The Stationery Office

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The Stationery Office Ltd
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Publishing
Predecessor Her Majesty's Stationery Office
Founded1996
Headquarters London, England, UK
Parent Williams Lea Tag
Website www.tso.co.uk

The Stationery Office (TSO) is a British publishing company created in 1996 when the publishing arm of Her Majesty's Stationery Office was privatised. [1] It is the official publisher and the distributor for legislation, command and house papers, select committee reports, Hansard , and the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes, the UK government's three official journals of record. [2] With more than 9,000 titles in print and digital formats published every year, it is one of the UK's largest publishers by volume. [3]

Contents

TSO provides services, consultancy, and infrastructure to deliver all aspects of the information lifecycle. TSO developed the website legislation.gov.uk with The National Archives, providing full access to the statute book as open data. [4]

History

The Stationery Office was sold for £54 million when it was privatised in 1996. [5] Two thirds of TSO was purchased by Electra Fleming, [6] an investment trust co-owned by Electra Investment and the investment bank Robert Fleming & Company. [7] Three executives of TSO purchased large stakes in the business: Rupert Pennant-Rea purchased a 4.5 per cent stake, Bob Thian a 6 per cent stake, and Richard Martin 3 per cent stake. [6]

In 1999, Electra Fleming sold TSO to its existing management team and Apax, a private equity firm, [1] for £82 million. [5] Rupert Pennant-Rea remained as chairman, and Fred Perkins stayed as chief executive. [5] TSO was sold in 2006 to business process outsourcing company Williams Lea, of which a majority stake had been acquired by logistics company Deutsche Post earlier that year. [8] [9]

The TSO OpenUp platform was a collection of integrated services available as software as a service (SaaS), with the aim of providing a scalable and resilient platform that allows organisations to store, query, and enrich their data. [10] Open University academic Tony Hirst won the 2011 OpenUp contest for his ideas about the use of UCAS data. [11] Hirst was chosen by a judging panel headed up by TSO director of digital products Robin Brattel, and included artificial intelligence expert Sir Nigel Richard Shadbolt and Open University director of communications Lucian J Hudson. [12] [13] [14] [15]

In 2014, TSO also began working with the local government sector, beginning with the redevelopment of the Croydon Council internal and external websites.[ citation needed ]

In November 2025, TSO concluded a licensing agreement with Witherby Publishing Group to release authorised digital editions of Maritime and Coastguard Agency and International Labour Organization publications. [16] [17]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Harrington, Ben (25 April 2006). "Stationery Office sale may net £100m". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  2. ↑ "Case Studies | The Gazettes". TSO. Archived from the original on 21 May 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "About TSO: Who Are We?". TSO. Archived from the original on 2 January 2006. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  4. ↑ "The National Archives (Legislation)". TSO. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 "Electra sells HMSO unit" . The Independent . 15 July 1999. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  6. 1 2 Harrison, Michael (9 April 1999). "Stationery Office chiefs set for pounds 13m windfall" . The Independent . Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  7. ↑ "International Briefs; 3i in Talks to Acquire Electra Investment Trust". The New York Times . Bloomberg News. 26 January 1999. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  8. ↑ Francis, Jo (24 February 2017). "Williams Lea Tag CEO departs". PrintWeek . Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  9. ↑ "OpenUp – TSO Launches Open Data Challenge with £50,000 Development Fund" (Press release). TSO. 23 March 2011. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
  10. ↑ Arthur, Charles (24 March 2011). "OpenUp winner aims to make UCAS data available for prospective students". The Guardian.
  11. ↑ Tony Hirst (6 April 2011). "Blog Post From Tony Hirst, OpenUp Winner 2011". TSO OpenUp Blog. Archived from the original on 11 September 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
  12. ↑ "UK Digital Technology takes another step – Open Data | Lucian J. Hudson, Director of Communications, The Open University – personal blog". Open.ac.uk. 26 March 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  13. ↑ "OpenUp Panel Chair Robin Brattel, shares the panel's 'judging thoughts' « TSO Open.Up Blog". Blog.openup.tso.co.uk. 1 April 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  14. ↑ Simon Rogers (11 April 2011). "UK journalists on Twitter: how they all follow each other". Guardian Data Blog. Retrieved 11 April 2011. The brilliant Tony Hirst on his blog Ouseful has [...]
  15. ↑ Tony Hirst (10 April 2011). "UK Journalists on Twitter". OUseful Blog. Archived from the original on 8 July 2024. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
  16. ↑ Murga, Arnel (1 January 1970). "Witherbys Expands Official Digital Catalogue – Digital Ship". Digital Ship – The voice of IT Leadership in the commercial maritime industry. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
  17. ↑ "Witherbys Sign Licensing Agreement to Release Official MCA, ILO eBooks on Witherby Connect". Marine Technology News. 13 November 2025. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
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