HC Deb 02 August 1962 vol 664 cc781-2
25. Mr. Dalyell

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about the reorganisation of his Department.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

The organisation of the Treasury has been reviewed in pursuance of the recommendation in paragraph 59 of the Report on the Control of Public Expenditure (Cmnd. 1432) by the Plowden Committee, which was appointed following observations made in a report by the Select Committee on Estimates. The purpose of the review was to consider what changes were called for to enable the Department effectively to discharge its heavy load of responsibility under modern conditions.

I am circulating a statement in the OFFICIAL REPORT setting out the main features of the new organisation.

Mr. Dalyell

Can the right hon. Gentleman assure the House that these new men in the Treasury, who may be the catalysts of economic action in our society, will turn their first attention to the financing of public works in areas of persistent unemployment, particularly in Bathgate, where there are 1,606 unemployed and 1,707 temporarily unemployed? This is one of the so-called growth points of the former Secretary of State for Scotland.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

I note the hon. Gentleman's local point, but my Answer, of course, dealt with the far broader question of the reorganisation of the Department to take effective care of this and all other problems within its sphere.

The statement is as follows: The Treasury has a dual function: it is responsible for the co-ordination of economic policy and the control of public expenditure: it is also responsible for the efficient management of the Civil Service and is concerned with the management of other parts of the public services. It has now been decided that each of these two functions should be supervised by a Joint Permanent Secretary who has no other major responsibilities. Below Permanent Secretary level the Department will be organised on a more functional basis than hitherto. The financial and economic side will be divided into three groups dealing respectively with:
  1. (i) financial and monetary policy;
  2. (ii) public expenditure and resources; and
  3. (iii) co-ordination of economic policy.
 The first of these groups, under a Second Secretary (Finance), will comprise divisions dealing with oversea finance, home finance, aid to territories overseas and the interdepartmental co-ordination of external economic policy. The second group, under a Second Secretary (Resources and Expenditure), will include divisions dealing with public income and outlay in general and, under broad functional headings, the main items of public expenditure, e.g. on defence, social services, agriculture, transport, etc. The third group will be concerned with the balance of the national economy as a whole, dealing with short-term economic trends, long-term reviews of resources, problems of economic growth and incomes policy. It will comprise divisions in which economists from the Economic Section, under the professional supervision of the Economic Adviser, will work together with administrators in an integrated staff. As a central part of the organisation it will provide services for the other two main groups, and it will work closely under the direction of the Joint Permanent Secretary in charge of the financial and economic work of the Treasury. The management side of the Treasury will also be organised on a functional basis. Under its Joint Permanent Secretary there will be two Third Secretaries dealing, respectively, with:
  1. (i) management services;
  2. (ii) pay and conditions of service.
 The first of these Third Secretaries will take charge of a new division responsible for developing management services on the lines recommended in the Plowden Report. He will supervise the Organisation and Methods work which has for some years been carried out by the Treasury. He will also have charge of a series of specialised divisions dealing with recruitment, training, manning and grading in the Civil Service. The other Third Secretary will supervise a number of divisions dealing with the pay and conditions of the various classes of civil servants. Within the same group there will be divisions handling questions relating to the pay of staffs in other parts of the public service. In this way the Treasury's responsibilities for pay questions throughout the public service will be concentrated in a number of specialised and linked divisions. The new organisation is now being planned in detail and will be brought into operation before the end of this year.