Catalogue description Records of the International Labour Division and Overseas Department

The International Labour Organization (ILO) was established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles. Initially, responsibility for the British contribution to the ILO's work, which mostly involved the setting of international standards in terms of hours and conditions of work and their statutory ratification, was divided between the Home Office and the Ministry of Labour Council's Secretariat. In 1920 this work was concentrated in the Ministry of Labour and an International Labour Division was set up inside the General Department for the purpose. Although this division retained responsibility for liaison with the ILO, other departments in the ministry, notably the Statistics Division and the Employment Departments continued the work previously undertaken by the Board of Trade's Labour Department in collecting and collating information relating to labour questions abroad.

Throughout the inter-war period the International Labour Division's work focused on the ILO. It was responsible for sending tripartite delegations (representing the government, the employers and labour) to various conference and committee meetings. It prepared and submitted reports both on behalf of the British government to the ILO and on matters under international discussion to the British government. It was also responsible for the appointment of British representatives to various ILO governing bodies.

In 1942, the International Labour Division became autonomous and was renamed the Overseas Department.

During and after the Second World War, the Department's activities were greatly extended, and it became involved in other newly created international organisations, notably the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC). It also maintained close liaison with the Dominions to co-ordinate the apportionment of manpower for the duration of the War. In 1942 the first labour attaché was appointed at Washington; after the War a large number of labour attachés were appointed at various diplomatic missions abroad to establish communications with employers' associations and trades unions overseas, thereby extending the information service on foreign labour conditions. Both the selection of these attachés and the co-ordination of their work was placed in the province of the Overseas Department. Finally, the Department was charged with responsibility for admitting immigrant labour for work in Britain and the emigration of persons from Britain for employment overseas. In this way it became involved in the implementation of the Aliens Order of 1953 and the Commonwealth Immigrants Acts of 1962 and 1968, although the determination of policy on these matters remained in the hands of the Employment Department. The Immigration Act 1971 placed Commonwealth citizens on the same footing as other foreign nationals for the purpose of applying for employment.

In 1968, the Overseas Department of the Ministry of Labour became the Overseas Division of the Department of Employment and Productivity (Department of Employment from October 1970). It continued to deal with information on labour matters overseas, including liaison with the International Labour Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Council of Europe and the United Nations. Overseas Division also continued to be responsible for labour attachés at British Embassies, gathering information on labour conditions in foreign countries.

In 1977, responsibility for liaison with the Health and Safety Commission, which had been with Finance Division (due to the need to administer the grant whereby the commission was funded), was transferred to Overseas Division. This was in response to increasing numbers of health and safety directives from the European Economic Community which were having considerable effect on the commission's work.

By 1978, Overseas Division was operating through three branches:

• Branch A, dealt with international liaison and the work of the labour attachés;
• Branch B, co-ordinated the activities of the Department of Employment arising from membership of the EEC, including the European Social Fund; and
• the Health and Safety Commission Liaison Branch, which in addition to the responsibility evident from its title, dealt with the issue of work permits for non-EEC workers, and employment aspects of immigration policy (which it had acquired from Manpower General Division); it was also responsible for the appointment of chairpersons and members of industrial training boards, and supervised the working of the Redundancy Payments Acts 1965 and 1970 and the Employment Agencies Act 1973.

Although still effectively part of Overseas Division, Branch A and Branch B at different times were temporarily placed within other directorates of the Department of Employment.

The structure and responsibilities of the division and its branches remained broadly the same until 1989, when with the departmental adoption of responsibility for tourism, Overseas Division was transformed into the International and Tourism Division. Branches A and B retained their former functions; the Health and Safety Commission Liaison Branch became Branch C, with added responsibility for employment aspects of misuse of alcohol and drugs, passive smoking, violence in the workplace and AIDS. The newly-created Branch D dealt with tourism policy, and sponsorship of the British Tourist Authority and the English Tourist Board.