Guides and databases: Education (Theory and Practice): Official Publications

Official Publications at the IOE Library

The Official Publications collection is the largest of the Special Collections within the UCL Institute of Education Library. The collection relates directly to state education in the United Kingdom from its earliest origins in the 19th century to the present day, and it is an almost comprehensive collection of official reports, legislation and other publications on education and related subjects.

The UCL Institute of Education Library holds extensive print and online collections of Official Publications. This includes items published by the UK Government, UK Parliament (including devolved assemblies), government departments, local authorities, and quangos. In addition, the collection holds publications produced by trade unions, political parties, and think tanks.These publications include codes of practice, statistics, and research papers. Highlights include items published by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) - the local education authority for the City of London and the inner London boroughs from 1965 until 1990.

With most government information published online, the Library now maintains an open-access repository of documents specifically related to education, training, and skills. DERA (Digital Education Resource Archive) was established in 2011 and now holds over 36000 publications related to education, training, and skills.

Accessing the Official Publications Collection

The Official Publications Collection at the UCL Institute of Education Library is held in print and online. Most of our printed official publications are held in our library stores and need to be requested in advance via the online request form in UCL Explore.

The Library collects a wide range of official publications related to Education including Acts of Parliament, Command Papers, Statutory Guidance, Select Committee Reports, as well as Departmental statistics, strategies, and reports.

Official Publications can be a challenge to locate, but we encourage you to contact the Subject Liaison Librarian for Educational Policy for help and support.

You can also find links to key resources in the reading list below:

Where to find key Official Publications

DERA: Digital Education Resource Archive

DERA is a digital archive for born digital publications in the subject areas of education, training and skills, collected and maintained by UCL Library Services. DERA includes documents published by the UK Government, UK Parliament and devolved Assemblies, government departments, semi-official organisations (quangos) and think tanks.

Digital Education Resource Archive
Digital archive of all documents published electronically by government and related bodies in the area of education.

Popular resources on DERA include:

Other libraries

To locate material not held by UCL you can use the Library Hub Discover site: an online catalogue with records of the holdings the top research libraries in the country.

The British Library have collections of government publications from around the world, and provides a useful guide to finding official publications. UCL staff and students can apply directly for reference access.

Print Still Matters contains details on which Libraries in the United Kingdom hold print collections of publications issued by the UK Parliament, UK Government, and the Devolved Assemblies, Parliaments, and Administrations of Nothern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. This site was initiated and is maintained by representatives of the Standing Committee on Official Publications, which also publishes an informative blog on parliamentary and government publishing.

SCOOP Print Still Matters

Subject Librarian for Educational Policy

Helen Biggs

Email Me

Finding items on DERA

Useful websites

The Higher Education Statistics Agency collects a wide range of data from universities and other providers of higher education every year. Some publications are freely available in the HESA Archive.

Hansard provides an edited transcription of what is said in Parliament, covering proceedings in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Other recommended websites for historical education policy and official publications:

Education Statistics: United Kingdom

Northern Ireland Department of Education: Statistics Statistics and research published by the Northern Ireland Department of Education.
Office for National Statistics Office for National Statistics (ONS): is the UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics. ONS collects, analysis and publishes statistics related to economy, population and society at national, regional and local level.:
Scottish Education Statistics Statistics on education, training, and skills in Scotland.
Stats Wales: Education and Skills Statistics on education, training, and skills in Wales.
UCAS Data and Analysis Statistics and reports for UCAS Undergraduate applications,
UK Data Service UK Data Service provides access and support for an extensive range of key economic and social data both quantitative and qualitative. Key data sections include: UK Government surveys and panel data, cross- national surveys, longitudinal surveys, census data, international macrodata, business macrodata, qualitative/mixed methods and administrative data. Registration is required to download data.
UK National Statistics Publication Hub Searchable database of key UK Government research and statistics publications.

For information on historical sources of UK education statistics, see Special Collections.