Harvard Templates

Government Documents

If you are using a screen reader to view this page, please be aware that the templates and examples contain important punctuation and formatting, such as commas, full stops, uppercase text and italics, that are a vital part of referencing. You may need to change the punctuation settings and other settings on your screen reader software in order to correctly hear this information. It may work best to turn on an indication for capital letters and to navigate the templates one character at a time to ensure that all punctuation and capital letters are announced correctly. If you have any problems with this, please contact the library.

Government Reports and Papers

You can copy this URL to share a direct link to this referencing template:

Template

Please ensure that you follow the template exactly, including text formatting such as italics and punctuation.

Name of speaker/author (Year of publication) 'Subject of debate or speech'. Hansard: Name of House of Parliament - debates/written statement/Westminster Hall or petitions, Day and month, Volume number/column number/page number, Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Example

Citation
Paraphrasing / Summarising

John Hayes MP (2024) raised concerns about...

...factors covered in the debate by Hayes (2024).

Reference List

Hayes, J. (2024) 'Food security'. Hansard: House of Commons - debates, 30 July, 752, c. 1282. Available at: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-07-30/debates/0D5D632E-C4AD-4451-97DA-DEA74D54ECB0/FoodSecurity (Accessed: 2 August 2024)

You can copy this URL to share a direct link to this referencing template:

Template

Please ensure that you follow the template exactly, including text formatting such as italics and punctuation.

Name of the Committee (Year of publication) Title of the report. (Chair: name). Place of publication: Publisher.

Example

Citation
Paraphrasing / Summarising

... discussed by the committee themselves (National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education, 1997).

Reference List

National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (1997) Higher education in the learning society. (Chair: Sir Ron Dearing). London: TSO.

You can copy this URL to share a direct link to this referencing template:

Template

Please ensure that you follow the template exactly, including text formatting such as italics and punctuation.

Department (Year of publication) Title of report or consultation paper. (Command Paper number). Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Example

Citation
Paraphrasing / Summarising

... a plan to restore control of public spending (HM Treasury, 2024).

As indicated by HM Treasury (2024), ...

Quoting

... stated that "such unfunded pressures cannot arise again" (HM Treasury, 2024, p. 14).

HM Treasury (2024, p. 14) states that "such unfunded pressures cannot arise again".

Reference List

HM Treasury (2024) Fixing the foundations: public spending audit 2024-25. (CP 1133). Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fixing-the-foundations-public-spending-audit-2024-25 (Accessed: 6 August 2024).

You can copy this URL to share a direct link to this referencing template:

Template

Please ensure that you follow the template exactly, including text formatting such as italics and punctuation.

Law Commission (Year of publication) Title of report or consultation paper. (Number of report/consultation paper). Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Example

Citation
Paraphrasing / Summarising

The report (Law Commission, 2022) argues that....

As outlined in a report by the Law Commission (2022), ...

Quoting

The document states that "as long as legislation provides that an electronic trade document is capable of being indorsed, any uncertainty in this regard is removed" (Law Commission, 2022, p. 195).

As stated by the Law Commission (2022, p. 195), "as long as legislation provides that an electronic trade document is capable of being indorsed, any uncertainty in this regard is removed".

Reference List

Law Commission (2022) Electronic trade documents: Report and Bill. (LC 405). Available at: https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/electronic-trade-documents/ (Accessed: 1 August 2024).

You can copy this URL to share a direct link to this referencing template:

Template

Please ensure that you follow the template exactly, including text formatting such as italics and punctuation.

Inventor(s) (Year of publication) Title. Authorising organisation, Patent number. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Example

Citation
Paraphrasing / Summarising

... invention was needed because there was a lack of readily available nitrous oxide in Cuba (Toretto, 2017).

Toretto (2017) recommends the introduction of ...

Quoting

"..." (Toretto, 2017, p. 32).

In the patent, Toretto (2017, p. 32) argues that "..."

Reference List

Toretto, D. (2017) Cuban NOS - Nitrous oxide system for internal combustion engine. US Intellectual Property Office, Patent no. US7699043B2. Available at: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/97/5b/b0/11388a7fb5db62/US7699043.pdf (Accessed: 7 July 2024).