Green Paper / White Paper

[5freemen]

Why does the Government issue a Green Paper to discuss and idea followed by a White Paper showing an intent to pass a law? Were the proposals orriginally drafted onto green and white paper to show the difference? If so, is this still done? If not, when did the practise cease and why?

[SeaJayPea]

A Green Paper is just what you suggest, a discussion document. After the discussions and if they decide to follow it up, the Government will then produce a White Paper, which is the opening stages of something passing into law.

And yes, they are called green and white because they are those colours (Or certainly were)

There's a little bit here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_paper

[Quizmonster]

I believe the 'green' element refers to the colour of the cover rather than the pages within. A green paper is generally a fairly substantial document - for general discusion across the country - which requires a cover to hold it all together.
A white paper, on the other hand, is usually brief and much more succinct, as it outlines a definite policy the government is intent on pushing ahead with. It does not require a cover and the paper it is printed on is, of course, white.

[Quizmonster]

Having written "I believe..." as the introduction to my response above, I decided that I really needed to look further into this matter. The fact is that I have believed just that for many years, but have no idea where I originally got the notion from.
If you click here, the link will take you to a website and, once there, if you scroll down to about the middle of the page, you will see a sentence which reads, "Unsurprisingly, it is printed on pale green paper."
I have no idea how authoritative that site is, but it certainly seems that there is someone else who - like SeaJayPea above - believes the actual paper itself is green.
Perhaps you can do some Googling yourself, 5freemen...I'd certainly like to get the answer absolutely definitively. Cheers