The Organisation of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation
| Author | F. C. Hampden |
| Published date | 01 March 1955 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1955.tb01635.x |
| Date | 01 March 1955 |
The Organisation
of
the
Ministrg?
r/r
of'
Transport
and
Civil
Aviation
By
F.
C.
HAMPDEN
This descriptioii
of
the iiierger in October,
1953,
of
the Ministries
of
Transport and Civil Aviation is reproduced
from
rhe
"
0
&
M Bulletin
"
(Vol.
IX
No.
5,
October,
1954)
with the permission
of
the Controller
of
H.M.
Stationery Office.
Mr.
Hampden is rhe Assistant Secretary
in
charge
of
the Organisation and Methods, Training and Office Services
Division, Ministry
of
Transport and Civil Aviation.
N
1st October, 1953, the long-heralded merger of the Ministry of Transport
0
and the Ministry of Civil Aviation became an accomplished fact.
As
stated in Parliament during the procedural preliminaries, this was not expected
to produce large economies for the reason that the functions of the two
separate Ministries remained unaltered and, apart from some possible con-
centration
of
common services, work was bound to continue substantially
as before. The purpose of this article is to outline the organisation in
September, 1954, which is shown in the chart opposite, to compare the
organisation with the pre-merger one, and to indicate the more immediate
administrative problems created by the amalgamation and how
some
of
them have been handled.
Organisation
in
September,
1954
The Ministry embraces four distinct spheres of work, each controlled
by a Deputy Secretary assisted by an average of three Under Secretaries
or professional officers of equivalent rank. Outside these spheres there are
three distinct groups of divisions handling common services work, each
group being
in
the charge of an Under Secretary responsible direct to the
Permanent Secretary.
The Deputy Secretary spheres remain virtually unchanged from the
pre-merger pattern. (Their organisation is, however, by no means static.
Within each sphere, changes are made from time to time to meet the changing
needs
of
the work, five having already been made in the year which has
passed since the merger, but as these did not arisc from the merger they
are not mentioned in detail in order not to confuse the picture.) The following
is
a
brief synopsis
of
the work of the four spheres
:
Inland
Transport.
Railways
;
tramways
;
inland waterways
;
roads,
bridges and ferries, and vehicles and traffic thereon.
Shipping.
National and international shipping policy
;
harbours,
docks and piers
;
ships and their personnel
;
the safety of passengers
and crews
;
navigation (including pilotage, lighthouses and other
aids to safety in navigation)
;
wreck and salvage
;
the investigation
of
casualties to ships and their personnel
;
coastguard
;
boiler
explosions at sea or on land.
The organisation, implementation and encouragement
of measures for its development; the promotion of safety and
efficiency in the use of civil aircraft
;
research into matters relating
95
Civil Aviation.
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