Catalogue description Ministry of Food: Orders Committee

An Orders Committee, set up by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Food in December 1939, was authorised to consider orders or the proposals on which they were based. Its approval was necessary before orders were submitted to the permanent secretary for signature. In December 1941 it became responsible for supervising and co-ordinating the legislative work of the ministry and in particular for reporting on proposals that would lead to the framing of statutory instruments. The committee was also empowered to review existing instruments and to advise on the revocation or amendment of existing instruments or the making of new ones.

The committee was thus concerned with every aspect of proposed legislation and its duty in this respect conferred on it the right to call for such evidence as appeared necessary to enable it to determine whether proposals were reasonable and fair to the trade and the consumer, and consistent with the provisions of other orders and the general law. In cases where the minister had reached a decision on policy or on the principles to be embodied in a statutory instrument, the committee's functions extended only to an examination of the mode by which the policy could best be translated into practice.The Orders Committee continued in existence until the Ministry of Food merged with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1955.