non-live, i.e. just text as follows in this example: < https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06073/SN06073.pdf  >. The date of access is when you accessed the briefing paper, and uses a specific date format, for example: 16 October 2023. Avoid using th after 16 (as in 16 th  ). The month should be provided in full (October), not Oct or 16/10/23. The year should also be provided in full (2023).

Footnote:  Sara Priestley, 'Shale gas and fracking'  (Briefing Paper No CBP 6073, House of Commons Library 31 March 2020)  < https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06073/SN06073.pdf  > accessed  16 October 2023.

Remember in your bibliography Sara Priestley’s (the author) name will appear as Priestley S, … rest of citation…

Bibliography:  Priestley S,  'Shale gas and fracking'  (Briefing Paper No CBP 6073, House of Commons Library 31 March 2020)  < https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06073/SN06073.pdf  > accessed  16 October 2023.

For further help, please contact Claire Mazer (Law librarian) [email protected] or the Academic Services team [email protected]

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House of commons parliamentary papers.

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What are Parliamentary Papers?

The House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (HCPP) are the working documents of the British Government, encompassing all areas of social, political, economic and foreign policy, showing how issues were explored and legislation was formed. The HCPP are vital to the historical record of Britain, its former Colonies, and the wider world. For more information about how Parliament works, visit the About Parliament and Publication & records sections of the UK Parliament website.

“Researching British Parliamentary papers and other British documents is not always a straightforward task. The papers are grouped in a variety of sets and series (collections), the arrangement of which vary. Some collections are in print format, while other collections are in a variety of micro-formats or online. Some of the collections overlap as to content. Lastly, indexes vary in much the same way as the collections. Researchers should budget both time and patience when working with the Parliamentary Papers.” -- From the University of Georgia Library British Parliamentary Papers Research Guide

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House of Commons paper

To be made up of:

• Parliament. House of Commons
• Year of publication (in round brackets).
• Title (in italics).
• HC session and paper number (in round brackets)
• Place of publication: publisher.

In-text citation:

Parliament. House of Commons, 1974).

Reference list:

Parliament. House of Commons (1974). Milk production. Government observations on the eighth report from the Expenditure Committee. (HC 1974-1975 311). London: House of Commons. 

House of Lords paper

• Parliament. House of Lords
• HL session and paper number (in round brackets, with the exact paper number also in round brackets). 

The additional round brackets help to distinguish House of Lords papers from House of Commons papers. 

(Parliament. House of Lords, 2004).

Parliament. House of Lords (2004). Electricity from renewables: the first report. (HL 2003-2004 (19)). London: The Stationery Office. 

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Need more help?

Answered by: sarah purcell last updated: jan 25, 2024     views: 2745.

There are a number of different Parliamentary record formats listed on the Cite Them Right website - browse to Category Legal - Official records of Parliament for your chosen referencing style. 

Links to Harvard guidance include:

• Hansard ('record of debate, speeches, oral and written answers/statements and Westminster Hall discussions' - available to search online )
• House of Commons and House of Lords papers - these include author, date, title, a paper number in brackets, finishing with place and publisher, OR URL/date of access if online. See also Publications and records on the UK Parliament website .
• House of Commons Library reports - again, these include author, date, title, series title and report number in brackets, then place/publisher OR URL/date of access if online. See also House of Commons Library website .

Example House of Commons committee paper:

Parliament. House of Commons. (2023)  Policing Priorities: fifth report of Session 2022-23  (HC 635). Available at: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmhaff/635/report.html (Accessed: 25 January 2024).

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Reference examples.

Government department/committee/organisation. Year. Title . (House name abbreviated (ie HC or HL) series number, parliamentary session). Place of publication: Publisher.

National Audit Office. 2005. Returning failed asylum applicants . (HC 76, 2005-06). London: The Stationery Office.

Online House of Commons/Lords paper

If you are referencing a House of Commons or House of Lords paper you found online, this should be indicated in the reference. Government department/committee/organisation. Year. Title . (House name abbreviated (ie HC or HL) series number, parliamentary session). [Online]. Place of publication: Publisher. [Date accessed]. Available from: URL

Security Industry Authority. 2018. Annual report and accounts, 2016/17. (HC 744, 2017-19). [Online]. London: The Stationery Office. [Accessed 15 May 2018]. Available from: https://0-www-publicinformationonline-com.wam.leeds.ac.uk/  

Citation examples

Command paper or house of commons/lords paper.

In the citation, always use the name of the Government organisation/department/comittee in place of that of an individual author. When the organisation name is not mentioned in the text, the ciation consists of the organisation's name and the year of publication in brackets.

According to a recent report, flu jabs are as important as travel vaccines (Department of Health, 2017).

If you have already named the organisation in the text, only the publication year needs to be mentioned in brackets.

A recent report by the Department of Health (2017) emphasised that flu jabs are as important as travel vaccines.

Common issues

When you're referencing with Leeds Harvard you may come across issues with missing details, multiple authors, edited books, references to another author's work or online items, to name a few. Here are some tips on how to deal with some common issues when using Leeds Harvard.

Skip straight to the issue that affects you:

• Online items
• URL web addresses
• Multiple authors
• Corporate author(s) or organisation(s)
• Multiple publisher details
• Editions and reprints
• Missing details
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• Sources written by the same author in the same year
• Sources with the same author in different years
• Two authors with the same surname in the same year
• The work of one author referred to by another
• Anonymising sources for confidentiality
• Identifying the authors’ family name (surname)