Catalogue description Office of the Queen's Award to Industry: Registered Files (SW Series)

The Queen's Award to Industry was instituted by Royal Warrant in 1965 in recognition of outstanding achievements in exports or in technological innovation. In 1964, the Prime Minister had asked the Head of the Home Civil Service to look into the issue of an award for this purpose and a year later a scheme was worked out under the guidance of a committee which included representatives of industry and was chaired by the Duke of Edinburgh. The first awards were announced in the London Gazette in 1966, on the Queen's Birthday (21 April). Awards in subsequent years were announced on the same day.

The scheme was reviewed in 1970 by a committee chaired by Lord McFadzean and again in 1975 by a committee chaired by the Duke of Edinburgh. As a result of the 1975 review, the award was separated into two distinct awards entitled the Queen's Award for Export Achievement and The Queen's Award for Technological Achievement.

The Queen made the awards annually on the advice of the Prime Minister, who was assisted by an Advisory Committee which included representatives of industry and commerce, trade unions and engineering institutions.

A preliminary sifting of applications for the Advisory Committee was carried out under the auspices of the Office of the Queen's Award to Industry (OQAI), also set up in 1965, which was also responsible for the administration of the scheme. The office was directly responsible to the Head of the Civil Service, in his capacity as Chairman of the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee. Between 1965 and 1970 it was manned by staff from the Board of Trade (BoT) and the Ministry of Technology (Mintech), and was headed by the joint (BoT and Mintech) secretaries to the Advisory Committee.

With BoT OQAI was, from 1965 to 1 January 1968, the responsibility of Division 2 of the General Department of the BoT. In January 1968, responsibility passed to the Export Policy and Promotion Division until 1 January 1970, when it passed on to the Export Planning and Development Division. During this period, these BoT divisions were assisted by staff from Mintech's OQAI Technology Section, which drew its staff from the Research Administration Division. Contemporary opinions as to whether the section formed part of the division appear to have varied.

In processing applications both BoT and Mintech worked to their respective Permanent Secretaries who chaired sub-committees which reported to the main Advisory Committee on export and technological aspects, respectively. Within Mintech the Technological Steering Committee made preliminary assessments of technological applications for the sub-committee. Prior to this the first sift of applications was made by a departmental "reference panel" and an "extended reference panel."

When the BoT merged with Mintech to form the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in October 1970, Research Administration Division and the Queen's Award to Industry Branch continued within the new department, but in February 1971 the Research Administration Division of the DTI was combined with the Research Planning Division to form the Research Division. In November 1972 the Research Division was replaced by the Research and Development Contractors Division (RC Division) and the Research and Development Requirements Division (RR Division). Responsibility for advice on technological aspects with regard to Queen's Award applications passed to the RC Division.