Catalogue description Records of the Engineering, Computing and Automation Divisions and Groups, their predecessors and successors

In 1965 or 1966 the Ministry of Technology (Mintech) took over responsibility for the electronics industry from the Ministry of Aviation. Divisional responsibility for the electronics industry was exercised by Mintech's L Division which had industrial and technological sponsorship responsibilities for the electronics industries. By December 1965, L Division included Telecommunications as well as Electronics Branches. The Electronics Branch (L2) incorporated Mintech's former Electronics Appraisal Group.

Different sources vary in their wording of L Division's title up to 1969. It is variously described as (i) Electronics, Telecommunications and General Secretariat Division; (ii) Electronics, Telecommunications and Instruments Division; (iii) Electronics and Instruments Division; and (iv) Electronics and Instrumentation Division. In October 1969 Mintech expanded; L Division was merged with Mintech's Computers (C) Division to form the Electronics and Computers (LC) Division. At around the same time the Systems and Automation (SA) Division was formed.

L Division had industrial and technological responsibilities for the electronics industry, including telecommunications and scientific instruments for industrial process plant (but not computers or numerically controlled machine tools). The head of the division represented the ministry on the Electronics and Economic Development Committee. LC Division had similar functions to L Division but was also responsible for the computer and computer peripheral industries, including sponsorship of the industries and technical appraisal and technical aspects associated with this sponsorship. SA Division had responsibility for the application and development of automation and computer systems and for providing advice on computer hardware and software.

Also in 1966, Mintech's Electrical Engineering, Chemical Plant and Materials (ECM) Division acquired its shipbuilding function from the Board of Trade. The division then briefly became known as Shipbuilding, Electrical Engineering and Chemical Plant Division before settling with the tilte Electrical Engineering Chemical (Process Plant) and Shipbuilding Industries (ECS) Division in 1967.

ECS Division had technological and sponsorship responsibilities for the electrical engineering, process plant and shipbuilding industries. It provided Mintech representation on the Electrical Engineering Economic Development Committee, the Shipbuilding and Shiprepairing Council, and the Process Working Party. ECS1 branch was responsible for the sponsorship and technology of the electrical engineering industry, excluding electronics and computers. ECS2 branch dealt with process plant technology and sponsorship of all types of process plant engineering and manufacture, and also provided the Secretariat for the Process Plant Expert Committee and the UK National Committee on the International Institute of Refrigeration.

When the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was established in 1970, the Engineering and Automation divisions of Mintech were reorganised under the DTI.

The Electrical Engineering, Chemical (Process Plant) and Shipbuilding Industries Division, the Vehicles and Mechanical Engineering Products Division, the Electronics and Computers Division, and the Systems and Automation Division were all transferred intact from Mintech. However, Mintech's Machine Tools, Manufacturing Machinery and Automation Division was split between the Machine Tools and Manufacturing Machinery Division, and the Systems and Automation Division.

The DTI also inherited the so-called Third Group of the Ministry of Technology, the Group (which had originated within the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) research establishment at Teddington, London) being renamed the Engineering Sciences Group (ESG). ESG's Aerodynamics Division, however, became part of the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Teddington under the Ministry of Defence. NPL dealt with the measurement and technical aspects of specifications concerned with marine use, computers and engineering aerodynamics, and ESG formed one of its four main sections. ESG itself was composed of four divisions (Computer Science; Numerical Analysis and Computing; Maritime Science, and Ship divisions) each headed by a Deputy Chief Scientific Officer.

The divisional organisation of Electrical Engineering Chemical (Process Plant) and Shipbuilding Industries (ECS) Division was carried over into the DTI, but in February 1971 ECS was divided into two: Minerals, Metals and Electrical Engineering Division (MME), and Shipbuilding and Process Plant (SBP) Division. In August 1971, ECS2's process plant function was transferred to MME Branch 4, which had responsibility for sponsorship of the electrical engineering industry, including generating, transmission and distribution equipment, batteries and the boiler making and furnace industries, and SBP Division was renamed Shipbuilding Policy Division.

ECS (and later SBP) Division had both technological and sponsorship responsibilities for the shipbuilding industry. The division provided representation on the Shipbuilding and Ship Repairing Council and an assessor on the Shipbuilding Industry Training Board. The division administered the Credit Guarantee Scheme under the Shipbuilding Industry Acts 1967 to 1969 and the Industry Act 1972. It also had oversight of the work of the Shipbuilding Industry Board during its lifetime.

In October 1971, Electronics and Computers (LC) Division was merged with Systems and Automation Division (SA) to form Computers, Systems and Electronics (CSE) Division. CSE Division was the sponsoring division for the electronics industry, including the computer industry, electronic components, telecommunications, electronic consumer and capital goods, broadcasting equipment and office machinery.

Further changes took place in 1972 when Machine Tools and Manufacturing Machinery Division was merged with Vehicles and Mechanical Engineering Products Division to form Mechanical Engineering Division.

In March 1974, the Computers, Systems and Electronics Division, the Mechanical Engineering Division, and the Shipbuilding Policy Division all passed from the DTI to the Department of Industry. The DTI's Minerals, Metals and Electrical Engineering Division became the new ministry's Minerals, Metals, Electrical Engineering, Process Plant and Industrial Technologies Division. The divisional organisation of Shipbuilding Policy Division remained constant through this transition, and from 1974 took over responsibility for sponsoring the UK hovercraft industry.

Also in 1974, the ESG became part of the Department of Industry. The following year it was re-organised into two main groupings: the Computing and Mathematics Group (which included the Computer Science Division and the Division of Numerical Analysis and Computing); and the Maritime Group (which contained the Division of Maritime Science and Ship Division). In July 1976, NPL's maritime responsibilities were transferred to the newly created National Maritime Institute at Feltham, London.

In 1978, one of the Computers, Systems and Electronics Division's branches (CSE3) was detached to form the nucleus of the new Electronics Applications Division. In August 1980, CSE Division was renamed Information Technology (IT) Division; essentially this was a re-titled CSE Division, but with some additional responsibilities.

In 1982 the NPL was reorganised, with the ESG's remaining responsibilities transferred to the Division of Information Technology and Computing.