The Attorney General's Office (AGO) provides support to the work of the Attorney General and the Solicitor General, the Law Officers of the Crown. The Attorney General is the Chief Legal Adviser to the Crown and a government minister with responsibility for all Crown litigation, overseeing the work of the Crown Prosecution Service (incorporating the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office), the Serious Fraud Office and other bodies. This section of the GOV.UK web site has information on the AGO's activities, announcements and publications. There is a quick link to the Attorney General's Guidelines for prosecutors and other guidance to the legal profession, covering such matters as disclosure of material and the acceptance of pleas.

The Audit Commission is responsible for ensuring that money spent on public services in England (Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own separate bodies), in the areas of local government, housing, health, criminal justice and fire and rescue services, is spent effectively. It publishes reports of various kinds, including Audit Commission Reports (listed back to 1984, in full text 1999 onwards), Inspection Reports (2000 onwards) and Joint Reviews (1999 onwards). Also available are recent annual reviews and annual reports.

The Cabinet Office has been described as the "head office" of government. It performs a variety of functions in support of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, including some aspects of Civil Service staffing management and the reform of the Civil Service. This section of the GOV.UK web site provides access to information on its activities, policies, announcements and publications, and to information more widely across the whole government. Specific Cabinet Office publications such as the Ministerial Code and the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers may best be found via a Publications search.

The Civil Service Commission is a non-departmental public body, independent of Government and of the Civil Service, which regulates recruitment to the Civil Service and hears complaints under the Civil Service Code. Site content includes the Civil Service Code and related guidance, recruitment guidance, annual reports 1996-1997 onwards, and information on the complaints procedure.

The role of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in England and Wales is to regulate, monitor, report and advise on appointments made by UK ministers and by members of the National Assembly for Wales to the boards of around 1100 national and regional public bodies. The post was created in response to the publication in 1995 of the Nolan Committee's first report on Standards in Public Life (Cm 2850). Publications on the site include annual reports 1997-98 onwards, a code of practice, a complaints leaflet and other guidance.

The Commissioner regulates the process by which many of the public appointments in Northern Ireland are made. The post was created in 1995 in response to the publication of the Nolan Committee's first report on Standards in Public Life (Cm 2850). Publications on the site include annual reports 2000/2001 onwards, a code of practice, a complaints leaflet and other guidance.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was created on 5 June 2009 by a merger of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). Its responsibilities include productivity, enterprise, business relations, business law, competition, consumer policy, employment regulation, further and higher education, and science. This section of the GOV.UK web site provides access to information on its activities and policies in these areas, its publications and announcements, and to information more widely across the whole government.

The Department for Communities and Local Government is a central government department with responsibilites which include regional and local government, planning, building regulations, housing, homelessness, social exclusion, and fire and rescue services. This section of the GOV.UK web site provides access to information on the department's activities, policies, publications and announcements, and to information more widely across the whole government. Specific publications, such as guidance, consultation papers, circulars, statistics and research reports, are best found by conducting a Publications search.

Responsibilities of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) include the arts and culture; sports and leisure; equality, rights and citizenship; and some aspects of the media and communications (eg broadcasting). This section of the GOV.UK web site provides access to information on the department's activities, policies, announcements and publications, and to information more widely across the whole government. DCMS maintains and publishes on the site the Register of Licensed Public Spaces in England and Wales.

The Department for Education (DfE) is responsible for education and children's services in England. It was formed on 12 May 2010, replacing the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). Some information was transferred on 23 April 2013 to the GOV.UK web site, but this separate DfE site remains available for the present. It includes current consultation documents, reports and other publications, and a section devoted to news and speeches. Under "Leadership and governance" within the Schools section there is a guide to the legal responsibilites of school governors (also accessible on the GOV.UK site).

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in England. This section of the GOV.UK web site provides access to information on Defra's activities, policies, announcements, consultations, publications and statistics, and to information more widely across the whole government.

