LABOUR HISTORY
Series One: British Labour Party Research Department Memoranda and Information Papers, 1941-1979

Part 2: Memoranda, January 1962 - May 1970, with Information Papers, 1969-1970

Contents of Fiche

Research Department Memoranda, January 1962 - May 1970

Information Papers, 1960-1970

Extract from a Labour Party Research Department document

5. It is clear that we cannot do as much as we would like to do in the field of Parliamentary briefing with our present strength. It is also clear that much more could be done if our numbers were enlarged.

Local Government Briefing

Labour councillors, no less than Labour M.P.s, need a briefing service. With local government elections taking place every year, this service has to be continuously active.

At irregular intervals a Newsletter for Labour Groups appears dealing with current legislation affecting local authorities. A new and substantial Local Government Handbook has recently been completed. To achieve closer contact with Labour councillors, an annual Local Government Conference has been held for the past four years.

6. Propaganda and Publications

The Research Department has always played a big part in Party propaganda. The Department produces the Speaker’s Handbook. It prepares and writes pamphlets on domestic policy. It produces, fortnightly, ‘Talking Points’. It is associated with ‘This Week’ and during an election it produces the daily Campaign Notes. Further, it produces much of the information which both the Press Department and, to a lesser extent, the Television and Radio Unit, need for their propaganda activities.

It is inevitable that the Research Department should continue to play an important part in propaganda work – for the good reason that both the facts and the policy about the facts are largely centered in it. In the future the Department needs to do more, not less, propaganda.

7. Policy

It is assumed that at least in the immediate future, the Research Department will not be engaged in the preparation of a large series of policy statements such as we were between 1955 and 1959.

Nevertheless, many policy issues are already with us and others will arise in the months and years ahead. The Department services as its main function the National Executive Committee’s Home Policy Committee, but there is also the Local Government Sub-Committee. Each of these committees has sub-committees - some temporary like the National Health Service Sub-Committee which with the publication of ‘Members One of Another’ has now completed its work, others, like the Finance & Economic Policy Sub-Committee, have a more or less permanent existence.

The more committee and sub-committees there are the tighter the resources of the Department are strained. Nevertheless, if past experience is any guide, we shall do well if we manage over the years to keep the number of sub-committees and sub-sub-committees below six.

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