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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Predecessor | Her Majesty's Stationery Office |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | London, England, UK |
| Parent | Williams Lea Tag |
| Website | www |
The Stationery Office (TSO) is a Britishpublishing company created in 1996 when the publishing arm ofHer Majesty's Stationery Office wasprivatised.[1] It is the official publisher and the distributor forlegislation,command and house papers,select committee reports,Hansard, and theLondon,Edinburgh andBelfast Gazettes, theUK 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]
TSO provides services, consultancy, and infrastructure to deliver all aspects of the information lifecycle. TSO developed the websitelegislation.gov.uk withThe National Archives, providing full access to the statute book asopen data.[4]
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 byElectra Investment and the investment bankRobert 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 andApax, 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 tobusiness process outsourcing companyWilliams Lea, of which a majority stake had been acquired by logistics companyDeutsche Post earlier that year.[8][9]
The TSO OpenUp platform was a collection of integrated services available assoftware as a service (SaaS), with the aim of providing ascalable and resilient platform that allows organisations to store, query, and enrich their data.[10]Open University academicTony Hirst won the 2011 OpenUp contest for his ideas about the use ofUCAS data.[11] Hirst was chosen by a judging panel headed up by TSO director of digital productsRobin Brattel, and includedartificial intelligence expertSir Nigel Richard Shadbolt and Open University director of communicationsLucian J Hudson.[12][13][14][15]
In 2014, TSO also began working with thelocal government sector, beginning with the redevelopment of theCroydon Council internal and external websites.[citation needed]
In November 2025, TSO concluded a licensing agreement withWitherby Publishing Group to release authorised digital editions ofMaritime and Coastguard Agency andInternational Labour Organization publications.[16][17]
The brilliant Tony Hirst on his blog Ouseful has [...]
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