Department details

The Board of Trade 1621-19701

In 1621 the commercial problems of the Crown had become sufficiently complex to be made the special concern of a committee. The Privy Council (who had up until then dealt with such matters) was directed by the King "to take into their consideration, the true causes of the decay of trade and scarcity of coyne within the Kingdom and to consult the means for the removing of these inconveniences". As a result a committee of enquiry was set up named 'The Committee of Privy Council for Trade and Foreign Plantations' (this is still the formal title of the 'Board of Trade'), and this committee can be regarded as the germ of the Board of Trade. In 1655 Cromwell founded the Committee and Standing Council for Trade and Navigation, and throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries trade matters remained the responsibility of Privy Council Committees. In 1696 William III set up a body of eight paid Commissioners "for promoting the trade of our Kingdom and for inspecting and improving our plantations in America and elsewhere". Work on the plantations increasingly occupied the Board, although it also had long periods of inactivity. After 1761, the Board of Trade was in chaos and, with the coming to power of the Rockingham Whigs in 1782, was abolished.

The need to regulate trade between Great Britain, the remaining British colonies and the independent United States of America; and between Britain and France after the Peace of Versailles in 1783, led William Pitt to recreate a Committee on Trade and Plantations, by Order in Council. On 23 August 1786 this Committee was put on a formal basis by a further Order in Council, and has been known as the Board of Trade since this date, the title being adopted officially by an Act of 1861. The 1786 Order remains in force to this day. A secretariat was set up with President, Vice President and Board members appointed. The Board ceased to meet regularly, after around 1820, because the President found he could dispatch business more effectively without the Committee. In fact no quorum has ever been laid down and the President had the right to transact all business by himself.

The last formal meeting of the Board of Trade took place on 23 December 1850. It has met only once since then, in 1986, as part of its bicentenary celebrations. The Board's main function during the early nineteenth century was to advise the Crown on matters relating to economic activity in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. During the second half of the nineteenth century the Board also became responsible for new legislation on such matters as patents, designs and trade marks, company regulation, labour and factory matters, control of merchant shipping, mines, agriculture, transport, power and so on. While it retained its interest in internal and foreign trade, its control of colonial matters had passed to the Colonial Office by the mid-nineteenth century.

In 1889 the Board of Agriculture was re-created (taking over Fisheries in 1903). During the twentieth century the greater intervention of the state in commercial and industrial affairs led to specialised functions being separated off into new Ministries. The Ministry of Labour was created in 1918; The Ministry of Transport (excluding merchant shipping) in 1920; The Ministry of Food in 1938, and in 1939 the Board's merchant shipping functions passed to the Ministry of Transport. The Ministry of Fuel and Power was created in 1942.

Despite the siphoning off of certain specialised functions, the Board still remained responsible for the country's economic life as a whole. At the same time it acquired many new functions such as location of industry, control of monopolies, consumer protection, and a major share in the work of sponsoring contacts between industry and government. In 1964 the Board re-acquired responsibility for merchant shipping. The Ministry of Technology was formed partly from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and partly from the Board of Trade. The Board took over responsibility for the regulation of civil aviation in 1966 from the Ministry of Aviation, and also acquired the duty of administering the legislation on investment grants.

On 6 October 1969, the Ministry of Power was absorbed into the Ministry of Technology. The Board of Trade's remaining industrial sponsorship functions were also transferred to the Ministry of Technology, and competition policy went to the Department of Employment and Productivity. Thus, from its beginning as a more or less temporary Committee of Inquiry, the Board of Trade gradually evolved. Firstly it developed into a Standing Council with a comprehensive reference, but without executive powers; and secondly, by many gradual stages, into a complex organic structure whose members became a highly technical Department, charged with executive duties which overshadowed the original consultative functions of the Board.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) came into being on 20 October 1970. This new Department united the trade and industrial policy functions previously carried out by the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology. The new Secretary of State, however, retained the title of President of the Board of Trade. The Board of Trade still remains in existence for legal reasons, despite the changes which have taken place since 1970. Similarly, the Secretary of State still retains the title of President.

