Catalogue description Records of the Training, Employment, Appointments and Resettlement departments and policy, and the Regional Organisation

In 1917 the Board of Trade's Employment Department transferred to the Ministry of Labour. Its work mainly concerned administration of the Labour Exchanges Act 1909, the National Insurance (Unemployment) Act 1911 and its subsequent extensions. In 1918 the department subdivided into Unemployment Insurance; Policy; and General Manager's Divisions. Until June 1919 these worked largely at the direction of the Demobilisation and Resettlement Department on work concerned with reallocating manpower for peacetime needs.

In April 1918 a first Appointments Department was formed to resettle ex-servicemen, and provided training schemes and supplied advice. From November 1918 to June 1919 this operated within Civil Demobilisation and Resettlement Department. From October 1919 it merged with Civil Liabilities Department and was renamed Appointments and Civil Liabilities Department. In April 1925, the Civil Liabilities branch was transferred to Training Department which in April 1919 took over responsibilities for training disabled ex-servicemen. The department was also in charge of training dependents of deceased servicemen and ran the Interrupted Apprenticeship Scheme.

Between October 1919 and October 1920 the three Employment divisions merged to form the Employment and Insurance Department whose main concern was relief of unemployment. It was also responsible for information relating to the employment situation internationally, nationally and locally, and advised on employment aspects of economic policy. It also supervised the creation of local advisory committees to help the work of the labour and employment exchanges and other employment advisory bodies, and had responsibilities for regulating dock labour employment. In January1923 the ministry took over the work of the juvenile unemployment centres (Approved Courses of Instruction for Unemployed Juveniles). In 1927, following recommendations of the Malcolm Committee, central responsibility for youth vocational training was vested in the ministry, and the Employment and Training departments co-ordinated the work of the Youth Employment Service. In September 1927 supervision of employment work carried out by local education authorities was also transferred, and in 1928 the ministry began to administer the financial side of local work.

In 1929, Unemployment Insurance Department was created to take over administration of such Acts, and control of employment exchanges passed to Establishments Division. The Training and Employment departments combined to form Employment and Training Department, the emphasis for training war disabled having changed to training for the unemployed. The department supervised schemes for training the unemployed, including administering the costs of government training centres. It also supervised schemes for industrial transference (including the work of the Industrial Transferences Board) and emigration, as well as being in charge of general policy questions and information. Much of the department's work concerned juveniles and it became responsible for central administration of the Youth Employment Service. The National Advisory Council for Juvenile Employment, representing outside parties, provided advice.

In 1937, Employment and Training Department was again divided. Employment Department retained control of the general field of employment policy and information while the new Training and Juvenile Department became an autonomous unit.

During the Second World War no single employment department existed as such. In 1940 the Employment Department was split into three Labour Supply departments, each responsible for a group of industries. Training Department continued, however, with responsibilities for training schemes and the government training centres which concentrated on engineering and allied trades to increase the munitions industry workforce.

In March 1942 a second Appointments Department was created to supervise the allocation of qualified personnel in the professions and elsewhere. The department maintained its own regional appointments offices, thereby supplementing the employment exchange service, and these played a prominent part in the re-absorption into civilian life of men discharged from the services. The department operated schemes designed to promote further education and training to help those whose careers in the higher ranks of industry, commerce and the professions had been interrupted by the war. The Nursing Services Branch and the Nursing Appointments Service also came within its scope.

After the war the ministry's activities in relation to employment were redefined, partly under the Employment and Training Act 1948. Employment Policy Department was set up to deal with policy questions and provide advice on employment aspects of broader economic and industrial issues. Its work also covered policy in relation to employment of older and foreign workers.

At the end of the war, Training Department became responsible for various facilities and training schemes designed to assist the demobilised, especially the disabled for whom new responsibilities were specified under the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944 and a further Act of 1958. The Employment and Training Act 1948 empowered the ministry to provide training facilities, allowances and schemes for all sectors of the working population, not just the unemployed. Henceforward initiation of training schemes involved participation by both sides of industry, initially through the Joint Consultative Committee, later through appropriate employers' associations and trade unions. Training Department became involved in formulating schemes, providing guidance on industrial training, apportioning allowances to young people in special cases, and making grants to voluntary bodies administering ministry approved training schemes.

In 1951 the remaining Labour Supply Department merged with Appointments Department to form the Employment Services Department whose functions included supervision of employment exchanges and the Technical and Scientific Register.

In 1958 the two departments merged to form a single Employment Department.

In 1964, under the Industrial Training Act, the minister was empowered to set up industrial training boards designed to provide appropriate training facilities for specific industries and financed by a levy on the employers in the industry concerned. Appeals against the apportionment of the levy were made to the Central Office of Industrial Tribunals.

In 1968, the Training and Establishment departments were transferred to the Department of Employment and Productivity. Training Department had no change to its organisation or functions, merely an adjustment of its title to Division. This division operated through four branches: the first dealt with government vocational training schemes and units, oversaw the work of government training centres and industrial rehabilitation units, and supervised training in industry; the second was concerned with the operation of the Industrial Training Act 1964; the third was concerned with the establishment of industrial training boards and setting up training in industry; and the fourth consisted of technical advisers on industrial training, including industrial psychologists.

The Employment Services Division of the Department of Employment inherited the Central Youth Employment Executive which became part of the division. The Executive issued information on careers and ran its own inspectorate to visit youth employment offices and youth employment departments in the ministry's local offices.

From 1972, Training Division was transformed into Training Services Agency (TSA). In April 1974, responsibility for the TSA passed to the newly-created Manpower Services Commission.