NEW PRODUCTION MINISTER

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23587, 14 March 1942, Page 7

NEW PRODUCTION MINISTER

DEFINITION OF POWERS NO NEW DEPARTMENT* CREATED (8.0. W.) RUGBY, March 12. Making an announcement on the new duties of Mr Oliver Lyttelton, Mr Churchill said he would be appointed Minister for Production, who was the Minister charged with chief responsibility on behalf of the War Cabinet for the business of war production as a whole, subject of course to the policy of the Minister for Defence and the War Cabinet itself. Subject to the position of the Admiralty, he would have effective powers to concert and supervise the activities of shipping production departments, including the adjustment of existing programmes and the initiation of future policy. No new Ministry incorporating the existing supply departments would be set up. Subject to the performance by the Minister for Production of the duties' assigned to him, Ministers nn charge of the supply departments will continue to be responsible to the War Cabinet and Parliament for the administration of their departments. “The House will no doubt expect some closer definition of the Minister’s responsibilities,” said Mr Churchill. “He will be responsible for duties hitherto discharged by the Production Executive (including the settlement of production priorities), regional boards, and all the allocation of industrial capacity, except shipyard capacity, which will be allocated as hitherto by the Admiralty. He will direct the work of British representatives on combined bodies set up here and in the United States to provide for the most effective utilisation of the joint resources of United States and Britain in munitions and raw materials. He will organise in co-operation with Dominion and other Empire Governments, the joint planning of the production of raw materials, machine tools, and finished munitions in the Empire. As regards the raw materials and machine tools required for war production in Britain, he will be responsible for the planning and development of home resources, for arranging the export programme, and for settling the allocation and release of stocks. He will determine the scope and extent of building programmes. “In all matters connected with the use, allocation, distribution, and efficiency of labour v/ithin the field of war production, the Minister for Production and the Minister for Labour and National Service will work together, the latter being generally responsible for the supply of labour and the former for determining the importance of various demands for labour for war production. “As regards Admiralty production, the position is that the board will continue to control the design, the construction, and armament of all naval vessels and naval programmes, subject only to the approval of the Minister for Defence and the War Cabinet. The Board of Admiralty will also remain responsible for the construction of defensive equipment on merchant vessels and repair in this country, but will be advised by the Ministers for War and Transport about such matters as tynes of merchant vessels to be constructed. , „ . , “In all other respects the functions of the Minister for Production will extend to the field of production for which the Admiralty is primarily responsible.”