The Department Of Trade And Industry (1970-74)

As well as unifying the trade and industrial policy functions of the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology, the new Department also took over responsibility for government policy towards monopolies and mergers, from the Department of Employment. The central aim of the new Department was to help British industry and commerce achieve even greater international competitiveness. One of the new Department's main objectives was to help British firms prepare for the competition arising from Britain's entry into the European Economic Community.

The British Export Board was created on 1 January 1972 to direct the export promotion activities of the Department, integrating its export promotion work with the British National Export Council. This new organisation consisted of businessmen and representatives from the Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The British Export Board was renamed the British Overseas Trade Board on 1 March.

The Department Of Trade (1974-1983)

In 1974 the Department of Energy was established, on 8 January, to discharge the functions and responsibilities of the government in relation to energy resources; thus creating a new Department from the energy divisions within the Department of Trade and Industry. After the 1974 general election the Department of Trade and Industry was split, on 5 March, to form three new Departments: the Department of Trade; the Department of Industry and the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection.

The new Department of Trade assumed responsibility for general overseas trade policy, commercial relations, and tariffs, including those aspects of relations with the EEC. It became responsible for the work of the British Overseas Trade Board in export services and promotions, overseas finance and planning. In addition, it assumed responsibility for matters arising from companies' legislation, supervision of the insurance industry, the insolvency service, the Patent Office, civil aviation, marine and shipping policy, tourism, hotel and travel industries, and the newspaper and film industry. Following the general election, on 3rd May 1979 the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection was abolished and its responsibilities transferred to the Department of Trade. Following the 1983 general election on 11 June, the Prime Minister announced that the Departments of Trade and Industry would be merged to form the Department of Trade and Industry.

The Department of Prices and Consumer Protection (1974-1979)

The Department of Prices and Consumer Protection was established in 1974 to consolidate and expand, under a separate secretary of state, government activities for guarding consumer interests, which had previously been the concern of the Department of Trade and Industry. The new department took over the relevant divisions of its predecessor, and the secretary of state assumed responsibility for the Monopolies and Mergers Commission , the Metrication Board, the Office of Fair Trading, the Price Commission and the National Consumer Council, constituted in 1974. The department's establishment, accounting, information, legal and regional services were provided by the appropriate divisions of the Department of Trade and Industry. The department was abolished in 1979, and its responsibilities were transferred to the Department of Trade.

The Department Of Trade And Industry (1983-2007)

The new Department combined the functions of the previous Department of Industry with the commercial relations and trade functions of the Department of Trade. The Department gained responsibility for radio frequency regulation from the Home Office, whilst responsibility for civil aviation and shipping was transferred to the Department of Transport. In 1984 the Department assumed direct control of the Radio Interference Service (RIS) from British Telecom. This service was renamed the Radio Investigation Service (RIS) to reflect its activities more accurately. On 15 April 1985 Mr David Trippier was designated Minister, with special co-ordinating responsibilities for issues relating to reclamation and recycling of waste. Mr Trippier combined this new post with his then current one of Minister for Small Firms. Later in the year, on 3 September, the responsibilities for Small Firms, Small Firms Centres and Tourism were transferred to the Department of Employment.

In 1986 the Board of Trade met as part of the bicentenary celebrations. In July 1987 the Enterprise and Deregulation Unit (EDU) and Inner Cities Unit (ICU) were transferred to the Department from the Department of Employment.

On 12 January 1988, Lord Young announced a new role for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in a White Paper entitled "DTI - the Department for Enterprise". The following reorganisation caused the industry divisions to be replaced by market divisions, which were organised by sector and covered a wider range of activities. On 3 October Companies House achieved Executive Agency status.

