Catalogue description Records of the Solicitors Departments

Details of Division within LAB
Reference: Division within LAB
Title: Records of the Solicitors Departments
Description:

Records relating to labour and employment legislation, including the drafting, interpretation and ratification of United Kingdom and international laws.

Registered files of the department are in LAB 16
Date: 1916-1979
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Department of Employment and Productivity, Solicitors Division, 1968-1970

Department of Employment, Solicitors Division, 1970-1973

Department of Employment, Solicitors Office, 1973-1987

Ministry of Labour and National Service, Solicitors Department, 1939-1959

Ministry of Labour, Legal Department, 1918-1919

Ministry of Labour, Solicitors Department, 1919-1939

Ministry of Labour, Solicitors Department, 1959-1969
Physical description: 1 series
Administrative / biographical background:

The Solicitor's Department (initially called the Legal Department) was formed in December 1918 when the Ministry of Labour inherited the Munitions Tribunals section of the Ministry of Munitions. It was headed by the Solicitor, whose function was to advise on all legislation affecting the ministry and other legal questions.

The Department conducted prosecutions in connection with unemployment insurance, trade boards, Civil Liabilities (Resettlement) Schemes, etc, and was responsible for drafting legislation and statutory instruments. It acted for the ministry in all civil proceedings by or against it; and advised on the administration of such statutes as the Wages Councils Acts, the Factory Acts, and the National Service Acts. It also advised the minister on the interpretation and ratification of the recommendations of the International Labour Organization in relation to the laws of the United Kingdom.

In 1968 the Solicitor's Department became the Solicitor's Division of the Department of Employment and Productivity (from 1970, the Department of Employment).

In 1973, further reorganisation led to the creation of two separate divisions within a Solicitor's Office:

  • Division I: consisted of Branch A (concerned with industrial relations and discrimination in employment); and Branch B (concerned with handling civil litigation, private bills, questions concerning the European Economic Community and the International Labour Organization, establishment matters, and the employment of disabled persons); and
  • Division II: comprised Branch C (responsible for safety, health and welfare in places of work, employment and training, dock workers' employment and employers' liability (compulsory insurance)); and Branch D (which dealt with industrial training boards, wages councils, redundancy, contracts of employment, equal pay and counter-inflation).

In 1976, responsibility for counter inflation was transferred to Branch C, which also took over questions concerning maternity and guarantee payments.

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