The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. The OPSI is part of
the National Archives
National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives.
Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...
of the United Kingdom and is responsible for
Crown copyright.
The OPSI announced on 21 June 2006 that it was merging with the National Archives. The merger took place in October 2006. The OPSI continues to discharge its roles and responsibilities from within the structure of the National Archives.
Controller of HMSO and Director of OPSI
The Controller of HMSO is also the Director of OPSI. HMSO continues to operate from within the expanded remit of OPSI. The Controller of HMSO also holds the offices of Kings's Printer of Acts of Parliament, King's Printer for Scotland and Government Printer for Northern Ireland.
By virtue of holding these offices OPSI publishes, through HMSO, the ''
London Gazette'', ''
Edinburgh Gazette
''The Edinburgh Gazette'' is a newspaper of record (government gazette) of the Government of the United Kingdom, along with ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Belfast Gazette''. It is published by The Stationery Office (TSO), on behalf of His Maje ...
'', ''
Belfast Gazette
''The Belfast Gazette'' is a newspaper of record ( Government gazette) of the Government of the United Kingdom, along with '' The London Gazette'' and '' The Edinburgh Gazette''. It is published by The Stationery Office (TSO), on behalf of His ...
'' and all legislation in the United Kingdom, including
Acts of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliament be ...
,
Acts of the Scottish Parliament and
statutory instruments.
The Controller of HMSO is appointed by Letters Patent to the office of King's Printer of Acts of Parliament. This office is separate from the functions of OPSI. Historically the role of King's (or Queen's) Printer extended to other official publishing responsibilities, e.g. the rights to print, publish and import the
King James Bible and
Book of Common Prayer
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
within
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. The current holder of this office is
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer.
Cambridge University Pre ...
.
History
HMSO was established as a new department of
HM Treasury
His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ...
on 5 April 1786, when
John Mayor was appointed as its first superintendent.
The creation of the office was a result of the advocacy of
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">N ...
for reforms of the corrupt, expensive and inefficient Royal Household and the Civil Service. Before the establishment of HMSO, the Crown would grant patents (exclusive rights) for the supply of stationery; the patentee could buy these supplies cheaply and then charge highly inflated prices.
At first, HMSO was the agent for various government departments
[ but, from 1822, all government departments were required to buy ]stationery
Stationery refers to commercially manufactured writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, writing implements, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery includes materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter pape ...
through the open competitions and tenders operated by HMSO.[
HMSO also took over as official publisher for both houses of Parliament from '']Hansard
''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official prin ...
'' in 1882.[
In 1889, HMSO was granted letters patent under which it was appointed as Queen's Printer of Acts of Parliament ("printer to Her Majesty of all Acts of Parliament"). These letters patent also appointed the Controller of HMSO as administrator of the rights of Crown copyright. HMSO also took over publication of the ''London Gazette'' in the same year.]
In 1986 HMSO celebrated its bicentenary.
Since 1947, it has printed 86 million copies of '' The Highway Code''. It is one of the biggest publishers in the world, having published 9,300 titles last year and holding 49,000 titles in stock. It produces nearly 600 pages of Hansard
''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official prin ...
and other parliamentary papers overnight, as well as Bills, Acts, white paper
A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white pape ...
s, 2.3 million passports a year, 28.2 million pension and allowance books a year, and all sorts of other publications from the ''British Pharmacopoeia
The ''British Pharmacopoeia'' (''BP'') is the national pharmacopoeia of the United Kingdom. It is an annually published collection of quality standards for medicinal substances in the UK, which is used by individuals and organisations involv ...
'' to guides to long-distance footpaths. In the 1980s, the Stationery Office also supplied 1,500 million envelopes a year (at a cost of £11 million) as well as 18 million ball-point pens and 188 million paper-clips.[Richard Boston, "How the Government issues the tissue", ]The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
(London), 2 May 1986, p. 15.
Most of its publishing functions were privatised in 1996 as a separate company known as The Stationery Office
The Stationery Office (TSO) is a British publishing company created in 1996 when the publishing arm of His Majesty's Stationery Office was privatised. It is the official publisher and the distributor for legislation, command and house papers, ...
(TSO), but HMSO continued as a separate part of the Cabinet Office. Prior to 1996, it was the publisher of virtually all government material, such as command papers, legislation and official histories. After 1996, the Controller of HMSO remained Queen's Printer of Acts of Parliament and retained the role of administering Crown copyright.["Her Majesty's Stationery Office" in Jonathan Law and Elizabeth A. Martin (eds), ''A Dictionary of Law'', Oxford University Press, 2009, via Oxford Reference Online, accessed 5 November 2011.]
The privatisation was not the final stage in HMSO's changing role. As part of the implementation of the European Union directive
A directive is a legal act of the European Union that requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. Directives first have to be enacted into national law by member states before thei ...
on the re-use of public sector information, it was decided that there was a need for a dedicated body to be the principal focal point for advising on and regulating the operation of public sector information re-use. That new body, created in 2005, is the OPSI.[
]
Published works
*
*
*
See also
* ''History of the Second World War
The ''History of the Second World War'' is the official history of the British contribution to the Second World War and was published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO). The immense project was sub-divided into areas to ease publication ...
'' published by the Office
* ePSIplus
* The Stationery Office
The Stationery Office (TSO) is a British publishing company created in 1996 when the publishing arm of His Majesty's Stationery Office was privatised. It is the official publisher and the distributor for legislation, command and house papers, ...
* Anglia Square, former headquarters of HMSO
References
Further reading
* {{cite book , first=Hugh , last=Barty-King , title=Her Majesty's Stationery Office: the story of the first 200 years, 1786–1986 , place=London , publisher=H.M.S.O. , year=1986 , isbn=0117013048
External links
The Stationery Office website
eContentplus Thematic Network to support the implementation of the European Directive on Public Sector Information (PSI) Re-use
* The
OpenPSI project
, an OPSI-led community effort to create a UK government linked data service that supports research.
State publishers
Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom copyright law
The National Archives (United Kingdom)
Public sector in the United Kingdom
2006 mergers and acquisitions