United Kingdom
This site contains links to web pages and other information from the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
Directgov is a good starting point for all government contacts in the United Kingdom. Included are Directories of all British government agencies, an informative, Guide To Government site, and a, Do It Online site for doing business with the British govrnment, a listing of government forms, transactions and other tools and links.
The Statute Law Database is the official revised edition of the primary legislation of the UK, much like the United States Code. Another useful site, The BAILII (British and Irish Legal Information Institute), provides access to the most comprehensive set of British and Irish primary legal materials that are available for free and in one place on the internet.
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers commercial database (UNCG affiliates ONLY) provides the fulltext of over 79,000 parliamentary papers from the British House of Commons in the 19th century.
Basic, current access to the business of Parliament may be found at the United Kingdom Parliament site, which includes links to the Hansard debates (retrospective back thru 1989 for Commons and 1994 for Lords), and a current "Bills Before Parliament". Additionally, there is a full text, Acts of Parliament site, covering legislation back thru 1988. Online patrons may also access the House of Commons, the House of Lords, with all the web publications of same. Bear in mind that the future of the House of Lords has been in some doubt. A recent report, Next Steps for the House of Lords was published in 2003, and a Summary of Responses was made available in 2004.There is a House of Commons Publications On The Internet site, including Hansard, bills and reports for the current parliament, an informative Weekly Information Bulletin back through 1996, a Sessional Information Digest back through 1995, and many other publications links. Considerable information concerning Parliament will be found through the Explore Parliament education site. A highly informative list of House of Commons Fact Sheets is also provided, and the Parliamentary Education Unit maintains excellent PDF publications about both houses.
The British counterpart to the United States Government Printing Office is the Office of Public Sector Information, which was historically called, Her (or His) Majesty's Stationery Office. For a description of the OPSI and a history of the HMSO, use About OPSI and History of HMSO. OPSI maintains an "Inforoute" information access portal, similar to GPO Access, and with a full search capability. Acts of the UK Parliaments back through 1988 will be found on the searchable OPSI Legislation site, and there is also a general Advanced Search engine for other OPSI/HMSO publications, apparently covering about a decade of material.
The Public Record Office/National Archives is similar in purpose to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, preserving the government records of the UK. Considerable online resources are now available, although not nearly so much as the NARA. Use their Online Records link for access.
For UK information on the monarchy, the Official Web Site of the British Monarchy, is a highly informative resource on the British royal family. Also included is a truly excellent, History of the Monarchy site, which covers monarchs all the way back through the Anglo Saxons. For more current information, there is an on-line magazine called Royal Insight.
The Official Cabinet Office of the UK, and the Office of the Prime Minister, also called Number 10 Downing Street, are the rough counterparts to our Whitehouse site and Office of the President.
The all-purpose, National Statistics Office, is the official UK statistical information site, providing a wide variety of statistical data packages, including population census, vital statistics, the economy, crime, and much more. A powerful search capability is available, along with a useful "Browse By Theme" function.
The following list contains a few of the most important traditional paper and microform United Kingdom government publications in Jackson Library, all of which will be found in the on-line library catalog:
The library owns the entire run of House of Commons Sessional Papers, through 1949, and the entire Hansard (debates), and it's predecessors through the present, including The Parliamentary History of England, and Cobbett's Parliamentary Debates. For help in finding and using these materials, ask at the Reference and Government Information desk, main floor lobby.
British government official publications reference texts and indexes to Parliamentary papers, located in the Reference Department are:
Subject Catalogue of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, 1801-1900.
General Index to Parliamentary Papers, 1900-1949.
British Official Publications by John E. Pemberton.
An Introduction to British Government Publications by James G. Olle.
Official Publications in Britain by David Butcher.
