Editing First Commissioner of Works (section)

{{Short description|Former UK government role}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
[[Image:Lord John Manners.jpg|200px|right|thumb| [[John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland|Lord John Manners]], later 7th Duke of Rutland, who served thrice as First Commissioner of Works in the 1850s and 1860s]]

The '''First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings''' was a position within the government of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]], and subsequent to 1922, within the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It took over some of the functions of the [[First Commissioner of Woods and Forests]] in 1851 when the portfolio of Crown holdings was divided into the public and the commercial. The position was frequently of cabinet level. The office was renamed Minister of Works and Buildings and First Commissioner of Works in 1940, Minister of Works and Planning upon receiving statutory planning powers from the [[Ministry of Health (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Health]] in 1942, Minister of Works when those planning powers were moved to the [[Ministry of Town and Country Planning]] in 1943, and finally Minister of Public Buildings and Works in 1962. In this last form the commissioner had "additional responsibility for studying the problems of the building industry". On 15 October 1970 the role was amalgamated with the [[Minister of Transport (United Kingdom)|Minister of Transport]] and the [[Minister of Housing and Local Government]] in the [[Secretary of State for the Environment|Department of the Environment]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=National approaches to the governance of historical heritage over time: a comparative report |date=2008 |publisher=IOS Press |isbn=978-1-58603-853-3 |editor-last=Fisch |editor-first=Stefan |series=Cahier d'histoire de l'administration |location=Amsterdam Berlin |pages=189–190 |chapter=Administering the English national heritage |first=Gavin |last=Drewry}}</ref>