In 1989 the National Weights and Measures Laboratory became an Executive Agency, followed two days later by Warren Spring Laboratory. The Laboratory of the Government Chemist was launched as an Agency on 30 October. On 31 July of the same year the functions of the Business Statistics Office were taken over by the Central Statistical Office ((CSO) now the Office for National Statistics (ONS)), as part of a reorganisation of government statistical services. In 1990 Nicholas Ridley announced a DTI reorganisation following the conclusion of the review started by Lord Young. The DTI's work was to be grouped together in new divisions, each responsible for an overall policy theme. The new divisions created included: Business Task Forces, Information Technology, Manufacturing Technology, Telecommunications and Posts, Economics, Market Intelligence and Statistics. More Executive Agencies were created during the year. The Patent Office took on Executive Agency status on 1 March, followed closely by the Insolvency Service on 21 March. Radio communications became an Agency on 2 April, and lastly the National Engineering Laboratory on 5 October. In 1991 the creation of the Joint Directorate was announced. This new unit was drawn from the staff of both the DTI and FCO. From April all export services available through DTI and FCO were marketed under a new brand name 'Overseas Trade Services'. On 1 October Peter Lilley announced that the Accounts Services Agency would be the first of the DTI's central services to take Agency status. Also the Patent Office and Companies House would move to a new trading fund status.

On his appointment to the DTI on 11 April 1992, Michael Heseltine chose to revive the title President of the Board of Trade instead of using the now more usual title Secretary of State. Following the general election it was announced that the Department of Energy would merge with the DTI, and that the Department would also take responsibility for small firms (from the Department of Employment). However, it was announced that the Inner Cities Unit was to be transferred to the Department of the Environment; work on films and the export licensing of art would go to the new Department for National Heritage; and the Financial Services Division would move to the Treasury, the following month. Michael Heseltine then announced a major DTI reorganisation, which reshaped the Department to relate more closely to sectors of industry. Eleven new divisions were created, seven of which were sectoral divisions.

In 1993 the formation was announced of the new National Technology Centre, to be created from Warren Spring Laboratory and AEA Technology. Warren Spring Laboratory ceased as a separate entity at the end of the financial year. In 1985 John Major undertook a Cabinet re-shuffle, and Michael Heseltine became Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State. The new President of the Board of Trade, and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, was Ian Lang. The Department of Employment was merged with the Department for Education to become the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE). The DTI inherited the functions of industrial relations from the Department of Employment; and from the Cabinet Office came the Office of Science and Technology (OST). The Competitiveness Division and Deregulation Unit were transferred from DTI to the Cabinet Office.

On 6 May 1997 Tony Blair, the new Prime Minister, announced his new Cabinet. The new President of the Board of Trade, and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, was Mrs Margaret Beckett. With a change of government party all other Ministers of State and Parliamentary Under Secretaries changed. On 27 July 1998, Tony Blair undertook a Cabinet re-shuffle and appointed Peter Mandelson MP Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. On 23 December Stephen Byers MP succeeded Peter Mandelson as Secretary of State. The department was briefly renamed the Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry after the May 2005 General Election. This decision was reversed after just a week owing to widespread derision of the new name. In June 2007 the department was renamed the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (2007-)

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DEBRR) was created in June 2007 after a cabinet reshuffle and administrative reorganisation following Gordon Brown's appointment as Prime Minister. A Government News Network press release2 issued to announce the creation of the new department noted that DEBRR would:

• Promote the creation and growth of business and a strong enterprise economy
• Deliver free and fair markets with greater competition for businesses, consumers and employees
• Ensure the reliable supply and efficient use of clean, safe and competitively priced energy
• Ensure that all Government Departments and agencies deliver better regulation for the private, public and third sectors
• Manage a wide range of Government assets - including interests in public corporations

The Department is jointly responsible, with the Department for International Development and the Foreign Office respectively, for trade policy; and trade promotion and inward investment, it supports the new Business Council for Britain which assists the Government in putting in place the right strategy to promote the long-term health of the UK economy. DEBRR also works closely with the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) to promote scientific research and innovation.

