About parliamentary and laid papers
The term parliamentary papers usually refers to the sessional papers and reports produced by Parliament itself and its committees. It can sometimes also include those papers that are presented to Parliament by outside bodies, or the working papers of Parliament (such as bills, Hansard and the daily business papers for each House).
Papers produced by Parliament and its committees
Both Houses of Parliament publish documents that result from their work and that of their committees, such as:
- Votes and Proceedings (Commons) and the Minute (Lords) - the formal, authoritative record of the decisions taken by each House.
- Select committee reports and evidence.
- Registers of Members' financial interests.
- Standing Orders - the rules for conducting business in both Houses.
- Sessional Returns (Commons) and Business Statistics (Lords) - which present statistics for the work of each House at the end of a session (parliamentary year).
These papers are published as House of Commons or House of Lords sessional papers.
Papers presented to Parliament (laid papers)
Many different types of papers are presented to Parliament by bodies outside Parliament - some are then published under Parliament's authority.
Most are presented because the bodies are required to do so either by law or by a decision of Parliament. The following are some of the categories of papers that must be presented to Parliament:
- Annual reports of government departments or other bodies and agencies.
- Periodic reports of certain activities or programmes (eg, Reports of HM Inspector of Prisons).
- Reports by the National Audit Office.
- Estimates, accounts and other government financial papers such as the Budget.
- Reports of inquiries into particular events (eg, the Hutton Inquiry, the Home Office report on the 7/7 London bombings).
Many, but not all, of these papers are published as 'House of Commons Papers' or 'House of Lords Papers'.
Other papers are presented because the government has decided - or previously committed - to provide the information to Parliament. These papers are usually called Command Papers.
Numbering
House of Commons papers and House of Lords papers have separate numbering sequences, starting at one in every session. Therefore, papers are referred to in the format: 'HC 507 2021-22' or 'HL Paper 17 2016-17'. Numbers are allocated to HC papers by the Journal Office and to HL papers by the Table Office.
Access to parliamentary papers
HC and HL papers directly related to the work of Parliament, including select committee publications, standing orders, sessional returns, registers of interests, and some financial publications, are available through the Publications and Records area of the Parliament website from 1997 onwards.
Papers which originate in government departments, including Command Papers, are available via the government's Official Documents website from 2005 onwards.
Digital copies of older numbered House papers, bills and Command papers can be requested from The National Archives.
In addition, all House of Commons parliamentary papers from 1715 to 2015, and House of Lords parliamentary papers from 1714 to 1911, are digitised and available via ProQuest UK Parliamentary Papers, a subscription service available at many university libraries and large reference libraries, including onsite at the National Archives.