Her Majesty's Stationery Office (usually abbreviated as HMSO) is part of the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for Crown Copyright, and the Controller of HMSO also holds the offices of Queen's Printer and Queen's Printer for Scotland. It publishes the London Gazette, Edinburgh Gazette , Belfast Gazette and all legislation in the United Kingdom, including Acts of Parliament, Act of the Scottish Parliament and Statutory Instruments. Prior to 1996, when it was privatised, it was the publisher of virtually all government material, such as Command Papers , legislation and official histories.

HMSO was established as a new department of HM Treasury on 5 April 1786, when John Mayor was appointed as its first "Superintendant". From 1822, all government departments were required to to buy stationery through the open competitions and tenders operated by HMSO. HMSO also took over as official publisher of Hansard in 1822. In 1889, HMSO was granted Letters Patent under which it was appointed as Queen's Printer ("printer to Her Majesty of all Acts of Parliament") and the Controller of HMSO was appointed to hold Crown copyright. HMSO also took over publication of the London Gazette in 1889.

Most of its publishing functions were privatised in 1996 as a separate privatised company is known as The Stationery Office, but HMSO continued as a separate part of the Cabinet Office, remained Queen's Printer, and retained is role of administering Crown copyright. As part of the implementation of the EU Directive on the re-use of public sector information, it was announced that HMSO will be renamed as the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) during the course of 2005.

External link

• http://www.hmso.gov.uk