Treasury: Public Enterprises Division: Registered Files (2PE Series)

This series contains registered files created by the Public Enterprises Division of the Treasury. Includes files on a variety of subjects, such as the:

• nationalised industries, including the nationalisation/denationalisation of iron and steel companies
• the Channel Tunnel
• broadcasting
• the aviation industry
• the power industries (including Nuclear Power Programmes)
• the Beeching Plan for the railways

The files are being transferred in more than one batch. Arrangement is by former file reference.

Some pre-1962 papers are included on some of the 2PE files, as a result of re-registration of records from the prefixes NR, used by the National Resources Division, and AT, used by the Agriculture and Towns and Trade divisions.

Later files are in T 370

From 1998 Treasury

Public Enterprises (PE) was set up as part of the major Treasury reorganisation in November 1962. It took over responsibilities undertaken by the former National Resources (NR1) Division (apart from incomes policy), and responsibility for Airways, Airports, Civil Aviation (from the Agriculture, Towns and Trade (AT) Division), the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Independent Television Authority, HM Stationery Office, the Central Office for Information (from the Government and Allied Services (GS) Division and other small public enterprises). PE also took responsibility for wages questions in the nationalised industries, given the intimate connection between wages, profitability and prices in these industries.

PE worked closely with AT division on transport questions. However in 1967 PE took full responsibility for transport, ie roads, rural buses, shipping, ports and shipbuilding from AT.

PE lost its responsibility for historical records on national resources to the Establishment Officers Branch (EOB) in 1968.

Responsibility for atomic energy passed from AT to PE in April 1972. This included Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) Vote (but not the Defence Budget Expenditure: this responsibility remained within the Defence Materiel (DM) Division) and AEA commercial accounts for British Nuclear Fuels and the Radio-Chemical Co Ltd.

Broadcasting and Road programmes and Road Transport were transferred to the newly created Home, Transport and Education (HE) Division in 1975.

Two further subjects, HM Stationery Office and the Central Office of Information were transferred to Social Services (SS) Division in 1978. The primary task of the Public Enterprises Division was the management of the Treasury end of the Government's responsibility towards nationalised industries. These industries were in four groups: