Department of Energy and successors: Coal Division; Registered Files (C Series)

EG 26

1971-1996

This series consists of the registered files of the Coal Division of the Department of Energy (from 1992, the Coal Division of the Department of Trade and Industry). The records relate to the reduction in size of the British coal industry, pit closures in the 1980s and the industry's privatisation during the first half of the 1990s. Particular aspects covered include:

(i) aid, regeneration and various business enterprise schemes to support areas affected;

(ii) subsidence issues;

(iii) the work of the National Coal Board and its successors; and

(iv) the legislation that was progressed in order to facilitate the privatisation of the industry, and the issues arising.

See also: KD POWE 16 COAL

C series

Public Record(s)

English

• Department of Energy, Coal Division, 1974-1992
• Department of Trade and Industry, Coal Division, 1992-1996
• Department of Trade and Industry, Energy Policy Technology Analysis and Coal (EPTAC 5 (a,b,c)), 1992-1999

384 file(s)

Open unless otherwise stated

In 2015 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Topics

Trade and commerce

Coal

Mining and quarrying

No further accruals are expected.

The structures and decision-making process in government: Records that illustrate how a body or function was privatised/nationalised. The state's interaction with the physical environment: Records which document the impact of policies/proposals on the natural environment.

The C prefix was used by the Coal Division of the Department of Energy from 1982 to 1992. C prefix records show that during that period the division dealt with many aspects of the coal industry in general. The Coal Division did also exist in the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) from 1970 to 1974, when it was transferred to the newly established Department of Energy.

On the abolition of the Department of Energy in April 1992, Coal Division was transferred to the DTI.

In 1992 the DTI functional directory showed that the functions of the division were focused on the plans for privatisation of the coal industry, although general matters such as coal industry employment, environment, planning, pay and industrial relations were also covered.

In 1995 the DTI functional directory described the division as responsible for the sponsorship of the coal industry in the UK; the various aspects covered included many arising from the privatisation of the industry under the Coal Industry Act 1994.

In 1999 following a restructure it became the Department of Trade and Industry, Energy Policy Technology Analysis and Coal (EPTAC 5 (a,b,c)).