Oil and Gas Directorate History

Petroleum has been produced on land in the UK in very small quantities for centuries, from oil seeps and petroliferous shales. The first discovery of any quantity was in the Hardstoft well in Nottinghamshire, which produced commercial amounts of oil from 1918-1945. Onshore exploration was greatly advanced with the discovery of the Wytch Farm Field in Dorset, in 1973, and its later offshore extension, which was proven in the 1980s. The field is the largest onshore oil find to date in Western Europe. In January 2000 there were 28 producing oil fields, 11 gas fields and one producing coalbed methane field onshore.

In contrast, the first offshore licensing did not take place until 1964. The first significant discovery of gas, now in production as the West Sole Field, was made in 1965. Oil was encountered four years later in well 22/18-1, now part of the Arbroath Field. In January 2000 there were 109 oil fields, 87 gas fields and 16 condensate fields in production offshore.

The main sedimentary basins around the United Kingdom are at different stages of exploration and appraisal maturity. In recent years the focus has been on the Atlantic margin, where technological advances have enabled companies to meet the challenges of this area and to overcome the complexities of deep-water developments.

Background to Oil and Gas Directorate

The Oil and Gas Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry is responsible for maximising the economic benefit to the United Kingdom of its oil and gas resources, taking into account the environmental impact of hydrocarbon development, and the need to ensure secure, diverse and sustainable supplies of energy for business and consumers at competitive prices. Exploration and production in the oil and gas industry is regulated primarily through a licensing system, which is kept under constant review. The Oil and Gas Directorate's Exploration and Licensing Branch manages the licensing process. It issues exploration and production licences, approves operators, and issues field determinations. It is located in three sites in the UK: London, Aberdeen and Edinburgh where the Core Store is located. It aims to:

• ''Promote the exploration of oil and gas resources over the maximum extent of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) by means of a licensing regime which pays due regard to the environment and to the interests of other land and sea usage".
• "Regulate and promote oil and gas developments which are technically, economically and environmentally sound".
• "Improve ...understanding of the upstream UK oil and gas industry and its international markets; in order to promote open competitive markets, strong companies in the UK and to influence EU policy formulation and international discussions".
• "Collect, analyse and selectively disseminate data relating to the UK's hydrocarbon reserves in order to assist planning and decision taking in Government and industry".
• "Collect the Royalties due to the Secretary of State efficiently, objectively and economically".

Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance history

Every year in the United Kingdom about 5,000 people die as a result of an accident in the home, or during their leisure time, over 2 million are treated in hospitals, and another 1.5 million consult a general practitioner. The cost to society of UK home accident injuries was estimated (in 1996) at £25,000 million a year.

The Home Accident Surveillance System (HASS), a system for collecting information about home accidents, was set up by the Consumer Safety Unit of the Department for Trade and Industry, and came into operation in 1976. Both the Home Accident Surveillance System (HASS) and the Leisure Accident Surveillance System (LASS) were funded and maintained by the DTI since 1976.

The purpose of the system was the collection of information to underpin accident prevention policy, and thus to improve consumer safety. Hence, the database holds records of accidents to consumers involving injury, or suspected injury.

On 2 May 2003, it was announced that the DTI would no longer fund the collection and publication of HASS data.

Background to Consumer and Competition Policy (CCP) Directorate, and predecessor bodies

The Department of Trade and Industry currently maintains a Directorate to "take a lead within the Government on consumer...policy", and one of its branches has a responsibility for consumer safety. Currently called the Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate, this was the Division of the DTI within which the Consumer Safety Unit (CSU) operated from 1976 to 2003, gathering the data which built up into the Home Accident Surveillance System. The Consumer Safety Unit operated under a succession of changing parent organisations, as follows:

