Her Majesty’s Stationery Office
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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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. The OPSI is part of
the National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...
of the United Kingdom and is responsible for
Crown copyright Crown copyright is a type of copyright protection. It subsists in works of the governments of some Commonwealth realms and provides special copyright rules for the Crown, i.e. government departments and (generally) state entities.Judge, E. F. (201 ...
. 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 London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...
'', '' Edinburgh Gazette'', '' Belfast Gazette'' and all legislation in the United Kingdom, including Acts of Parliament,
Acts of the Scottish Parliament An act of the Scottish Parliament () is primary legislation made by the Scottish Parliament. The power to create acts was conferred to the Parliament by section 28 of the Scotland Act 1998 following the successful 1997 Scottish devolution ref ...
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 The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...
and
Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...
within
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
,
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
and
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. The current holder of this office is
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
.


History

HMSO was established as a new department of
HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury or HMT), and informally referred to as the Treasury, is the Government of the United Kingdom’s economic and finance ministry. The Treasury is responsible for public spending, financial services policy, Tax ...
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 ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Politician, statesman, journalist, writer, literary critic, philosopher, and parliamentary orator who is regarded as the founder of the Social philosophy, soc ...
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 writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery usually specifies materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) or by equipment such as computer p ...
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 transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official printe ...
'' in 1882. In 1889, HMSO was granted
letters patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...
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 ''The Highway Code'' is the official set of information and guidance for road users in the United Kingdom. Its objective is to promote the safe and efficient use of the road network. The Code applies to al ...
''. 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 transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official printe ...
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. Since the 199 ...
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 involve ...
'' 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 Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
(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 Her Majesty's Stationery Office was privatised. It is the official publisher and the distributor for legislation, command and house papers, s ...
(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 paper A command paper is an official document in the United Kingdom which is issued by His Majesty's Government (HMG) and presented to Parliament. White paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue ...
s, 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 Crown copyright is a type of copyright protection. It subsists in works of the governments of some Commonwealth realms and provides special copyright rules for the Crown, i.e. government departments and (generally) state entities.Judge, E. F. (201 ...
."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 particular goals without dictating how the member states achieve those goals. A directive's goals have to be made the goals of one or more new or changed n ...
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 Her Majesty's Stationery Office was privatised. It is the official publisher and the distributor for legislation, command and house papers, s ...
* 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 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YYHgAAAAMAAJ


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