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Search: Publications Database Search Help

The Publications Database Search lets you search on the title text, publication information, date and subject of our reports, press notices and Value for Money investigations in progress. If you want to search the entire content of the site, including the content of our reports, then please use the Full text search.

You can search using the following limiting options:

• Words in title: type in the free text you are searching for in the title text, e.g. millennium dome or obesity.  Alternatively you can leave this field blank and adjust the following search parameters.
• Publication type: you can choose all of the NAO publication types, such as Value for Money (VFM), Accounts and Corporate reports, such as Annual Reports.  In addition you can search Press Notices and VFM Investigations in Progress pages.
• Publication subject: the subject list will change as you change the Publication type.  If you choose VFM as your publication type then the Publication subject drop down field will change to offer you the different broad government areas these reports cover, such as Agriculture, Defence and Education.  If you choose Account  you will see a different subject listing as accounts are divided up into the different types of account.  If you leave the Publication type as "All" you will have to search across all Publication subjects.
• Publication dates: The dates for searching will default to the last 6 months but you can select the period of your choice.

On the search screen you have the options to:

• Search new / refine: you can run a completely new search or you can refine the initial search terms if you are not finding the results you were looking for
• Sort by publication: there is the option to show the results in one of three ways, by date, title or type.  Sorting by date will show the most recent report first, sorting by title will put them into alphabetical order and sorting by type will sort by Publication type such as VFM, Account or Corporate report.

The results are displayed showing the title and publication details.  These details show the Publication Date, the House of Commons Paper (HC) number, the Parliamentary Session and ISBN number.  Following these details are the links to the publications themselves.  Information on the publication details is listed below.

Publication Details

Publication Date

The date of publication appears on the front of NAO VFM reports and Accounts.

House of Commons Paper Number (HC)

House of Commons Papers are one of five main classes of parliamentary papers; the others are House of Commons Bills, Command Papers, House of Lords Papers and House of Lords Bills.  They are papers which result from the work of the House and its Committees or are otherwise necessary for its work. They include select committee papers, minutes of proceedings of standing committees, estimates and appropriation accounts and other categories.  Since 1983 reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General / National Audit Office have been produced as House of Commons Papers.

At the beginning of each new Parliamentary Session the HC number starts again from 1.

Parliamentary Session

The NAO VFM reports and accounts are listed on this website under the Parliamentary sessions in which they were published.  The Parliamentary year is called a session. It begins with the State Opening of Parliament. The State Opening usually occurs in November of each year, or alternatively shortly after a general election.

A Parliamentary session is usually ended by prorogation, although it may also be terminated when Parliament is dissolved and a general election called.  Prorogation is usually an announcement on behalf of the Queen made in the House of Lords.

The following are the dates of the Parliamentary sessions since the 1983-84 session:

2007-08  6 November 2007 -
2006-07  15 November 2006 - 30 October 2007
2005-06  17 May 2005 - 8 November 2006
2004-05  23 November 2004 - 7 April 2005
2003-04   26 November 2003 - 18 November 2004
2002-03   13 November 2002 - 20 November 2003
2001-02   20 June 2001 - 7 November 2002
2000-01   06 December 2000 - 14 May 2001
1999-00   17 November 1999 - 30 November 2000
1998-99   24 November 1998 - 11 November 1999
1997-98   14 May 1997 - 19 November 1998
1996-97   23 October 1996 - 21 April 1997
1995-96   15 November 1995 - 17 October 1996
1994-95   16 November 1994 - 08 November 1995
1993-94   18 November 1993 - 03 November 1994
1992-93   27 April 1992 - 05 November 1993
1991-92   31 October 1991 - 16 March 1992
1990-91   07 November 1990 - 22 October 1991
1989-90   21 December 1989 - 15 October 1990
1988-89   22 November 1988 - 16 November 1989
1987-88   25 June 1987 - 15 November 1988
1986-87   12 November 1986 - 18 May 1987
1985-86   06 November 1985 - 07 November 1986
1984-85   06 November 1984 - 30 October 1985
1983-84   22 June 1983 - 31 October 1984

ISBN Number

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique machine-readable identification number used internationally to mark any book unmistakably.