Office of Public Sector Information

Information Policy Team

Role and responsibilities

The Controller’s authority to administer Crown copyright is derived from Royal Letters Patent which are conferred on each succeeding Controller. OPSI’s Licensing team manages and licenses the following on behalf of the Controller:

• Crown Copyright material;
• Parliamentary Copyright material, with certain exceptions, on behalf of the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Clerk of the Parliaments.
• Linked to these responsibilities, are the following:
• To define policy on Crown copyright, taking into account the views of other government departments and agencies where appropriate;
• To provide advice to Parliament on policy relating to the administration of Parliamentary copyright;
• The issue of guidance and provision of advice on Crown and Parliamentary copyright matters;
• To delegate certain Crown copyright licensing responsibilities to other government departments and agencies;
• To oversee the administration of those delegated responsibilities;
• To investigate infringements of Crown and Parliamentary copyright, consulting other government departments and agencies and Parliament as necessary.
• The day-to-day administration of these responsibilities, which is handled by our Licensing Team. The policy for the administration of Crown and Parliamentary copyright is described in various guidance notes we issue.

Listed under the Related Links are a range of documents available on this site which set out current policy on Crown and Parliamentary copyright. In addition there is information about the activities of the Crown Copyright User Group. The User Group was initiated by the Government White Paper "The Future Management of Crown Copyright" and is made up of representatives from both private and public users of official information.