:IOI§“I95f it: IS , llj , sill . WM lloZO-'Qltebo . ‘SCS.SHS,. /£><+ SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY FIFTH SERIES VOLUME 5 The Scottish Office The Scottish Office Depression and Reconstruction 1919-1959 edited by Ian Levitt ★ ★ EDINBURGH printed for the Scottish History Society by PILLANS & WILSON LTD., EDINBURGH 1992 Scottish History Society 1992 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 906245 14 1 Printed in Great Britain CONTENTS Acknowledgements ix INTRODUCTION 1 The nature of government 6 Employment and industrial development 25 Housing and urban development 40 Health and welfare 55 Conclusion 65 CHAPTER ONE: THE NATURE OF GOVERNMENT 74 The Scottish Secretary and creating a Board of Health, 1918-19 74 Ministerial salaries and the status of the Scottish Secretary, 1921 75 The Scottish Office: appointing a third Assistant Secretary, 1921-2 77 Amending the Board of Health, 1922-3 80 Raising the status of the Scottish Secretary, 1923-6 83 Creating a Department of Health, 1924-8 84 A scheme of administrative devolution for the Scottish Departments, 1932 86 Scottish sentiment, the Special Areas Commissioner and economic development, 1934 89 Neville Chamberlain and a Scottish Development Board, 1935 91 Appointing a Committee of Enquiry into Scottish administration, 1935 94 A new office for the Secretary of State for Scotland, 1936 95 Concentrating Scottish administration, 1938 98 The machinery of government in Scodand, 1943 100 Scottish ministerial arrangements, 1947 104 Labour and a fact-finding enquiry into Scottish devolution, 1947 106 The socialised industries and Scottish demands for devolution, 1947 112 Government organisation in Scotland, 1948 118 A Scottish economics minister and the status of British departmental officers in Scodand, 1948 120 Labour and the demand for an enquiry into Scottish affairs, 1949 122 Labour and an enquiry into Anglo-Scottish financial relationships, 1950 125 The organisation of electricity supply in Scotland, 1952 130 vi Administrative decentralisation and the Royal Commission on Scottish Affairs, 1952 132 The Treasury, the Scottish Office and the status of British departmental officers, 1953 134 The status of Scottish representatives of UK departments, 1954 138 The practicability of creating a Development Department, 1959 141 CHAPTER TWO: INDUSTRY AND EMPLOYMENT 146 The state of Scottish trade, 1921 146 Skilled worker unemployment in Glasgow, 1923 149 Unemployment, relief work and the skilled worker, Glasgow, 1923 151 Government assistance for the Clyde shipbuilding industry, 1924-5 156 The Admiralty and West Lothian shale oil mines, 1925 158 Training centres for the Scottish unemployed, 1927 162 Surplus workers and industrial transference, 1928 163 The Cabinet and the Special Areas, 1935 165 The rearmament programme and economic development in the Special Areas, 1936 167 The Scottish Office and alterations in the Special Areas schedule, 1937 169 The Scottish Office and the future of the Special Areas, 1938 173 Employment prospects in the Scottish Development Area, 1946-7 177 Building labour, unemployment and the Scottish Development Area, 1947 183 Scodand and the Distribution of Industry Panel, 1948 184 Scotland, the Ford Motor Company and the distribution of industry, 1948 186 The adequacy of factory accommodation in Scodand, 1949 188 Advance factories and the development of East Kilbride, 1949-50 192 The Caimcross Report and Government policy, 1952-3 197 The Scottish Secretary and rising unemployment, 1953 200 British European Airways, Renfrew Airport and the Scottish aircraft industry, 1954 202 The Scottish steel industry and the fourth strip mill, 1954-6 205 The Scottish factory building programme, 1954-5 211 Public expenditure and new Government factories, 1957 213 The Scottish Secretary and the North Ayrshire Development Area, 1957 214 The shale oil mines, the Home Department and provision for factory building, 1958 219 The Cabinet, shale oil and the reluctance of industry to move to Scotland, 1958 222 The fourth strip mill and broadening Scotland’s economic base, 1957-8 223 Scottish Aviation and aircraft production in Scotland, 1958 230 Rising unemployment and inducements for Scottish industry, 1958 235 Investment allowances and Scotland’s employment needs, 1959 240 CHAPTER THREE: HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT 244 Housing the working classes after the war, 1918 244 Housing liabilities and the Scottish programme, 1920 245 The Cabinet and Scottish housing policy, 1921 248 Private enterprise, rent restriction and housing policy, 1922 249 Lord Novar and a differential housing subsidy for Scodand, 1923 250 The Scottish housing shortage, 1924 253 Housing in Scodand: the need for special effort, 1925 254 The housing subsidy and