• Department of Prices and Consumer Protection, Fair Trading Division, 1976-1979
• Department of Trade, Competition Policy Division, 1979-1983
• Department of Trade and Industry, Competition Policy, Consumer Credit and Safety Division, 1983-1984
• Department of Trade and Industry, Consumer Affairs Division, 1983-1996
• Department of Trade and Industry, Consumer Affairs and Competition Policy Directorate, 1996-1997
• Department of Trade and Industry, Consumer Affairs Directorate, 1998-
• Department of Trade and Industry, Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate, ????-present

The current policy of the Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate continues to reflect DTI's interest in improving consumer safety: its stated policy is "to help UK consumers and businesses enjoy more choice, better service, safer products and competitive prices." In their area of work designated 'Product and Home Safety', the CCP continues to issue (for example) Guidance for Businesses, Consumer and Enforcement Authorities in interpreting the General Product Safety Regulations 1994. The Strategy and Delivery Branch of the CCP is also responsible for maintaining the Home Safety Network, launched in 2000. Its aims ("to help reduce the high toll of serious home accidents in the UK, and...to help inform safety professionals and the public of the hazards") closely match those of the former Home Safety Surveillance System, and like HASS it complements the work of other government departments, local authorities, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT), Help the Aged and others.

Enemy Property Claims history

Under wartime legislation, the UK Government confiscated assets in British territory owned by residents of enemy countries. This took place in the 1930s and 1940s, under the provisions of the Trading with the Enemy Act 1939 (c89), an Act intended to prohibit commercial or financial dealings with the enemy, and to preserve enemy assets in the UK in order to prevent the enemy from benefiting from them.

The enemy countries included Nazi Germany and its allies, as well as countries under Nazi occupation. After the war, the assets of the occupied countries were released from British Government control, but the assets of the 'belligerent' countries were distributed to British creditors whose assets had been confiscated by the enemy countries. An exception was made for victims of Nazi persecution and soon after the war, Nazi victims or their heirs could claim the return of their assets.

In Spring 1997, following public concern that there were still many assets belonging to victims that had not been returned, the British Government conducted research on the history of the administration of Enemy Property. Searches were made in the surviving records in the TWE (Trading With the Enemy) series, originally created by the Treasury and the Board of Trade. One result of this research was the compilation of a database of the assets seized from residents of belligerent enemy countries.

The UK Government saw the situation as an injustice that had to be addressed and, in June 1998, commissioned Lord Archer of Sandwell to advise on the design of a suitable compensation scheme. In December 1998, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry announced the compensation scheme administered by an independent Enemy Property Compensation Advisory Panel. Shortly after its formation, this Panel was known as the Enemy Property Claims Assessment Panel (EPCAP). The Panel carried out its work under the aegis of the Finance and Resource Management Directorate (FRM) of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Oil and Gas Directorate, North Sea GIS: CRDA/26

NDAD holds six datasets in this series (reference CRDA/26/DS/1-6). See the Series Catalogue for further details.

Enemy Property Claims Assessment Panel (EPCAP): CRDA/42

NDAD holds one dataset in this series: a Secretariat database for the period 1999-2004 (reference CRDA/42/DS/1). See the Series Catalogue for further details.

Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance Systems: CRDA/58

NDAD holds one dataset in this series, for the period 1978-2002 (reference CRDA/58/DS/1). See the Series Catalogue for further details.

The National Archives holds records of the various bodies outlined in this history, in series with the references EG, BT, EW, FV and NK.

Further information on the work of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform can be found on its website.

1. The following sources were used in the preparation of this administrative history: Public Record Office, Public Record Office Current Guide (Kew; Public Record Office, 1992); Civil Service Year Book 1998/99 (London: Stationery Office, 1998); web pages of the DTI (http://www2.dti.gov.uk/); Susan Foremand [for the] Department of Trade and Industry Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax: An Illustrated History of the Board of Trade 1786-1986 London: HMSO, 1986).

2. Government News Network press release, 28 June 2007 <http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=295527&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=True>, consulted on 2 October 2007