Catalogue description Ministry of Production: Ministers' and Officials' Papers

This series contains papers from the private office of the Rt. Hon Oliver Lyttelton, MP (later 1st Viscount Chandos), Minister of Production in 1942-1945 together with larger collections of papers from the offices of Sir Walter Layton (later 1st Baron Layton of Danehill) and Sir Robert Sinclair (later 1st Baron Sinclair of Cleeve) and other senior officials of the Ministry.

Layton was Director-General of Programmes at the Ministry of Supply from 1940-1942, before moving to the new posts of Permanent Secretary and Chief Advisor on Programmes and Planning in the office of the Minister of Production which was established in February 1942 and subsequently became Ministry of Production in July 1942. Many of the functions of the Ministry of Supply were transferred to the Ministry of Production, so that Layton's papers for his time at both Ministries have been included in this series. He left the Ministry of Production in 1943 having directed the Joint War Planning Group, an inner body of the Joint War Production Staff, for over a year.

Thus in June 1943 a new Permanent Secretary was appointed and Sir Robert Sinclair became Chief Executive of the Ministry of Production. He also represented the Minister on the Combined Production and Resources Board. His previous functions included the post of Director-General of Army Requirements at the Ministry of Supply from October 1939 to July 1942 and the headship of the British Supply Mission. This series includes his papers from 1942 to 1945.