54. Publicity given to a scheme which one C.D.O. was starting to help people find jobs was noted with surprise by the Commissioner of Labour. This led to discussions between the officer running the Labour Department's Local Employment Service and the C.D.O.s. The L.E.S. has since extended its contacts with commercial employers, the field in which the C.D.O.s were chiefly interested, and we have sought no general publicity for the modest schemes operated by two C.D.O.s who put notices of vacancies in their shop windows.
55. In the short time we have been operating our impact on depart- ments has been primarily at the local level. Among junior officers I am afraid we sometimes appear as interlopers but I believe more senior officers are beginning to see that C.D.O.s can often help them. Our impact on policy formation will probably have to come largely through membership of committees on which I sit or have representation. This in turn will require a much more effective mechanism than we have now for distilling C.D.O.s' ideas and experiences into briefs for the officers attending such meetings. So far as our inter-departmental relations are concerned I would say that things have so far gone rather better than might have been expected, and that the position and status of the C.D.O.s within the overall Government organization will be whatever they can show they deserve.
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