Catalogue description Shipbuilding Advisory Committee: Minutes and Papers

The Shipbuilding Advisory Committee was formed in March 1946 to advise H.M. Government on all matters affecting the efficiency and stability of the shipbuilding industry.

The Shipbuilding Conference, the General Council of Shipping, employers and labour, Admiralty, Ministry of Transport, and Ministry of Labour were represented on the Committee. The secretariat was initially supplied jointly by the Admiralty and the Ministry of Transport (from October 1953 to October 1959 the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation). In November 1959 statutory functions concerning the construction and repair of ships were transferred from the Admiralty to the Ministry of Transport, and thereafter the Ministry alone supplied the secretariat. On the transfer of responsibility for shipping to the Board of Trade in 1965, the secretariat functions were performed by the board. Sir Graham Cunningham was the independent chairman until his resignation in March 1960, when he was followed by Sir James Dunnett (until 1963) and Sir Thomas Padmore, successive Permanent Secretaries to the Ministry of Transport.

The report of the Shipbuilding Inquiry Committee (Geddes Report), published in March 1966, considered that the Shipbuilding Advisory Committee was no longer suitable for the consultation required between employers and employees at the national level, and a Shipbuilding and Shiprepairing Council was set up in its place.