The Department for Transport (DfT) is responsible for the English transport network and for transport matters in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland which are not devolved. This section of the GOV.UK web site provides access to information on the department's activities, policies, publications and announcements, and to information more widely across the whole government. Specific publications such as traffic advisory leaflets, 'Roads' circulars, and guidance for local authorities on street works, are best found by conducting a Publications search.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for employment, social security and pensions in the UK. Content here on the GOV.UK site includes press releases, recent consultation documents and many other publications. The previous http://www.dwp.gov.uk/ continues to hold the following: the Decision Makers' Guide, the Social Fund Guide and other technical guides and manuals aimed at advisers and other professionals. The old site also has collections of current legislation on social security (commonly known as the 'Blue Volumes') and child support (the 'Orange Volumes'), reported decisions of the Social Security and Child Support Commissioners and Upper Tribunal Judges1991 onwards, and Neligan's Digest of reported social security decisions.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change was created in October 2008 to take responsibility for the government's energy policy and climate change mitigation policy. This section of the GOV.UK web site provides access to information on the department's activities, policies, publications, announcements and consultations, and to information more widely across the whole government.

The Department of Health is responsible for government policy on health, adult social care and the National Health Service in England. (In the rest of the UK these responsibilities fall to the devolved governments.) This section of the GOV.UK web site provides access to information on the department's activities, policies, publications, announcements, consultations and statistics, and to information more widely across the whole government. Publications include recent letters and Local Authority Circulars: for older ones it may be necessary to search in the old Department of Health web site, which was last archived in February 2013 by the National Archives' UK Government Web Archive.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) promotes the interests of the UK abroad. This section of the GOV.UK web site provides access to information on the FCO's activities, policies, publications and announcements, and to information more widely across the whole government. Note that information on treaties, including the UK Treaties Online (UKTO) database maintained by the FCO Treaty Section, is not readily accessible from this web page: see https://www.gov.uk/uk-treaties.

GOV.UK will in due course provide a single consolidated domain for all UK government services and information. It was launched in October 2012, replacing the former Directgov and Business Link sites. The process of merging the content of all government departments and many other public bodies into the site began in November 2012 and is scheduled for completion by March 2014. Most of the site content is accessible via Departments, Topics, Policies and Documents, and there is a general section devoted to "How government works".

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is a non-ministerial department whose main responsibility is the collection of taxes. It was created by the merger on 18 April 2005 of the former Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise. This section of the GOV.UK web site provides access to information on HMRC's activities, policies, publications and announcements, and to information more widely across the whole government. Select "HMRC advice and services" to access material arranged for “individuals and employees”, “employers” and “businesses and corporations”. Each of these three sections includes relevant forms, guidance, manuals, links to legislation and other documentation.

The Treasury is responsible for the government's financial and economic policy. Its web site includes budget and pre-budget documents (the Chancellor's budget speeches, budget and pre-budget reports, and press notices) and details of consultations and legislation. A link is provided to the Treasury section of the GOV.UK web site to which some site content has been moved. Archived material relating to the budgets of the previous government may be accessed via a link to the National Archives web site.

The responsibilities of the Home Office include borders and immigration; drugs policy; crime and policing; counter-terrorism; national security, and equality, rights and citizenship. The Home Office section of the GOV.UK web site provides information on its activities, policies, announcements, consultations, publications and statistics. Home Office Circulars are available 2003 onwards: when conducting a publications search for these note that they are classified as the publication type "correspondence". Other publications accessible by searching include the PACE codes of practice.

Justice is a government portal site aimed at practitioners and providing access to information on over 50 government departments, agencies, inspectorates and other bodies involved in the justice system. These include the Ministry of Justice, agencies such as Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service and the National Offender Management Service, and bodies such as the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Sentencing Council. The site includes a court finder, court hearing lists, procedure rules, forms, guidance, reports, statistics and data.

The London Gazette (established 1665), Edinburgh Gazette and Belfast Gazette are the official newspapers of record of the United Kingdom, recording and disseminating a wide range of official, regulatory and legal information. Legal content includes insolvency notices and certain Orders in Council. The free online archive provides access to Gazettes 1665 onwards.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is responsible for implementing UK defence policy and manages the British Armed Forces. This section of the GOV.UK web site provides access to information on the ministry's activities, policies, publications and announcements, and to information more widely across the whole government. Specific legal or other publications such as the Manual of Service Law and reports of Service Inquiries may be found by conducting a Publications search.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is responsible for the various parts of the justice system including the courts, prisons, probation services and attendance centres. This section of the GOV.UK web site provides access to information on the MoJ's activities, policies, announcements, publications, consultations and statistics, and to information more widely across the whole government. Note that the separate Justice portal site remains the primary source for information aimed at legal professionals, including procedure rules and daily cause lists.

