Course resource help for International Relations and Politics

• Gov.uk - the UK Government Web site provides access to a range of government information and publications
• House of Commons Parliamentary Papers - access to the full text of the entire collection of House of Commons parliamentary papers from 1688 to 2003/04 session via this library database. More about the collection.
• United Kingdom parliamentary publications and records: the UK parliament publishes a range of government information and many of these publications are available online from this site
• LibrarySearch: Search by keyword for specific publications, or publication on a particular topic.
• The Stationery Office (TSO) publish many UK government publications. The Office also acts as an agent for some European and International organisations. Search the TSO Parliamentary & Legal Bookshop for publication details.

See below for guidance on finding specific types of publication.

An Act of Parliament is a law, enforced in all areas of the UK where it is applicable. More about Acts (UK Parliament guide)

Statutory Instruments (SIs) are government orders or regulations made by a Minister under the authority of a specific Act [Parliament glossary]

For further help, see the Library Guide to English Law (PDF)

Print sources

Current Law Statutes (shelved at 348.02 C on Level 2) is a print series which provides the full text of Acts. It dates from 1961 and statutes are listed chronologically (there is no subject index).

Online sources

• UK Statute Law Database is freely available and provides full-text access to UK Statutes from 1988 and SIs from 1987.
• The database LexisLibrary provides full text Statutes and SIs. There is also some access to previous versions of legislation.
• Westlaw database provides fully consolidated* full-text Statutes since 1267 and SIs since 1947. (*A consolidated statute incorporates all the amendments to the statute since its last revision.)
• The Statutory Instruments web site provides access to the full text of (SIs) since 1997, arranged by year and SI number. Use the search engine to find SIs on a particular topic.
• Acts of the Scottish Parliament provides full text of Acts from 1999.

Check Cite Them Right Online for guidance on how to reference UK statutes (Acts of Parliament) and Statutory Instruments (SIs) in the Harvard style used at Oxford Brookes.

A Bill is a draft law; it becomes an Act if it is approved by a majority in the House of Commons and House of Lords, and formally agreed to by the reigning monarch (known as Royal Assent). More about Bills (UK Parliament guide).

• Parliament Bills website provides access to the full text of Bills currently before Parliament.
• House of Commons Parliamentary Papers - library database giving access to the full text of the entire collection of House of Commons parliamentary papers including Bills, from 1688 to 2003/04 session. More about the collection.
• The Weekly Information Bulletin provides access to bibliographic details about Bills from 1996 onwards. It provides complete lists of public bills and their progress through Parliament
• The Library holds a few Bills and some publications about individual Bills. Search by keyword using LibrarySearch to check our holdings, e.g. 'housing bills'
• See the Hansard section of this guide to find information about debates on Bills.

Check Cite Them Right Online for guidance on how to reference Bills from the House of Commons or House of Lords in the Harvard style used at Oxford Brookes.

Government publications presented to Parliament are known as Command Papers. Most but not all Command Papers are published in a numbered series. More about Command Papers (UK Parliament guide)

• Command papers online - use the filter options on the left to look narrow your search e.g. by date.
• House of Commons Parliamentary Papers - library database giving access to the full text of the entire collection of House of Commons parliamentary papers including Command Papers, from 1688 to 2003/04 session. More about the collection.
• The Library also holds a number of Command Papers. A keyword search on command paper using LibrarySearch will give a list of all command papers. Search by keyword for particular topics, e.g 'command paper family'

Check Cite Them Right Online for guidance on how to reference Command Papers including Green and White Papers in the Harvard style used at Oxford Brookes.

Hansard (official report) is the daily record of debates from Parliament [Parliament Glossary]

The full text of many debates from 1988 onward can be found on the Hansards section of the UK Parliament web site. These include both debates from the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Check Cite Them Right Online for guidance on how to reference Hansard in the Harvard style used at Oxford Brookes.

The UK Government website lists Government Departments which can provide a range of useful information, e.g. publications including White Papers and Green Papers, statistical information, links to other useful sites.

The Library holds many publications by different government departments. LibrarySearch provides details of our holdings . Try searching by keyword using the particular Department e.g. 'Department of Health' and/or the subject e.g. 'special needs'.

Whitaker's Almanac at QR 052 WHI (in Quick Reference, Level 1) details all government departments with addresses and contacts.

Check Cite Them Right Online for guidance on how to reference Departmental publications in the Harvard style used at Oxford Brookes.

