Records of the Offices of Non-Departmental Ministers attached to the War Cabinet...

Division within CAB

1930-1979

Files of the military secretariat of the Cabinet Office for the period that Churchill and Attlee successively combined the offices of Prime Minister and Minister of Defence are in CAB 120.

Records relating to the extra-departmental duties of the holders of the Office of Lord President of the Council, from 1941, are in CAB 123 and CAB 124. Areas covered include the home front during the Second World War; reconstruction; economic co-ordination and economic planning; broadcasting and government information co-ordination; civil science including oversight of the research councils and the development of atomic energy; charitable trusts; and education. Records of the Tube Alloys Consultative Committee and Combined Policy Committee which oversaw the Second World War atomic development programme and reported to the Lord President are in CAB 126.

The close connection of holders of the Office of Lord President of the Council and those of the offices of Minister of Reconstruction, 1943-1945, and Minister for Science, 1959-1964 is reflected by the inclusion of the records of both offices in CAB 124.

Records of the offices of Judith Hart as Paymaster General and of Peter Shore as Minister Without Portfolio 1967 to 1970 are in CAB 151.

Records of the Social Services Co-ordinating Staff (SSCS) created to advise Richard Crossman as the first Secretary of State for Social Services in 1968 are in CAB 152.

Records of the office of Geoffrey Rippon as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1970-1974 are in CAB 170.

Records of the office of Harold Lever as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1974-1979 are in CAB 197

For the records of the Lord President's Committees and Sub-committee, see: CAB 71 CAB 132

Public Record(s)

English

• Cabinet Office, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1970-1970
• Minister without Portfolio's Office, 1968-1970
• Office of the Lord President of the Council, 1473-1959
• Office of the Minister for Science, 1959-1964
• Office of the Minister of Reconstruction, 1943-1945
• Paymaster General's Office, 1835-1835

series

Topics

Government finances

Conflict

Nuclear energy

Research

Crown lands and estates

Armed Forces (General Administration)

Operations, battles and campaigns

Most prime ministers since 1916 have used the device of appointing non-departmental ministers, to address the short- or medium-term governmental or political imperatives which arise from time to time. Sinecure offices which have been used in this way include the Lord President of the Council, the Lord Privy Seal, the Chancelor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Paymaster General and the Minister Without Portfolio.

The civil service staffs of non-departmental ministers are usually drawn from the Cabinet Office.