british parliamentary papers_online2011
TRANSCRIPT
British Parliamentary Papers online
John French. April 2011
The range of parliamentary publication sources includes:
• Free public websites• Subscription databases available from the
library webpages• Paper (and microfiche) resources held in the
library
Free resources: Official Documents websitehttp://www.official-documents.gov.uk/
Content and Scope
• “Official Documents is the official reference facility for Command and departmentally sponsored House of Commons Papers.”
• “From May 2005 onwards, all Command Papers and House of Commons Papers, as well as key Departmental papers, are available for free on the site in PDF format.”
Free resources: Legislation.gov.ukhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/
Content and Scope
• “Publishing all UK legislation is a core part of the remit of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO), part of The National Archives, and the Office of the Queen's Printer for Scotland”
• “The original (as enacted) and revised versions of legislation on Legislation.gov.uk are published by and under the authority of the Controller of HMSO”
Free resources: Parliament UKhttp://www.parliament.uk/
Content and Scope (1)
• Primarily a resource for current information on bills, debates and committees, with links to related sites such as Public Information Online for older material, Parliament UK also contains access to historic Hansard at http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/
• Use the Parliamentary Business tab for access to publications
Content and Scope (2)
• The site also contains a series of Factsheets on aspects of parliamentary work:
– Procedure series– Legislation series– Members/Elections series– General series (such as history)
Subscription resources: Public Information Online
Content and Scope
• “Public Information Online contains • All material from 2006/07 Parliamentary
session onwards. The site is updated daily with fully searchable PDFs that are available on the day of publication.”
Subscription resources: House of Commons Parliamentary Papers
Published by Chadwyck Healey and hosted on the Proquest platform
Content and Scope (1)
• We have access to the following collections:
18th century (1688-1834)
19th century (1801-1900)
20th century (1901-2003/04 session)
21st century module 1 (2004/05 – 2009/10 sessions)
Content and Scope (2)
• HCPP has a Guide to Parliamentary Papers athttp://parlipapers.chadwyck.co.uk/infoCentre/hcppguide.jsp
• These Sessional papers comprise:– Bills - drafts of legislation– House Papers - documents resulting from the work of the
House and its Committees.– Command Papers - Government papers (from Ministers)
conveying information or decisions the Government wishes to draw to the attention of the House
Content and Scope (3)
• Reports of Committees - Select or the Whole House. Appointed to investigate issues of concern
• Reports of Commissioners - Commissions appointed by the Crown to investigate social problems
• Accounts and Papers - Statistical information, Correspondence, Treaties
“My Archive” function lets you save searches and selected records between sessions
Subscription resources: Lexis Library
Content and Scope: Halsbury’s Laws of England
Subscription resources: Westlaw
Content and Scope: Legislation tab for Public and General Acts
Subscription resources: Parliamentary Rolls of Medieval England
The rolls of parliament were the official records of the meetings of the English parliament from the reign of Edward I (1272 - 1307) until the reign of Henry VII (1485 - 1509), after which they were superseded by the journals of the lords and, somewhat
later, of the commons
“Robert of Standon prays that you will remember the order which our lord the king gave to him at Aberconway in the war of Madog ap Llewelyn for him
to provide victuals to equip the castle of Harlech”
Parliamentary Rolls of Medieval England: footnote
• The full text doesn’t currently display on some versions of Firefox.
• Use Internet Explorer or Safari.• The publisher is as surprised as we were, and
is investigating.
State Papers Online 1509-1714
Results for Armada in the reign of Elizabeth I
The Cabinet Papers 1915-1980Selected papers from the National Archives (JISC)
Results for the Beveridge Report on social insurance
Paper resources held in the John Rylands Library
• There are still considerable paper resources held on the open shelves in:– Red Floor 3 (the Parliamentary Publications
sequence, with no shelf numbers), and– Green Floor 3 (Public General Acts, Statutory
Instruments, with shelf numbers in the 340s)
ebook: How Parliament Works, by Rogers and Walters, 2006.
Citing parliamentary papers
• Citing Legislation: Acts of Parliament • Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1987 (c.33) London, HMSO. • Parliamentary Papers • When citing parliamentary papers include the following information:
– Abbreviation of the House – HC or HL – Paper number – Date of Parliamentary Session – in brackets
• for example: • HC 7 (1990-91)
(Courtesy of the LSE Library)
and finally…
• Parliament has a range of other networked resources which provide background information on procedures, history and current business…
YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/UKParliament
Twitter at http://twitter.com/ukparliament