the special position of Scotland, 1926 258 Reducing housing subsidies: Scotland’s options, 1928 259 Slum clearance, affordable rents and the housing grant, 1929 261 Working-class wages, housing subsidies and national expenditure, 1931 263 The Scottish housing subsidy, 1932 265 Scottish housing and state assistance, 1934 268 Scodand’s special housing circumstances, 1934 270 New subsidies for Scodand’s housing, 1938 273 The post-war Scottish housing programme, 1944 278 Rising costs and the housing subsidy, 1946 281 New Towns for Scotland, 1946 283 New Towns for Renfrewshire and Fife, 1946 285 New Towns for mining areas, 1946 288 Affordable rents, housing need and subsidies, 1947 290 The dollar crisis and the Scottish housing programme, 1947 292 A New Town for Renfrewshire, 1948 293 The Scottish housing programme, 1948 296 Tuberculosis and the Scottish housing programme, 1948 298 Devaluation and the Scottish housing programme, 1949 301 Scottish rents and the new housing subsidy, 1952 303 Scodand’s requirement for more assistance in housing, 1952 305 Scottish housing, rent and repain, 1953 307 Prospects for Scottish New Towns, 1953 310 The Cabinet and Cumbernauld New Town, 1955 312 Housing subsidies and Glasgow’s overspill problem, 1956 316 Controlling the Scottish housing programme, 1956 319 Scottish housing and public expenditure, 1957 322 The control of Scottish housing, 1958 325 CHAPTER FOUR: HEALTH AND WELFARE 329 A Hospital Commission for Scodand, 1923 329 Appointing a committee of inquiry into Scottish hospital services, 1924 333 Scottish circumstances and local government reform, 1925 336 Hospital accommodation under maternity and child welfare schemes, 1926 338 The voluntary hospital and Scottish health policy, 1926 344 Reforming local government, 1928 349 Voluntary hospitals, the Poor Law and local authority health provision, 1929 350 Improving maternity services in Scodand, 1936 352 The war and the emergency hospital service, 1939 355 A scheme for a comprehensive Health Service, 1943 357 A comprehensive Health Service and the general practitioner, 1943 363 The National Health Service in Scodand, 1945 365 The National Health Service in Scodand, 1946 367 The Scottish hospital programme, 1948 368 The National Health Service and public opinion, 1948 372 National Health Service expenditure, 1949 375 Investment in the Scottish health services, 1949 377 Charges, priorities and the Health Service, 1950 378 Tuberculosis in Scotland and Swiss sanatoria treatment, 1950-1 382 Tuberculosis and the Glasgow mass radiography campaign, 1955 386 Public expenditure and the Health Service, 1956 388 Public expenditure and the Scottish hospital programme, 1958 394 INDEX 396 ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would not have been possible without the active help and co-op- eration of many people. I would like to give special thanks to the staff of the Public Record Office, the Scottish Record Office, Cambridge University Library, the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh University Library, Edinburgh Public Library and the University of Central Lancashire Library. I am also indebted to the Scottish Office Industry Department for permission to use currently closed files. In selecting material to be included, and in drafting an associated introduction, I was fortunate to be able to interview a number of people closely associated with the Scottish Office’s work during the period under study. I remain grateful to these individuals for the clarification of the contemporary issues as they were then seen, and on the Scottish Office’s administrative structure. I am additionally grateful to those who subsequently provided written comments on the selected material and on the introduction. Special thanks, however, must be given to Professor Roy Campbell for his early encouragement and then critical comment. Professor Michael Lynch and Dr Julian Goodare, who remained extremely patient throughout the work’s final period, Stanley Henig, Dr Richard Hoyle, Dr Rex Pope and Dr Margaret Clark. Although I gave an understanding to those I interviewed that what they said would remain confidential, I feel I must depart from that undertaking in one case. Professor Tom Bums died shortly after we spoke, but, without his encouragement nearly twenty years ago, I would never have embarked upon a research career. Preston INTRODUCTION In November 1909 Harold Connacher, a senior clerk based at the Scottish Office in London, travelled north to open a branch office in Edinburgh’s Parliament Square, aided by a number ofjunior officials. Mr Connacher’s move was heralded as a small but significant step in the devolution of Government authority.1 Established in 1885, largely from the Home Office, the Scottish Office was essentially a Whitehall