Key Starting Points
Governments on the WWW www.gksoft.com/govt/
By far the most extensive collection of links to national and local governments,
government departments and political parties that we have found to date.
Covers over 220 countries and territories. Available in English and German.
Unfortunately, no longer updated.
Oultwood International Local Government
Index www.oultwood.com
Political Resources on the
Net www.politicalresources.net
Listings of political sites available on the Internet sorted by country,
with links to parties, organizations, governments, media and election
sites.
World Leaders — Central Intelligence Agency
www.cia.gov/library/publications/world-leaders-1/index.html
Governments are listed in alphabetical order according to the most commonly used version of each country's name. The spelling of the personal names in this directory follows transliteration systems generally agreed upon by US Government agencies, except in the cases in which officials have stated a preference for alternate spellings of their names.
UK
Search tools
Directionlessgov www.directionlessgov.com
Comparison of search results from direct.gov.uk and a Google custom search of Directgov. Set up and maintained by
members of the Democracy.org.uk Collective
LGSearch lgsearch.net
UK Public Sector Search Engine using a Google custom search engine set up by Dave Briggs, an independent social media consultant who works mainly with the public and third sectors. The sites are broken down into the following categories: Local Government, Central Government, Health, Police & Fire, LG Related, Social Media.
Once you have run your search, you can select which types of sites you want to appear by selecting the appropriate category link.
The Government Says www.thegovernmentsays.com
This site pulls together news releases from various UK government departments. Produced and maintained by Democracy.org.uk - "a loose collective of like-minded individuals who believe that there is little wrong with UK society that a healthy mixture of transparency and public engagement won't fix." RSS feed available.
They Work For You - Keeping Tabs on the UK's Parliaments and Assemblies www.theyworkforyou.com
Provides links and search options for Hansard speeches and written answers, organised by date, topic or MP.
Selected UK government and related sites
Number10.gov.uk www.number10.gov.uk
The official site of the UK Prime Minister's Office
DirectGov www.direct.gov.uk
The main starting point for UK Government information.
HM Treasury www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
Press statements, documents, ministers speeches etc. Also the text of
the budget. Details of how to receive Treasury press releases by e-mail
as they are issued can be found in the News section
HM Revenue & Customs www.hmrc.gov.uk
This is the web site of the new UK government department responsible for,
amongst other things, VAT and Income Tax and formed by the merger of the
Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise. There is information on taxation,
legislation, rates and allowances. Also available are publications and press
releases as well as self assessment and submitting returns online.
UK Trade & Investment
www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk
Government organisation that supports both UK companies trading internationally
and overseas enterprises seeking to locate in the UK.
United Kingdom Parliament www.parliament.uk
Links to Hansard for both the House of Commons and House of Lords, information
about MPs (Members of Parliament) and Peers, committees, research papers,
Public Bills before Parliament, questions for oral or written answer (Order
Book), votes and proceedings, Register of Lords' Interests.
Parliament Live www.parliamentlive.tv
Parliament Live shows live broadcasts of the UK Parliament when in session.
There is also an archive that can be keyword searched.
London Gazette
www.london-gazette.co.uk
The London Gazette, first published in 1665, is the oldest, continuously
published newspaper in the United Kingdom. It contains a wide range of
office notices including State, Parliamentary and Ecclesiastical notices,
Transport and Planning notices as well as Corporate and Personal Insolvency
notices. Supplements cover Honours and Awards, Premium Bonds, Armed Forces
Promotions and Re-gradings, Companies' information and a Quarterly Index.
There is free access to a selection of sections. Full access available
by subscription.
Elections
United Kingdom
Election Results www.election.demon.co.uk
This fast-loading, no-nonsense site compiled by David Boothroyd has detailed
data on UK parliamentary elections since 1983; miscellaneous election
statistics such as smallest majorities since 1918, top and bottom ten
turnouts, list of members expelled since the Restoration (1660); European
Parliamentary elections since 1994; and Labour Party National Executive
Committee election results. Has not been updated since 2005.
Northern Ireland
Elections Site www.ark.ac.uk/elections/
An excellent site providing information about elections that have
taken place in Northern Ireland since 1885. There are also descriptions
and links to political parties and useful books.
Parliaments
and Assemblies
UK Houses of Parliament
www.parliament.uk
Scottish government - Scottish Executive www.scotland.gov.uk
National Assembly for
Wales www.wales.gov.uk
Northern Ireland
Assembly www.niassembly.gov.uk
Tracking UK Legislation
Tracking legislation through parliament can be done relatively easily.
The difficulties start when you want to find amendments to existing legislation
and up to date copies of amended Acts. For example, the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts.htm provides free access to Public General Acts as originally passed
by the UK Parliament but does not republish them when they are amended.
For the consolidated amended full text, you will usually have to resort
to priced services such as Westlaw.uk
(www.westlaw.co.uk) and LexisNexis
(www.lexisnexis.co.uk).
For new legislation and amendments, there are several free resources.
UK Parliament Bills before Parliament can be found at http://services.parliament.uk/bills/.
A complete list of public bills introduced in Parliament in the current
session, together with information about their progress through Parliament
appears in the Weekly
Information Bulletin (www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmwib.htm).
The Bill Index (bills.parliament.uk) provides links to the full text of bills,
the Hansard debate and any proposed amendments.
Probably the easiest way to identify and keep tabs on new and impending legislation is the excellent They Work for You (www.theyworkforyou.com). You can browse the categories or search by keyword.
European Union (EU)
Europa europa.eu
Information on EU goals and policies, directives, green and white papers.
There is a directory of Commission offices, profiles of commissioners,
who does what, agencies and bodies in the EU. See also the Euro-Parliament
site on www.europarl.eu
which provides an overview of the workings of the European Parliament,
press releases, political composition and committees.
Eur-Lex eur-lex.europa.eu
"The Portal to European Union Law". Provides access to the Official
Journal, treaties and legislation. Now incorporates CELEX which is no
longer updated.
TED ted.europa.eu
Full coverage of open calls for tender and updated daily (Supplement to
the Official Journal).
Cordis cordis.europa.eu
Cordis (Community Research & Development Information Service) is "the
European Commission's information service on European Research and Innovation
activities". There news and information on all aspects of the EU's research and development
in all areas.
EU Business www.eubusiness.com
EUbusiness is an independent EU information service. Services include
a daily overview of European political and business news, information
on EU legislation and EU business developments, EU finance, information
on EU programmes relevant to industry sectors. There are also progress
reports on draft legislation, help on how to do business in European countries.
EIRO European industrial relations
observatory on-line www.eiro.eurofound.ie/
The European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO) is a major project
of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.
EIRO initiates, collects, stores, disseminates and provides access to
information and analysis on developments in industrial relations in the
EU Member States and at European/international level.
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