The House of Commons Library is a research and information service based in the UK Parliament. We publish impartial analysis and statistical research to help MPs and their staff scrutinise legislation, develop policy, and support constituents. We work for MPs of all parties.

We strive for accuracy and impartiality. Our publications are informed by evidence, our knowledge of the topics we cover and relevant sources. When covering politically controversial topics we often include a variety of views and sources to help MPs understand the range of opinions.  These do not reflect the views of the authors or the House of Commons Library.

Library authors and the Director of Research decide what to include, or omit, from Commons Library briefings. They are also responsible for when and how often we update briefings. We frequently update and amend our publications to take account of new information and updated source material. The publication date on a briefing paper indicates when it was last significantly amended. Minor changes to a paper, such as correcting typing errors or fixing broken links, do not prompt a change of publication date.

We aim to publish briefings on all major government Bills and the top Private Members’ Bills in time for their Second Reading debate in the Commons. We also aim to produce shorter briefings on the most important non-legislative debates. Decisions on what else to publish is informed by the amount of time available to our researchers, as well as the following factors:

  • Parliamentary business
  • Questions from MPs and their staff
  • New and topical issues
  • Developments in policy areas
  • New data releases
  • International events

While our work is primarily for MPs and their staff, anyone can read the research published on this website and sign up to be alerted to new content. Anyone is free to use the information available in our publications as part of the Open Parliament License.

We are not always able to engage in discussions with members of the public who express opinions about the content of our research, although we will carefully consider and correct any factual errors.