358 362

SECRET
POLICY COMMITTEE
Thursday, October 24th, 1940.

Secretariat Registry

As [illegible]

Present

Minister

D.G.

D.D.G.

P.S.

Sir Maurice Peterson

Lord Davidson

Sir Kenneth Clark

Mr. Bamford

Mr. Fraser

Mr. Tree

Mr .Wellington

Mr. Peake

Mr. Leigh Ashton

Mr. Gates

Mr. Ogilvie

Mr. Valentine Williams

Mr. Waddell (Secretary)

The Minutes of the meeting on October 17th were taken as read and approved.

1. MORALE IN SHELTERS .

Sir Kenneth Clark reported that it had emerged from his meetings with Mr. Leslie of the Ministry of Home Security that Home Security were gradually co-ordinating the work of the various public authorities concerned with the welfare of people in shelters, homeless people, etc. He reported further that Home Security had now made up its mind on the need for publicity on two main points, (i) various aspects of shelter behaviour; (ii) help for the homeless; they would like the Ministry's assistance in providing publicity on these points by means of leaflets, posters, films (where practicable) and speakers: Mr. Maling, one of the Ministry's staff, was assisting Home Security in this matter by collecting from various authorities the answers to questions on the matters which were concerning the public. No general scheme for the publication of these answers would be ready until about the middle of next week.

[GP/237]

The question for the Ministry was how far we could help in the various respects where help seemed necessary. The Minister emphasised that in regard to the leaflet what was wanted was information about where to obtain assistance rather than guidance about behaviour on the lines indicated by the 359 - 2 -draft which Sir Kenneth Clark outlined to the Committee. The Director General suggested that with a view to getting answers to the questions which it would be possible to publish the Minister should meet some of his colleagues or the Director General should meet the Heads of Departments concerned. The Ministry has plenty of material showing what are the questions the public are asking and this material could be used as the agenda for any such meeting. The difficulty appeared to be that the answers to the questions were so complicated that the Government would be brought into public discredit if they were to be published.

On this aspect of the matter Mr. Nicolson confirmed that the impression he had from a meeting of the Civil Defence Committee the previous day was that arrangements for providing assistance to people in distress of various sorts were not yet sufficiently co-ordinated for the Ministry to be of much help. Mr. Herbert Morrison had been made fully aware of the need for co-ordination and had stated his intention of taking it up.

The Director General pointed out that what was needed was a single place where the public could get in touch with the machinery of all the authorities whose help they might need. It would not matter how complicated the machinery of the several Departments might be so long as people could be instructed to go to a place within reasonable distance where all the requisite forms could be got and the machinery itself set in motion.

The Minister said that he would report this afternoon to the meeting of the Prime Minister's Committee which deals with questions of this sort, and explain that the Ministry could not make progress in stating the position because arrangements were too complex for publicity purposes. Sir Kenneth Clark would show the Minister the material he had been given about behaviour in shelters, etc., and lists of the questions to which answers were required.

[HP/703/2]

Turning to the question of films in shelters, Sir Kenneth Clark said that we had now been invited by the Ministry of Home Security to show films for instructional purposes and in order to occupy the minds of the people for short spells. The steps that would be necessary to take would be (i) to make a census of suitable shelters in London (the numbers might run into hundreds); (ii) to draw up a scheme for the circulation of suitable short films having regard to the mobile projectors and skilled operators available. The intention would be to have shows lasting for about half-an-hour once a week with the emphasis on instruction rather than entertainment. The Director General suggested that we should embark on a scheme of this sort only on the specific invitation of the Ministry or Ministries concerned, and that if it were undertaken we ought to use every facility the trade could offer us since there must be plenty of unused skill and equipment in London at the present time. Lord Davidson at this point suggested that certainly 360 - 3 -[illegible] big commercial undertakings might be in a position to assist, and it was agreed that the Films Division should prepare a scheme for films in shelters, and that they should, if possible, prepare a film of shelter life.

The Director General drew attention to the responsibility of the L.C.C. in connection with any arrangements of this sort, and expressed the view that they ought to be able to assist. He said he would speak to Mr. Latham about the use of any film projection facilities they might have.

It was reported that paid speakers for shelters were already been provided by the Ministry to do five minute talks which would not touch politics or any questionable topic but would provide encouragement and advice.

[HP/103/1]

2. PRESS ADVERTISING .

In reply to a question from the Minister Mr. Bamford said that there were two points about finance he would wish to mention on the Director General's paper (which had been circulated) - (i) the allotment of £350,000 was substantially in excess of the rate for the first year of the Ministry's working and the amount allocated to Departments was less than the present rate. We might therefore have to cut down the cost of campaigns for other Departments more than the other Departments would care. (ii) The Treasury might not be willing to allow other Government Departments to run campaigns without seeking Treasury concurrence mainly because they could do so out of the Ministry's allocation. The Director General referred to a discussion he had had with Sir Horace Wilson and said this point would not be likely to cause difficulty. It would still be desirable to consult the Treasury on the major schemes advanced. The Minister agreed, and said we might see how the allocation worked out in practice. He agreed further with Sir Kenneth Clark's suggestion, strongly supported by the Director General that we ought to refuse to run a campaign for another Department when we consider the campaign a poor one. The Director General referred in this connection to three expert advertisers whom he had secured to work in a consultative capacity in the Ministry on say, one day a week; their advice would strengthen the views of the Ministry in turning down any requests from other Departments.

[Extract to File GP/6]

Note : If it is thought desirable the allocation could be adjusted to £100,000 for the Ministry and £250,000 for other Departments.

3. HOME GUARD .

Mr. Peake referred to the difficulties Heads of Divisions were finding in releasing staff for Home Guard duties and thought the remedy must lie in reducing and redefining the duties, and suggested that when this had been done the Minister should send a message of encouragement and appreciation 361 - 4 -to all Members of the Home Guard and to all the male staff of the Ministry. It was suggested that in view of Major Frazer's retirement Capt.Crookshank should be asked to nominate someone who would carry out efficiently adjutant’s duties. It would be desirable to maintain and have as far as possible the present membership, though it would be recognised that only a proportion of these would be able to take regular spells of duty. Lord Davidson referred to difficulties with the supply of uniforms, the importance of which was appreciated by Mr. Peake who said he would lose no opportunity to raise the matter.

4. MR. OGILVIE raised two points: (a) It was agreed that he should, with the Minister's approval, take up with the War Office the question of obtaining two armoured cars in substitution for the present private cars which were for use in the event of communications between the Ministry and Broadcasting House and Maida Vale being cut.

(b) The question of the supplying of engineers to the Air Ministry was again discussed. (See Policy Committee Minutes of 12th and 19th September). Mr. Ogilvie understood that the Secretary of State for Air was not satisfied that the recent demand for fifty engineers would be adequate, and he felt that the time had now come when there must be an end to these demands or certain of the B.B.C's. services would have to be cut down. He outlined the history of the demands given by the Air Ministry and of the success the B.B.C. engineering staff had had in spite of great difficulties. Notwithstanding the German control of so many transmitters on the European Continent by January 1st, the B.B.C. engineers would have a greater kilowattage at their disposal than Germany controls. The Minister agreed that the B.B.C. case was strong, and suggested that Mr. Ogilvie should have a paper prepared showing the number of the present engineering staff, what would be the minimum staff required to carry on, including the requirements of stations coming into use, and what would be the effect on existing services of a further fifty engineers having to be supplied to the Air Ministry. This paper would be prepared on the basis of a broadcasting programme carrying on through the winter.

P.T.O.