THE BOSS of map-makers Ordnance Survey (OS), one of Southampton's biggest employers, has remained tight-lipped on whether it is to be sold off.

The government-owned organisation in Romsey Road, Maybush, which employs 1,250 staff, is the subject of a root-and-branch review, in which privatisation is one of a number of options.

The national map service ended the last financial year with profits of £12 million - making a gain for the first time in its 209-year history.

Selling the agency, which is owned by the Department for environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), could raise £100 million for the Exchequer.

Its annual turnover is around £100 million.

In 1995 it finished digitising all of its maps and services, making the UK the first country in the world to computerise all its maps - allowing people all over the world to access them.

It has long been the subject of privatisation rumours, but with the digital era giving massive earning potential - by charging people to look at maps on the web - this time it could be for real.

But OS director general Vanessa Lawrence, pictured, said: "Whether the OS is privatised or not is a matter for the government of the day. Such issues are for politicians to debate, not for us to determine.

"My job is to run the OS as efficiently and effectively as possible, whatever the ownership."

There has been intense pressure from the Conservatives to run the agency as a business, and party leader William Hague has made privatisation of the service part of his election manifesto.

But unions were still wary as they vowed to fight for their members, whatever the outcome of the review.

A spokeswoman for the IMPS union, which represents OS staff, said: "We understand the reasons for this review, and will keep a close eye on things.

"But the union will be making its own submissions to the review, and we will be ensuring that the long-term future of our members is of paramount importance, and any submissions we make will strive to ensure the review reflects that.

"We have been through this before and we will go through it again.

"I don't think there is any great concern among workers at the moment."

The three-month review, ending in May, is being carried out by independent experts CMG Admiral.

It will consider the merits of privatisation, abolition, keeping things as they are, market-testing, merger or rationalisation and contracting out work.

The review is a standard one for all government agencies, and is held every five years.

Last year Tory environment spokesman Tim Loughton MP said the OS was "a prime candidate" for privatisation, adding that it "costs Britain money rather than being a thriving business".

The agency was founded in 1791, and published its first map ten years later.

The OS centre moved to Southampton in 1842 when its old headquarters was destroyed in a fire at the Tower of London.

It is now based in Romsey Road, Maybush.