Library: Official publications (UK): Non-Parliamentary and Departmental publications

Introduction

The term 'non-Parliamentary papers' is used to describe official publications which are not issued as part of the Parliamentary process.

Non-Parliamentary papers include some important departmental reports, technical papers, research reports and even evidence to Royal Commissions when the final report has been classified as a Parliamentary Paper. Examples include:

Bovine tuberculosis in cattle and badgers (the Krebs report)
Delivering affordable housing through planning policy
Design manual for roads and bridges
Egan review : skills for sustainable communities
Immunisation against infectious diseases - the Green Book
The role of staff in delivering high quality public services

The Library does not buy all non-Parliamentary papers. Those we have are shelved with books on the same subject, and can be located using the Library catalogue.

Many departmental and agency publications are available free of charge, and may be obtained by contacting the government department or agency concerned, or searching on their website or the Publications section of GOV.UK.

Finding non-parliamentary publications

A number of sources can be used to trace non-Parliamentary official publications:

The Stationery Office bookshop
Provides an online version of The Stationery Office (TSO) catalogue, a web version of the Daily list (a list of everything that has been published on that day) and an email alert service for new titles.
Stationery Office annual catalogue
Together with earlier titles (shelved in the same place), covers 1922 to 2013.
GOV.UK - Publications
From May 2005 onwards, most Command Papers and House of Commons Papers, as well as key Departmental papers, are available for free on the site in PDF format.
The site also contains a selection of papers published before May 2005.
GOV.UK - Departments, agencies and public bodies
Links to central government websites
National Digital Archive of Datasets (NDAD)
The National Digital Archive of Datasets (NDAD) preserves and provides online access to archived digital datasets and documents from UK central government departments.