British Parliamentary Papers

 This is a guide to finding the documentation produced by the Houses of Parliament from the beginning in the 13th Century until the present day.  Perkins Library provides access to most of them, in print, microform or online.   Access varies according to the period, which is reflected in the organization of this guide.

For a full description of what Parliamentary Papers are, see the About Parliament section of the UK Parliament website. This also gives background information on MPs and Lords, Parliament's role,  committees, etc. 

The ordinary use of the term Parliamentary Papers refers to the following categories of material although in some instances the term refers specifically to the second category only:

• Journals, Votes and Proceedings, Debates (records of what is said or done in Parliament).
• Bills, Reports and Papers (working papers of Parliament, usually called Sessional Papers).
• Acts of Parliament. (These are in the Law Library: see Research Guide to English Law).

Note: This guide deals only with the publications and Internet sites for the House of Commons and House of Lords. For information on the Parliaments and Assemblies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland or other regional assemblies, see the Devolved Parliaments and Assemblies website.

Sessional Papers

Sessional Papers are papers presented to Parliament. They include bills, reports of committees made up of House members, and papers presented by Royal Commissions or by Government departments. Before 1921 almost all important government documents were presented to Parliament for their consideration. Beginning in 1921, only those documents considered likely to be the subject of early legislation have been presented. Between 1541 and 1730, it is often necessary to rely on the Journals (described above) for reports of committees or government departments. These publications are indexed in the Journals under the headings "Printing" and "Reports of Committees."

Sessional sets for 1801 to date are as follows. (Sometimes volumes in the Perkins stacks have spine titles using the terms below instead of the term Sessional Papers):

1. Public bills, arranged by title. (Private bills relating to local or personal legislation (divorce, for example) are not part of the Sessional Papers.)
2. Reports of committees of Parliament, arranged alphabetically by subject or name of committee.
3. Reports of Royal Commissions and other groups doing research of interest to Parliament.
4. Accounts and papers (all publications not in the first three categories. Included are treaties, international agreements, financial and statistical reports, papers on defense, etc.).

Many papers in groups 3 and 4 are Command Papers, so-called because they are presented to Parliament by "royal command" rather than as a result of an Act of Parliament. Each sessional paper bears a number, printed in the lower lefthand corner of the title page. All papers except Command Papers begin a new series of numbers each session.