Copyright applies to parliamentary papers and must be indicated on a paper's title verso page (page 2). Placing the statement on the title verso page is standard publishing industry practice.
The National Archives publishes guidance on the appropriate copyright and re-use statements to include in parliamentary papers and in other government publications. The statements allow for the owner of the copyright and the year that the paper is first published to be clearly identified and give the terms under which the content can be used by others.
Crown copyright
Most documents and website content produced by civil servants will be subject to Crown copyright.
If a government organisation has commissioned a third party to author a document, for example an independent review or research, it must ensure that the copyright in the work is assigned to the Crown. The government organisation should add the appropriate copyright and re-use statement to this document.
Further information relating to commissioning agreements and copyright is available in Publishing: a guide for government organisations.
Publishing: a guide for government organisations (PDF, 0.22Mb)
Using the appropriate statement allows the re-use of government information, both Crown and non-Crown, through the Open Government Licence.
What should a title page, a title verso page and a back cover look like?
Click on the image to the right to see an example of a title page (p1), a title verso page (p2) and a back cover.
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