Home Office and Ministry of Labour and successors: Factory Department and Inspectorate:...

Records of the Factory Department and Inspectorate dealing with the administration of factory legislation and the inspection of factories. Early files in the series were created in the Home Office.

The series includes minutes of meetings and conferences of the inspectors, and files relating to the arrangement of their districts. The series also includes factory registers and certificates of employment and files relating to the employment of women and young persons. A detailed history of the inspectorate up to 1932 can be found in the Centenary Annual Report of the Chief Inspector (piece 19). Other files relate to the Rossetti Committee working party set up to review the organisation of the Inspectorate in 1955.

For earlier Home Office records of the Factory Department and Inspectorate, see HO 87

• Department of Employment and Productivity, Safety, Health and Welfare Division, HM Factory Inspectorate, 1968-1970
• Department of Employment, Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health: Factory Inspectorate Division, 1974-1975
• Department of Employment, Manpower Safety and Health Services, Factory Inspectorate Division, 1973-1974
• Department of Employment, Safety, Health and Welfare Division, HM Factory Inspectorate, 1970-1972
• Home Office, Factory Department, 1844-1940
• Home Office, Factory Inspectorate, 1833-1940
• Ministry of Labour and National Service, Factory and Welfare Department, 1942-1946
• Ministry of Labour and National Service, Factory Department, 1940-1941
• Ministry of Labour and National Service, Factory Inspectorate, 1940-1941
• Ministry of Labour and National Service, Safety, Health and Welfare Department, Factory Department, 1946-1957
• Ministry of Labour and National Service, Safety, Health and Welfare Department, HM Factory Inspectorate, 1957-1959
• Ministry of Labour, Safety, Health and Welfare Department, HM Factory Inspectorate, 1959-1968

Topics

Manufacturing

Labour

Sex and gender

Factory inspectors were first appointed under the Factory Act of 1833. A central office, later named the Factory Department, was established and supervised by the Domestic Department, and later the Industrial Department, of the Home Office.

The Factory Department and the administration of factory legislation was seconded to the Ministry of Labour and National Service under defence regulations in 1940, and this transfer was made permanent in April 1946. A Factory and Welfare Department was created to supervise the work of the inspectorate.