The Controller of HMSO is appointed by Letters Patent to the office of King's Printer of Acts of Parliament.
HMSO was established as a new department of HM Treasury on 5 April 1786, when John Mayor was appointed as its first superintendent.
[1] The creation of the office was a result of the advocacy of Edmund Burke for reforms of the corrupt, expensive and inefficient Royal Household and the Civil Service.
It produces nearly 600 pages of Hansard and other parliamentary papers overnight, as well as Bills, Acts, white papers, 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 to guides to long-distance footpaths.
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.