MINISTRY OF INFORMATION. (Hansard, 7 September 1939)

10. Mr. O. Lewis asked
the Prime Minister which Member of the Government will reply in the House of Commons to questions about the work of the Ministry of Information?

§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Chamberlain)
My right hon. Friend the Lord Privy Seal will reply and, without taking any share in the executive responsibility for the Ministry, will keep in close touch with its work in order to represent its point of view both in this House and at the War Cabinet.

§ Mr. T. Williams
Can the Lord Privy Seal inform us whether Lord Macmillan or Admiral Osborne is the actual Censor?

§ Sir S. Hoare
That question should be put on the Paper.

§ Mr. Arthur Greenwood
(by Private Notice): asked the Lord Privy Seal whether the Ministry of Information is now in full operation, how it is organised, what are the names of the chief officials, both at headquarters and in any regional organisation, and of the members of any Advisory Council which may have been formed to assist the Minister.

§ Sir S. Hoare
Except for a few posts the Ministry is now fully staffed, and all its divisions are in operation; but it has been in existence for less than a week, and I trust that neither the House nor the public will expect it to be in full working order in so short a time. It is organised in 14 divisions, gathered into four groups, the first dealing with news and Press relations and the censorship; the second with the application of publicity on a geographical basis, covering home, the Empire, U.S.A. and other foreign countries respectively; the third with the production of publicity in the form of films; wireless; literature and art; posters, advertisements, periodicals and pamphlets, etc., respectively, and the fourth with administration and co-ordination. Each division is under a Director, one with the rank of Deputy-Director-General; and the Directors, with the Director-General and Deputy-Director-General, who rank as the Permanent Secretary and Second Secretary respectively of a first-class Government Department, form the Executive Council of the Minister. The Minister is also responsible for publicity in enemy countries, which is dealt with in a separate branch of the Ministry. The Minister is also assisted by an Advisory Council, consisting of representatives of the several political parties, of the newspaper world and broadcasting, of business, of the Trades Union Congress and the cooperative movement, and other general or particular interests. The work of the Ministry at home is organised in a system of regions, corresponding with the regions under the Home Security Scheme, each under a Chief Regional Information Officer. I will circulate in the Official Report the names of the members of the Advisory Council; the members of the Executive Council and their chief divisional assistants; and the Chief Regional Information Officers.

§ Mr. Thorne
Are we to take it for granted that this is the Ministry which was responsible for the information broadcast concerning the air-raid warning yesterday? [Laughter.] It is not a laughing matter. A number of people have come to my house whose children are evacuated so far away that they did not know whether the children were affected or not, and it was not possible to find out whether children were in the area where the raid was supposed to have 574 happened. I think information of that kind should be given to the public, so that the mothers of children may be assured that there are no bombs flying about in the places where their children are.

§ Sir S. Hoare
I assure the hon. Member that my Noble Friend will look carefully and sympathetically into questions of that kind, but it will be understood that the problem is a very difficult one. Aeroplanes move very swiftly, and there is the danger of giving news to the enemy and so on, but I can assure the hon. Member that it is the general desire of the Minister of Information to give the country as much information as he can, as quickly as he can.

§ Mr. Thorne
It is not suggested that the Germans do not know where they are, when they are flying over?

§ Mr. Boothby
Can my right hon. Friend say whether the department of propaganda in enemy countries is a separate department or is under one of the four main divisions which he mentioned at the beginning? I do not think that was made clear.

§ Sir S. Hoare
It comes, as far as I remember, directly under the Minister.

§ Mr. Roland Robinson
Would my right hon. Friend ask the Ministry of Information to issue public statements without delay after attempted air raids such as we had yesterday, when there were rumours which caused misunderstanding and confusion?

§ Sir S. Hoare
In a matter of this kind we have to take into account our experience. I agree with my hon. Friend and we are at the moment looking into this question; but again let me point out that the matter is not as simple as it seems at first sight. We are aware of the fact that the country wants information.

§ Sir Richard Acland
Will the right hon. Gentleman realise the importance of winning the battle for the headlines all over the world against General Goering?

Director-General.—The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Perth, G.C.M.G., C.B.
Deputy Director-General.—Mr. A. P. Waterfield, C.B., (see also Division 11 below).
Division.	Director.	Deputy and Assistant Directors.
Group I
1.	News and Press Relations.	The Hon. Esmond Harmsworth	Mr. T. Clarke (Deputy Director).
			Mr. J. H. Brebner, M.B.E. (Assistant Director).
2.	Censorship	Vice-Admiral C. V. Usborne, C.B., C.M.G.	Rear-Admiral E. C. O. Thomson, C.B., D.S.O. (Deputy Director).
			Mr. C. J. Miles, M.B.E. (Assistant Director).
			Press Adviser (not yet appointed).
Group II.
3.	Home Publicity	Professor John Hilton	Mr. H. V. Rhodes.
4.	Foreign Publicity	*	Colonel Charles Bridge, C.M.G., D.S.O.
5.	Empire Publicity	Mr. H. V. Hodson	—
6.	U.S.A. Publicity	Sir Frederick Whyte, K.C.S.I., LL.D.	—
Group III.
7.	Film Publicity	Sir Joseph Ball, K.B.E.	Mr. G. E. G. Forbes.
8.	Radio and Communications.	*	Mr. H. G. G. Welch (see also Division 11 below).
9.	Literature and Art	(Temporarily included with Division 10 below).
10.	Other Production	Mr. Surrey Dane	Mr. W. G. V. Vaughan.
11.	Administration	Mr. A.P. Waterfield, C.B. (Also Deputy Director General).	Mr. H. G. G. Welch (Finance) (see also Division 8 above).
			Mr. B. L. Pearson, D.S.O. (Parliamentary and General).
			Mr. D. B. Woodburn (Establishments).
12&13	Co-ordination	Mr. Ivison S. Macadam, C.B.E., C.V.O.	—
		Mr. Raymond W. Needham, K.C. (also Legal Adviser).
14.	Intelligence	Mr. J. Beresford, C.B.E.	Mr. E. J. W. Jackson.
* Appointments to these posts will be made shortly.