CAB129-53 — Page 238

DIEU

sense

DROIT

CONFIDENTIAL-PROOF

Page 238

IRON AND STEEL

INDUSTRY

Presented by the Minister of Supply to Parliament by Command of Her Majesty

1952

LONDON

65

HER

MAJESTY'S STATIONERY

Cmd. Page 238 of 253

OFFICE

NET

Page 238

253

Page 23 RON 5AND STEEL INDIGETRZY of 253

RON5AND

I. INTRODUCTORY

1. In the King's Speech at the opening of the present Parliament, it was announced that legislation would be introduced to provide for the reorganisa- tion of the iron and steel industry under free enterprise with an adequate measure of public supervision. A Bill to give effect to this policy will be presented to the House of Commons early in the next Session. Meanwhile the Government consider it desirable to make a statement of their proposals.

2. In framing their proposals the Government have had regard to earlier arrangements for the supervision of the industry, first by the Import Duties Advisory Committee from 1932 to 1939, then by the Iron and Steel Control during the war and later by the Iron and Steel Board set up in 1946.

3. The Government have discussed their proposals in outline with the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain, the Iron and Steel Consumers' Coun- cil, the British Iron and Steel Federation, the Trades Union Congress, the Joint Iron Council and the National Council of Associated Iron Ore Produ- cers. These organizations were not asked to express final opinions and the Trades Union Congress, for their part, stated that they wished to reserve their position. The Government have also had discussions with a number of trade associations on matters affecting their particular sectors of the industry.

4. The Government's proposals, which are set out in the succeeding paragraphs, fall into two parts-relating respectively to the problem of public supervision and that of the transfer of ownership.

254

Iron and Steel Board

II. PUBLIC SUPERVISION

5. In order to provide public supervision of the iron and steel industry, it is proposed to set up an Iron and Steel Board with statutory duties and powers.

6. The Board, which will be appointed by the Minister of Supply, will be composed of not more than 12 members. Qualifications for membership will include experience in the iron and steel industry, in the engineering and other industries using iron and steel, and in trade unions. There will be an independent chairman and some additional independent members.

7. Members of the Board will be appointed for a maximum term of 5 years and will be eligible for re-appointment.

Scope of the Board

8. It is intended that all the main processes which make up the iron and steel industry, set out in the Appendix, shall come within the purview of the new Board, thus bringing the whole industry again under the super- vision of a single authority and ending the present distinction between nationalised and non-nationalised sectors. The Board will not be concerned with the extensive engineering and other extraneous activities which, though not part of the iron and steel industry, were brought under the control of the Iron and Steel Corporation because they happened to form part of the activities of the companies which were nationalised.