Following a report by the Social and Industrial Commission (SIC) (paper C.A. 155), the Council for Overseas Settlement was formed in the Spring of 1925, but became known as the Church of England Council for Empire Settlement (CECES), almost immediately. The SIC report recommended that the functions of the new Council should include the following: 'dissemination of information as to openings in the various dominions of the British Commonwealth for settlers'; 'the selection and shipping of settlers'; the arrangement for spiritual ministrations on the voyage out and letters of commendatory from the clergy'; 'the provision, in conjunction with the Church, for the reception, placing, and after-care of these settlers'. The SIC report also recommended that 'the Assembly approve of the Council creating its own organisation, and if necessary, seeking incorporation, providing that the Chairman is appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and that ten of the twenty-four Council members be nominated by the Standing Committee of the Church Assembly'. The Church Emigration Society amalgamated with the CECES on 1 August 1929, as it was decided that the objects of the former would be best served that way. In 1936 the CECES's own report paper (C.A. 547) recommended that the present council be disolved (as the council had not been as effective as originally intended) and reformed into a smaller advisory council, working in conjunction with a joint committee of the Church of England societies already engaged in the work concerning migration (to prevent an overlapping of functions). So from 1937 to 1953 there was a new organisation called the Church of England Advisory Council of Empire Settlement and it seems to have come under the jurisdiction of the Church Assembly, rather than independent as had been the case before. The functions of this revised council were are follows: advising the Church Assembly on matters relating to migration, including effective methods of the disemination of accurate information throughout the wider church, as well as advising the assembly on best areas of focus; creating and maintaining effective modes of communication with the relevant parties including the dominions and the Church overseas; co-ordinating the relevant Church societies, as well as finding ways to work effectively with other religious bodies engaged with migration. In 1954 an Empire Settlement Commission recommended the Council's continuation, without the term 'Advisory', now making its title 'The Church of England Council for Commonwealth and Empire Settlement', and in 1958 the word 'Empire' was also dropped from the title. The function and activities were still much the same as before: acting as the official agency of the Church of England for advising and assisting intending migrants to all parts of the Commonwealth and Empire; dealing as the Church's official agency with Government Departments both at home and abroad and with representativies of Commonwealth countries within the Britain. They were also to maintain close links with the Anglican Church overseas in matters of migration, as well as being aware of the spiritual work done by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in regard to migrants.
It was formally agreed at a meeting of the Council on 10 February 1972 that it should merge with the Board for Social Responsibility's Committee on International Affairs and Migration and be called Committee on International Affairs and Migration incorporating the Council for Commonwealth Settlement. So in 1973 the work of the Council become an integral part of Board for Social Responsibility (BSR). In 1974 the Council became the Committee for Overseas Settlement, still under the supervision of the BSR, and in the following year this committee was specifically made the responsibility of the International Affairs Committee (IAC) of the BSR. In 1981, this committee was wound up and its work was entrusted to the Overseas Secretary of the IAC.
