| Admin History | In April 1933, when Britain was in the grip of recession, the Bank of England Court of Directors appointed a Special Committee to look into the Bank's expenditure. The Committee was required to examine all capital and current expenditure and consider 'any methods which may make for the more economical performance of any of the internal activities of the Bank'. The Committee - headed by the Hon Alexander Shaw (later Lord Craigmyle) - made various recommendations including salary cuts and reduced leave entitlements. Another recommendation was that the Bank should seek a permanent means to supervise its expenditure.
It was recommended that a new committee, consisting of the Executive Directors and one other, would meet periodically, consider reports from each Department, and report to the Committee of Treasury 'as to the economies that had been effected since the last meeting and as to any schemes for future economies that are being proposed'. In April 1934, a new Standing Committee of the Bank was formed, known as the Committee on Permanent Control of Expenditure (CPCE). Its first members were the Executive Directors William Henry Clegg, Edward Holland-Martin and Basil Gage Catterns, under the chairmanship of Shaw.
(Adapted from Hennessy, Elizabeth, 'A Domestic History of the Bank of England, 1930-1960' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), pp.200-202). |