218 220 - 3 -

EXECUTIVE BOARD
Tuesday, 31st December 1940

Present:

D.G.

D.D.G.

Sir Maurice Peterson

Lord Davidson

Sir Kenneth Clark

Mr. Radcliffe

Mr. Fraser

Mr. Wellington

Mr. Gates

Mr. Waddell (Secretary)

The minutes of the meeting on 27th December were taken as read and approved.

1. RESPONSIBILITY OF CONTROLLERS

The paper circulated was discussed and it was explained that it had been prepared for use, if approved by the Board, as a circular to the staff. It was hoped the circular would help to prevent too many matters of detail reaching the D.G. himself for decision. The D.G. said he wanted it to be clear in the Ministry that officers should act upon the authority they had according to their grade, and that he would support Controllers wherever possible in taking decisions on matters within their competence.

[A/638]

It was made clear on a point raised by Sir Maurice Peterson that while the D.D.G. would not wish to interfere in any matters of policy affecting his Department, it would be well that he should be kept informed of everything being put to the D.G. or the Minister in case in the D.G.'s absence he should himself have to take decisions. Experience had shown that the division of the Office at one time between policy and administration had been undesirable, and it was desired now to put an end to it. It was agreed that Controllers must ordinarily minute papers or raise questions with the D.D.G. in the first place, who would sometimes no doubt be able to come to a conclusion himself and on others would wish to seek guidance from the D.G; it would always be open to a Controller aggrieved by a decision of the D.D.G. to take the matter up with the D.G. himself. In many cases where a difference of opinion arose the best course would no doubt be to bring the matter before the Board. In the case of Sir Maurice Peterson the normal rule would be that he should refer to the D.D.G. in all cases 219 - 2 -where he did not have some particular reason for going directly to the D.G. In such cases the D.G. would, if he thought fit, minute back through the D.D.G.

Mr. Wellington drew attention to the desirability of officers bringing in members of the Broadcasting Division at as early a stage as possible in any discussion which might affect broadcasting. Sir Maurice Peterson mentioned that on two or three occasions in the past he had expressed the view that the Broadcasting Division should on the Overseas side come under his control and should on the Home side come under some other Controller. It was agreed that this point might be discussed by the D.G. outside the meeting with Mr. Wellington, Sir Maurice Peterson and the D.D.G.

It was agreed that the draft paper might be circulated to the staff subject to an amendment in paragraph 3 suggested by Mr. Gates to meet the point raised by Sir Maurice Peterson about reference to the D.D.G. The second sentence of the paragraph would read “The Controller is competent to send an official reply, and it is in his discretion whether the. matter should be referred to higher authority”.

2. WORK ON COMMISSION FOR OTHER GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

Sir Kenneth Clark referred to the difficult position which had been reached in the Ministry's relations with Departments which had not taken kindly to criticism by the Ministry of the taste or of the media proposed for campaigns on their behalf. He said that Mr. Pick had frequently been in a position to criticise effectively on the economic use of advertising media as well as on questions of taste, and other Departments had been media to say the Ministry must obey their instructions or accept the position that the Departments would themselves carry out their own publicity work. We had maintained that we must have an effective voice, and whilst the position remained in this unsatisfactory state he felt we have continual conflict. A particularly acute problem was likely to arise in the course of the next week with the Board of Trade in connection with a campaign to persuade the public to accept shortages of various commodities. The proposal at present was that Press advertising be used, but it seemed much wiser to do the job editorially.

[Gp/117]

The D.D.G. explained that the Ministry had the support of the Treasury on the general question so far as finance was concerned, i.e. the Ministry would be supported if its criticism of the points of finance could be shown to be sound: on the particular case of the Board of Trade the question had been complicated by the Minister having been approached by the President of the Board of Trade. The Minister, however, had not understood that the Board of Trade proposals would mean the establishment of a large publicity organisation within the Board of Trade, and the present position was that the Treasury did not approve the ambitious proposals by the Board of Trade, but had agreed to the employment of a Mr. Davenport to consider the requirements of the situation from the Board of Trade point of view and then to get in touch with the Ministry.

The principle was reaffirmed that the Planning Committee should be in a position to decline an undertaking on behalf of another Department if it thought the campaign unwise or the media proposed unsuitable. It would perhaps be necessary for the Board itself to consider particular cases, since, as Lord Davidson pointed out, campaigns had to be considered in relation to the general policy of the Ministry. In illustration of this point, Sir Kenneth Clark said that as German propaganda would be eager to seize on any evidence of ill-health or concern about ill-health in this country, it would be very unwise for us to run a campaign on inoculation in the way proposed by the Ministry of Health, which would involve a good deal of emphasis on the incidence and dangers of diphtheria.

Reference was also made during the discussion to the difficulty of the B.B.C.'s position in keeping in order the demands made by other Departments, which frequently involved questions of ministerial amour propre. The D.G. remarked that he thought the minister had received the Prime Minister's authority for requiring other Ministers to obtain permission to broadcast at an agreed time only through the Ministry. The D.G. said he would mention this matter to the Minister.