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Official Papers: Government & Parliamentary Papers from the UK and Ireland

This guide is intended to give an overview of the Official Publications of the UK and Ireland. Extended thanks to Hannah Chandler, Official Papers librarian at Oxford University's Bodleian Law Library, for use of some of the content from her Library guide

House of Commons Command Papers

Command Papers search
"Command Papers are Parliamentary Papers presented to the United Kingdom Parliament nominally by command of the Sovereign, but in practice by a Government Minister. The numbering is continuous over sessions of Parliament; they are differentiated by a letter prefix:

[1] to [4222] 1833-1868/69

C.1 to C.9550 1870-1899

Cd.1 to Cd.9239 1900-1918

Cmd.1 to Cmd.9889 1919-1955/56

Cmnd.1 to Cmnd.9927 1956/57-1985/86

"The last series had the prefix 'Cm' and ran from 'Cm 1' in November 1986 to 'Cm 9756' in December 2018. The current series, the seventh, began with 'CP 1' in January 2019."

Note: The House of Lords does not generate command papers."

Sources:
(parliament.uk/about/how/publications)
(proquest.libguides.com/parliamentary)
Additional Information on Command Papers
"The term 'Command' is in the formula carried on the papers: 'Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for ...by Command of Her Majesty'."

"Command Papers are government papers (publications) that are presented to Parliament. They convey information or decisions that the government think should be drawn to the attention of one or both Houses of Parliament."

Source: (parliament.uk/about/how/publications/government)