The Northern Ireland Executive is the executive arm of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the province's devolved legislature. It assumed control of Northern Ireland from the UK government's Northern Ireland Office on 8 May 2007, when a period of direct rule was brought to an end and devolution resumed. Its web site has the text of the Ministerial Code, Executive statements, news releases, and links to web sites of individual NI government departments.

The Northern Ireland Office is the UK government department responsible for Northern Ireland affairs including oversight of the Northern Ireland devolution settlement. Publications available here on the GOV.UK web site relate largely to constitutional and security issues, law and order, policing and criminal justice. They include policy papers, reports and guidance. Information on the Northern Ireland devolution settlement includes links to legislation.

The Leader of the House of Commons is the Cabinet minister responsible for arranging government business, including the introduction of government Bills, in the House of Commons. Information here on the GOV.UK web site includes the Business Statements, made each Thursday when the House is sitting and announcing the business for the following week and provisional business for the subsequent week.

The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (OPC) consists of a specialised team of about 50 lawyers based in Whitehall, with support staff, whose main work is drafting government Bills for introduction into Parliament and related Parliamentary business. Forming part of the Cabinet Office, it was until recently known as the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO). There is information on the OPC's role and links to various publications such as the OPC's Drafting Guidance.

This site, administered by TSO, covers all Command Papers and departmentally sponsored House of Commons Papers (HCPs) from 17 May 2005 (the beginning of the 2005/06 parliamentary session) to the present. Texts are provided in pdf format. There is also a selection of earlier Command Papers, HCPs and other key government papers going back to 1994, which may be accessed via the Advanced Search facility. Command Papers in particular are often important as providing the background to particular pieces of legislation, including as they do statements of government policy which are familiarly known as "White Papers".

The Privy Council Office provides a secretariat to the Privy Council and acts as the Judicial Committee Office to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC). Much of its day-to-day work is concerned with the affairs of bodies incorporated by Royal Charter and of certain UK statutory regulatory bodies, mostly within the medical professions. The site contains a chronological list of all Charters granted since the 13th century. Other content includes an alphabetical list of all current Privy Counsellors, and lists (without text) of all Orders in Council made since October 2000. The JCPC has had its own separate web site since 2009 but Privy Council judgments up to August 2009 remain in the Judicial Comittee section of this site.

The office of Public Appointments Commissioner for Scotland was created in 2004 to regulate and monitor the way in which ministerial appointments are made to the boards of many of Scotland's public bodies. Publications on the site include annual reports, a code of practice, a complaints leaflet and other guidance.

Public Bodies is an annual directory published by the Cabinet Office which provides information on non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) sponsored by the UK government. All editions from 1997 to the current one are available (1997 and 1998 directly, 1999 onwards as downloads) via this page on the GOV.UK web site.

This service provides a single point of access to news releases and information from government departments, agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Formerly known as the News Distribution Service for Government and the Public Sector, and forming part of the defunct Central Office of Information (COI), it is now produced by the Cabinet Office.

The Scottish Government, which was called the Scottish Executive until September 2007, has responsibilities under devolution legislation which include health, education, justice, rural affairs and transport. The web site contains full text Scottish Executive/Government publications 1983 onwards (selective coverage for the earliest years), current and closed consultation documents 2002 onwards, and an extensive set of links to Scottish government and public bodies. Access to Bills and Acts is via links to various sites including the Scottish Parliament and Legislation.gov.uk.

This is a selective collection of archived UK central government web sites developed by the National Archives, launched on a modest scale in September 2003 and since then greatly expanded. The chosen sites, now totalling more than 1500, are grouped together in twelve broad categories, including "Central and regional government" and "Home affairs, public order, justice and rights". Most of the sites are collected as weekly or six-monthly snapshots.

The Welsh Government (known until May 2011 as the Welsh Assembly Government) is the devolved government for Wales. Areas of responsibility include the economy, health, education and local government. Much of the site content is arranged under broad topics, eg health and social care, transport, etc. Other sections provide news, publications, and details of current consultations. The Legislation section provides access to legislation both draft and in force, including Assembly Measures 2008-2011, general statutory instruments (via a link to the Legislation.gov.uk site), local Statutory Instruments, and non-Statutory Instruments (eg codes of practice and compulsory purchase orders).

Wired-GOV provides an alerting service for news articles from official UK government departments, agencies and non-departmental public bodies. It was established in 2001 and has a searchable archive going back to 1999. Additional services including a personalised e-mail alert service are available on registration, which is free to UK public service subscribers but charged to private sector subscribers.