Catalogue description Board of Trade and Treasury: National Production Advisory Council on Industry: Minutes and papers

In February 1942 the Minister of Production set up a committee under Sir Walter Citrine to examine the Production Executive's Regional Boards and their working. In the same year, on the recommendations of this committee, a National Production Advisory Council was established under the chairmanship of the minister of Production, to advise him on production matters and to co-ordinate the regional organisation.

The constitution of the recommended Council would be:-

(a) Eleven members, one from each of the Regional Boards appointed by the Minister of Production from the Vice-chairman of the boards;

(b) Three representatives of the British Employers Confederation, three representatives of the Federation of British Industries and six representatives of the Trades Union Congress appointed by the Minister from nominations submitted by these bodies.

The Council should meet monthly but should consider setting up an Emergency Committee to deal with urgent matters.

In 1945 the council was reconstituted as the National Production Advisory Council on Industry (NPACI), chaired by the chancellor of the Exchequer, to advise ministers in general on production and industrial conditions and to continue as the central counterpart of the Regional Boards for Industry. Industry included agriculture, mining and transport. The secretariat of the post-war NPACI also served as the Headquarters Section of the Regional Boards for Industry.

There were nine members representing employers, four appointed by the Federation of British Industries, three by the British Employers' Confederation, one by the National Union of Manufacturers and one by the Association of British Chambers of Commerce; and nine members representing work people appointed by the Trades Union Congress. The eleven chairmen of the Regional Boards were also members, and there were two members from the nationalised industries, one representing transport, the other the fuel and power industries. Two members of the Northern Ireland Production Council attended as observers.

The Council met at approximately quarterly intervals and received:

• a review of the economic situation by the chairman
• a regional report summarising the reports of the Regional Board chairmen on the situation in the regions (this provided an opportunity for bringing to the notice of the Council and ministers new trends, difficult problems and other matters on which a separate paper was not considered necessary)
• papers on particular subjects submitted by ministers or members wishing to have problems discussed at this level

An 'Interim Committee' was appointed by the Council. It consisted of four members from each side of industry and two Regional Board chairmen and was consulted on urgent matters and on questions which could not conveniently be discussed by the whole Council. The minister directly concerned with the subject to be discussed took the chair.

Liaison was maintained with other national councils, including the National Joint Advisory Council (NJAC) and the Engineering Advisory Council, and arrangements existed for the exchange of papers.

The administrative services for the Council were provided by the Board of Trade until September 1947, when Sir Stafford Cripps became minister for Economic Affairs and assumed responsibility for the Council, the boards and their secretariat. In November of the same year, he became chancellor of the Exchequer and all these functions went with him to the Treasury; the administration, however, returned to the Board of Trade in 1952. The council was abolished by the secretary of state for Economic Affairs in December 1965, its final meeting taking place in the following month.