Britain: An official handbook > 1959

DEFENCE
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Organisation of Civil Defence
Civil defence planning in the United Kingdom is the responsibility of a number
of ministers each of whom undertakes the duties which, in war time, would
represent a natural extension of his peace-time functions. As the development of
effective civil defence services involves much detailed planning at local level, the
central Government has enlisted the assistance of local government authorities, of
industry and commerce and of public bodies of many kinds, including voluntary
organisations such as the Voluntary Aid Societies and the Women’s Voluntary
Services.
In addition to his direct responsibilities under the Civil Defence Act, 1948, the
Home Secretary is responsible for co-ordinating the defence plans of all the civil
agencies of the Government. The Secretary of State for Scotland is responsible for
civil defence matters in Scotland.
In England and Wales, the Elome Secretary supervises the civil defence activities
of the police and fire services, and he administers the Civil Defence Corps and the
Industrial Civil Defence Service as well as such matters as shelter policy and the
national air-raid and fall-out warning and monitoring systems. The Civil Defence
Department of the Home Office is under the charge of a Director-General of Civil
Defence, appointed by the Home Secretary. Other Government Departments have
direct responsibility for the civil defence applications of the services which they
control; for example, the Ministry of Health is responsible for the hospital and
first-aid services, and the Post Office for telecommunications.
In Scotland, the Scottish Home Department deals with questions corresponding
to those dealt with by the Home Office in England and Wales, and the Department
of Health for Scotland is responsible for such matters as the hospital and first-aid
services.
In Northern Ireland, the Civil Defence Act (Northern Ireland), 1950, places
responsibility for civil defence matters on the Ministry of Home Affairs, which
may arrange for other Departments to undertake some functions on its behalf.
The co-ordination of civil defence planning in Great Britain necessarily involves
much work by interdepartmental committees, on which all Departments with civil
defence responsibilities in Great Britain are represented, in order that plans and
programmes may be constantly reviewed to take account of changes in the scale
and nature of possible attacks.
England is divided into ten Civil Defence Regions in charge of Regional
Directors of Civil Defence, appointed by the Home Office, and there is also a
Director of Civil Defence for Wales. Their duties include liaison with the armed
forces and the planning of combined exercises. There is no corresponding regional
organisation in Scotland, where planning is carried out centrally, although the
country is divided into zones for operational purposes.
The Civil Defence Services
To provide the personnel required in war for civil defence tasks, the following
services, in which in times of peace only part-time service is required, are raised
in Great Britain1 by voluntary recruitment of civilians, both men and women:
1. The Civil Defence Corps, which was created by the Secretary of State’s
Warrant in May 1949, to assist local and other authorities to carry out
their civil defence functions.
1 In Northern Ireland there are three main services: the Civil Defence Corps, the
Auxiliary Fire and Rescue Service, and the Hospital Service Reserve.