A consultation paper is a policy document that is put out by the Government for public comment and feedback. The UK Government website has a list of All current consultations

• Green Papers are consultation documents produced by the Government. The aim of this document is to allow people both inside and outside Parliament to give the department feedback on its policy or legislative proposals. [Parliament glossary]
• White papers are policy documents produced by the Government that set out their proposals for future legislation. White Papers are often published as Command Papers and may include a draft version of a Bill that is being planned. This provides a basis for further consultation and discussion with interested or affected groups and allows final changes to be made before a Bill is formally presented to Parliament. [Parliament glossary]

The full text of White Papers and Green Papers are available on the web sites of the Government Departments publishing them.

The Library also holds a number of consultation documents or papers. A keyword search using LibrarySearch for consultation document and your chosen topic, e.g 'planning consultation documents' will find all relevant items. To ensure you find all relevant items, do an additional search for 'planning consultation paper'

Check Cite Them Right Online for guidance on how to reference Command Papers including Green and White Papers in the Harvard style used at Oxford Brookes.

Select committees are small groups of MPs or members of the House of Lords that are set up to investigate a specific issue in detail or to perform a specific scrutiny role. They may call in officials and experts for questioning and can demand information from the government. Select committees publish their findings in a report and the government is expected to respond to any recommendations that are made [Parliament glossary]

• All Select Committee publications
• House of Commons Parliamentary Papers - library database giving access to the full text of the entire collection of House of Commons parliamentary papers including those from Select Committees, from 1688 to 2003/04 session. More about the collection.
• The Library also holds some select committee publications. LibrarySearch will provide details of our holdings, e.g. a search for 'select committee transport' will find all relevant committee publications.

Select committee publications can be referenced in a similar way to publications from government departments, using the name of the select committee in place of the government department. Check Cite Them Right Online for guidance on how to reference Departmental publications in the Harvard style used at Oxford Brookes.

Briefing papers are produced by staff of the House of Commons Library research service for MPs and their staff. They often draw on UK Government publications and statistics for their data. Note that these briefing papers present the data as it was at a certain period in time, so an older briefing paper might present out of date information.

Check Cite Them Right Online for guidance on how to reference House of Commons Library reports in the Harvard style used at Oxford Brookes.

• The Law Commission is a statutory independent body that keeps the law under review and recommends reform where it is needed. The Law Commission web site contains summaries and full text of all recent reports and consultation papers.
• The Library also holds a number of reports and papers. Use LibrarySearch to find details of our holdings. Try searching for 'law commission' for all publications, or use keywords for reports on a particular subject.

Check Cite Them Right Online for guidance on how to reference Law commission reports and consultation papers in the Harvard style used at Oxford Brookes.

Many official statistics are freely available online. Check the Library guide to Statistics which is organised by subject, to trace statistical information online as well as in the Library's collection.

Key online sources for official UK statistics are:

• Office for National Statistics (ONS) UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics, ONS collects and publishes statistics on a wide range of topics. They also conduct the census in England and Wales every 10 years.
• Gov.uk: Statistics provides access to statistics produced by UK government departments and many other agencies and public bodies.

Grey Literature is material with little or no general distribution, it is not available through normal book selling channels. LibrarySearch provides details of all our holdings.

Europa: the official web site of the European Union includes news, official documents, statistics. The following sections may be useful:

• European Commission - The European Commission is the source of policy initiatives within the European Union. It also acts as the EU executive body and guardian of the Treaties.
• EU law and publications - The Publications Office provides access to official documents from the EU including Green and White Papers via this web site.
• Eurostat - offers a wide range of free EU statistics.
• CURIA: Court of Justice of the European Communities Includes current case law and full-text judgements.
• European Council - The Council defines the EU's overall political direction and priorities. It is not one of the EU's legislating institutions, so does not negotiate or adopt EU laws. Instead it sets the EU's policy agenda, traditionally by adopting 'conclusions' during European Council meetings which identify issues of concern and actions to take.
• European Parliament - The Parliament acts as a co-legislator, sharing with the Council the power to adopt and amend legislative proposals and to decide on the EU budget. It also supervises the work of the Commission and other EU bodies and cooperates with national parliaments of EU countries to get their input.
  
• Library guide Resources for EU Law (PDF)
• Useful websites for EU law

Check Cite Them Right Online for guidance on how to reference European Union (EU) publications in the Harvard style used at Oxford Brookes.

• The Congressional Record is the official daily record of the debates and proceedings of the U.S. Congress (Senate and House of Representatives). Through this website you can also access The Daily Digest which summarizes floor and committee actions in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
• HeinOnline database includes the full text of US Federal legislation. To find a specific act, go to the database homepage and choose 'U.S. Federal Legislative History Library' under 'Browse Databases by Name'. When you click on the database title you'll get a menu of options. Choose the top one also called 'U.S. Federal Legislative History Library'. You'll get an option to browse for legislation by title.

Sources of International Law lists a range of useful and authoritative websites, including international conventions and treaties.