Referencing Government Reports

Government reports contain a wealth of useful information and are often freely available online. When referencing a Government report it is usual to treat the Governemtn Department responsible for the report as the author (including within the text).

Example of citing a direct quote from a Government report:

A recent study (Department of Health 2009, p.24) stated that "62,000 patients waited for more than 8 weeks before receiving an outpatient appointment".

Example of paraphrasing a quote from a Government report:

A recent study (Department of Health, 2009) found that 62,000 patients waited over 8 weeks for an outpatient appointment.

Reference List
The elements which should be included in your reference list/bibliography are:

• Name of the Government Department
• Year of publication (in round brackets)
• Title (in italics)
• Available at: URL
• (Accessed: date)

Example:

Department of Health (2009) NHS inpatient and outpatient waiting times. Available at: http://www.govtoday.co.uk/health/44-public-health/552-nhs-inpatient-and-outpatient-waiting-times-figures-31st-january-2009 (Accessed: 4 December 2013).