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Copy on A/437
SECRET
EXECUTIVE BOARD: 21st March, 1941
COMMITTEES

NOTE BY THE PRIME MINISTER, ADDRESSED TO MINISTERS IN CHARGE OF DEPARTMENTS

I CIRCULATE herewith a note upon the inordinate and unchecked growth of Committees which now amount to 800 in the Central Government alone. This paper has been prepared by my directions, and suggests to all Departments methods for effecting a purge and reduction both of Committees and of the numbers upon them.

I ask each Minister to see that proposals are submitted to him without delay, having for their object a reduction in the number of Committees by 25 per cent., and a reduction in the number of persons attending these Committees by 25 per cent. I propose to arrange for a report to be submitted to me at a later date showing what action has been taken to give effect to the directive.

W.S.C.

10, Downing Street, S.W.1,

March 14, 1941.

DIRECTIVE.

THE returns submitted by some thirty Departments in reply to the circular letter addressed to them on the 7th January showed about 800 Committees of the Central Government. This figure excludes some 2,600 Local Committees, mainly attached to the Ministries of Labour, Food and Information, designed to maintain essential local contacts.

Properly used, Committees are an invaluable aid to public business. Some differences cannot be resolved except by discussion face to face; and where several Departments are concerned a Committee, properly organised, will save much time and correspondence. But it is clear that the Committee system has been allowed to run riot, and that what should be a useful time-saving device is in danger, not only of wasting the time of officials and of delaying action, but of sapping the responsibility of those called upon to take decisions and to direct action.

An effort should now be made to reduce both the number of Committees and the time spent upon them, and to see that the work of the Committees retained is properly organised. In particular, attention should be paid to the following aspects: -

Numbers attending Committees.

(l) The prime evil is that far too many people attend Committee meetings. This growth in numbers is bad for Committee business in two ways: first, because officers have to spend time in listening to long discussions when they should be at their desks.

Secondly, because, while business can be transacted with efficiency and speed among five or six people, when twenty or thirty are present the proceedings become cumbrous, and frank speaking more difficult.

This increase in the numbers attending Committee meetings springs from two causes. First, the wish to ensure that every Department concerned is consulted before action is decided upon, has led to Departments being granted permanent representation on Committees however remote their interest in the business to be done. In future, Inter-Departmental Committees will comprise only the representatives of the Departments essentially concerned. Representatives of lesser or intermittent interests may be sent the relevant Papers, but such representatives will only be invited to attend meetings for particular items when necessary.

Secondly, a habit has grown up of Departmental representatives on Committees hunting in couples. Occasionally as many as six representatives of the same Department have attended a meeting.

The normal practice should be that, if several sections of a Department are concerned in a matter their representatives should meet beforehand to settle the line of action to be taken, and to select one of their number to attend the meeting. This representative should, save in matters of high policy, which require reference to Ministers, be in a position to answer for his Department.

Responsibilities of Chairmen

(2) Chairmen of Committees must accept responsibility for the orderly conduct of business. They must see that proper Agenda papers are issued; that, save in cases of great urgency, the issues to be discussed are set out concisely in writing and circulated before the meeting. Above all, they must see that discussion is kept to the point at issue and irrelevance curtailed; that the numbers attending meetings are reduced to the minimum (see (1) above); and that meetings are not held unless necessary. Again, every Chairman should in advance of the meeting, digest the papers and think out the tentative line or lines on which the issues to be determined can be resolved, and, if need be take preliminary soundings.

Chairmen should also discourage lengthy Minutes. Minutes must, of course, record the conclusions reached, with precise directions as to the action to be taken by each Department or Officer. The general rule should be to record, apart from the conclusions, only the briefest summary of any important points raised in discussion, a record of which is necessary for a clear understanding of the Committee’s conclusions.

Finally, Chairmen are responsible for ensuring that Secretaries, under their direction, follow up items not settled at meetings, and take steps either to get them disposed of outside the Committee or to have preliminary points discussed outside the Committee, in order that the question may be ripe for a decision when it is again put on the Agenda.

Advisory and Consultative Committees.

(3) The Departments responsible for Agricultural, Trade and Industrial matters, Labour, Education and so forth, have appointed a large number of Central Committees to keep them in touch with outside interests coming within their sphere. While these contacts are no doubt advantageous, certain Departments have been over-ready to use 367 - 4 -this device, and to appoint new advisory bodies for each fresh development. One Sub-Department alone has no less than 29 such Advisory Committees. Departments needing advisory bodies should select people with all-round experience, who can give advice on a wider range of matters. Departments should overhaul their existing Advisory and Consultative Committees on these lines as opportunity offers. In future when advice is required on some fresh topic, this should be done by extending the reference to some existing body, rather than by creating a new body.

Scientific Advisory Committees.

(4) The need for regular consultation with outside scientific or technical experts has led to a great increase since the war in the number of scientific advisory bodies. Further experience may well show that there is some overlapping between the various bodies established, and that the normal Committee procedure is not that best suited for the purpose in hand, and leads to some waste of effort, especially in the case of the larger bodies set up. But in many cases the practice of regular consultation with outside scientific experts has not been long established; and for the moment the present contacts should be allowed to develop freely.

Departmental Committees.

(5) Another type of Committee is the Committee consisting solely of representatives of different Sections or Branches within a particular Department. While the officer charged with a particular branch of business should rightly make a habit of conferring with his subordinates, this should rarely imply a formal Committee. The habit of establishing formal Committees in a Department is, indeed, probably a sign that the Departmental organisation is at fault and that there is no officer in effective charge of each main branch of the Department's functions.

Liaison Officers.

(6) Yet another type of Committee is the Committee which rarely, if ever, meets, its members being, in effect, liaison officers in certain Departments, nominated on their behalf to deal with particular questions, who are consulted by the Chairman and Secretary as occasion demands. This is a useful administrative device; and it is not intended that a purge of the Committee system should lead to its extinction.

Ad hoc Inquiries.

(7) An ad hoc inquiry into some particular question can often be carried out more effectively and expeditiously, not by the appointment of a Committee, but by entrusting the matter to a single individual whose duty it will be to consult and seek advice from the various parties concerned.

Permanent Heads of Departments are responsible to Ministers for seeing that the Committee business of their Departments is overhauled on the general lines indicated in this note. In particular steps should be taken to see that only those persons who are able to manage Committee business effectively are appointed as Chairmen of Committees; that unnecessary Departmental Committees are abolished; that new Committees are not set up without due authority, and then only when no satisfactory alternative can be devised; and, finally, that the number of persons attending Committees is reduced to the minimum.

March 14, 1941.