Catalogue description Records created or inherited by the Ministry of Reconstruction

In March 1916, Prime Minister Asquith appointed a Cabinet committee on Reconstruction. Its major task was to co-ordinate the work being undertaken by various departments in preparation for the restoration of peace. Initially it was chaired by the prime minister and was composed solely of departmental heads. The Committee set up a number of subcommittees to investigate specific problems. By the end of the year the parent committee had a permanent secretarial staff and had made some progress in estimating future housing needs. In March 1917 Lloyd George reconstituted the Reconstruction Committee as established under Asquith.

The Reconstruction Committee as from March 1917 had a wider membership of fourteen in all, including people both inside and outside the government. Like its predecessor, this committee was designed to further interdepartmental co-operation in the field of postwar planning, to forestall the duplication of administrative efforts in different departments and to provide an overview of reconstruction priorities and policy. It was also authorised to review the terms of reference of its subcommittees, determine future lines of enquiry and to recommend to the War Cabinet the action to be taken on the reports produced under its auspices.

Some of the subcommittees of Asquith's committee continued their work uninterrupted; new ones were created to investigate new areas. The Reconstruction Committee itself was organised into six panels, each dealing with a range of subjects, to provide a greater degree of co-ordination. On the establishment of the Ministry of Reconstruction in August 1917, the Reconstruction Committee itself was dissolved but its various subsidiary bodies continued to function.

The Ministry was established under the New Ministries Act 1917 in August of that year. It was to promote the restoration and improvement of normal industrial, trading and social conditions at the end of the war. Its role remained similar to the committees that preceded it. It co-ordinated the work of other government departments, conducted or supervised investigations into measures of reconstruction and formulated plans accordingly. The execution of such decisions was generally assigned to the appropriate department of state. Reports of its various committees were submitted to the War Cabinet some of which were published as command papers. It also secured War Cabinet approval for the recommendations of its various subsidiary bodies, many of which had been taken over from its predecessors.

As the work of the ministry was essentially advisory, its establishment remained small and its internal organisation had little impact on the arrangement of the records. It was organised into seven branches; six of these dealt with certain areas of policy and an Intelligence Branch provided general publicity and information services. In May 1918 it was reorganised into six branches, of which the Social Development Branch handled policy in health, housing and reorganisation of government; this included the establishment of the Ministry of Health.

The Advisory Council was created in January 1918 and was made up of a number of persons who had particular expertise in various questions connected with the work of the department. Its main aim was to establish postwar priorities and controls. The Council was divided into five sections, roughly corresponding with the specialised branches of the department. In the autumn of 1918 a Women's Advisory Committee was created as a subordinate body of the council. This was sometimes referred to as the Women's Advisory Council.

In January 1919 Dr Addison was succeeded as minister of Reconstruction by Sir Auckland Geddes who retained his post as minister of National Service and supervised the winding up of both departments. The Ministry of Reconstruction was finally dissolved in August 1919, though it formally ceased to exist only on 31 August 1923.