Catalogue description Stationery Office: Northern Area Branch: Annual Reports

In February 1916 the Controller proposed the establishment of a branch of the Stationery Office in the Midlands as in the event of fire or destruction of the London, Edinburgh and Dublin stores, a reserve store would be essential. A northern area branch of the Stationery Office was established at Hollinwood, Manchester in 1916. It served government offices north of a line between the Wash and the Severn. The main work of this northern branch was to supply stationery and printing to the munitions factories in the northern area, however by the time of the second world war, the branch became more committed to the administration of contract printing. During the late 1960s, the requirements of the programme of computerisation of pension and allowance books introduced by the DHSS, led to the installation of a continuous stationery department and the Manchester Press undertook a considerable amount of printing. The press also became involved in security work following the installation of a purpose built machine for the new type of passport in 1969, and by 1982 the Press concentrated exclusively on security printing. In 1984 the warehouse took responsibility for the procurement, storage and distribution of departmental forms.