SECRET
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Friday, 1st August, 1941

Present:

D.G.

P.S.

Sir Kenneth Clark

Mr. Radcliffe

Mr. Bamford

Mr. Gates

Mr. Tree

Mr. Waddell (Secretary)

1. The minutes of the meeting on 30th July were taken as read and approved

2. REORGANISATION

The D.G. circulated a copy of his minute to the Minister dated 28th July. He drew attention to three main topics which would require attention:

(a) Foreign Publicity Divisions - the proposal to establish a Political Warfare Division outside the Ministry had still to be discussed with Mr. Dalton. It seemed that there might remain in the Ministry sections or divisions dealing with the Empire, the Near East, the Far East, North America and South America; the question whether Spain and Portugal should be attached to the Political Warfare Division was not yet settled.

(b) Films Division. The question whether the Films Division should be put under the Controller of News and Censorship was discussed and left undecided. Points to be borne in mind included the extent to which the Films Division worked in close association with other Productions Divisions, the amount of foreign work of the Films Division, and the increasing emphasis which had to be laid on the business side of the Division's work.

Meetings - it was generally agreed that 10.30 a.m. daily would be a suitable time for the Executive Board to meet to consider treatment of the day's news. This meeting would be attended by the Service Advisers but questions of policy, quite apart from treatment of news, could still be brought before it. It was thought likely that the Duty Room meeting could take place once daily before lunch and that the best time for the meeting could be fixed by the Committee themselves. The D.G. said that subject to the Minister's concurrence these arrangements would become effective.