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Finding Official Publications

What are Command papers?

These are papers which bear the wording, "Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for [name of government department] by Command of Her Majesty".  They form into six main groups
 

  • White papers - statements of government policy and proposals for legislation
  • Green papers - government consultation documents
  • Reports from Royal Commissions and some other inquiries
  • State papers, including international treaties
  • Government responses to some Select Committee reports
  • Annual reports and statistics from some government bodies.

Parliament's webpage About Command Papers is a useful summary of what Command Papers are and places where they can be found.

Finding Command Papers

The following databases are the main online tools for finding Command Papers:

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