Abstract
SEVERAL distinct trends in public affairs have directed fresh attention in recent months to the adequacy or otherwise of the existing instruments of government in meeting the post-war needs of Britain. The reorganisation of the defence ministries under a co-ordinating Minister of Defence and the tendency to enlarge the responsibilities of the Lord President of the Council for the oversight and co-ordination of scientific effort, making him in effect the Minister for Research and Intelligence suggested by the Haldane Committee of many years ago, have raised the question of the efficiency at the highest level of administrative organisation. The formation of the Defence Research Policy Committee and the Advisory Council on Scientific Policy, with their various sub-committees, is only one special aspect of the problem of relating knowledge to power at the very seat of authority. Sir Stafford Cripps' appointment as Minister for Economic Affairs was another indication of re-organisation in accordance with the recommendations of the Haldane Committee. The Government's programme of nationalization and the creation of the National Coal Board and similar national boards have also brought into question both the capacity of the Civil Service itself and the existing structure of government to deal competently and efficiently with the issues involved, while proposals for the re-organisation of local government and regionalism have likewise stimulated thought on these matters.
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Machinery of Government. Nature 161, 495–497 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/161495a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/161495a0