Records of Supplies Division and successors

Records of the Property Services Agency's Supplies Division, and predecessor and successor bodies, relating to the provision of furnishings and equipment for government offices and other official buildings.

Annual reports of The Crown Suppliers, CM 5; registered files concerning commodities, CM 9; Supplies: Unregistered papers, CM 13; registered files of the Transport Section of Supplies Division,CM 47; registered files of Supplies Division, CM 56; registered files of The Crown Suppliers, CM 59; and registered files of the Government Car Service (GCS Series), CM 67.

• Department of the Environment, Supplies Division, 1970-1972
• Ministry of Public Building and Works, Supplies Division, 1962-1970
• Ministry of Works and Buildings, Supplies Division, 1940-1942
• Ministry of Works and Planning, Supplies Division, 1942-1943
• Ministry of Works, Supplies Division, 1943-1962
• Property Services Agency, Supplies Division, 1972-1984
• The Buying Agency, 1991-2001
• The Crown Suppliers, 1984-1991
• The Crown Suppliers, The Buying Agency, 1989-1991

from 1987 The Crown Suppliers

The Supplies Division of the Ministry of Works, then of the Ministry of Public Building and Works and the Department of the Environment (and their predecessors) was inherited by the Property Services Agency (PSA) in 1972. The Supplies Division of the PSA operated as a trading fund from 1976 and in 1984 was renamed The Crown Suppliers. In 1989 The Buying Agency was set up as part of The Crown Suppliers, and in 1991 The Buying Agency replaced The Crown Suppliers.

The Supplies Division was responsible for the provision of furnishings and equipment for government offices, law courts, consulates, hospitals and official residences not on the civil list. It also acted as a central purchasing agency for the provisioning of government departments and for fuel supply, letting of related contracts and controlling related stores. It was also responsible for disposal of surplus stores.

It sold a wide range of furniture, furnishings, floor-coverings, domestic appliances, electrical, mechanical and laboratory equipment, building materials, heating fuel and transport and provides expert design and technical services to meet the needs of the public sector. Customers of The Crown Suppliers included government departments, civil and military at home and abroad, local authorities, and nationalised industries.