Iron and Steel Board (ISB)

This collection contains files of: Sir Robert Shone, executive member 1955-1962; the ISB secretariat international matters section, 1953-1963; J. Grieve-Smith, head of the economics division, 1962-1963; W Taplin and Dr R. Robson, successive chief economists/senior economic advisors, 1955-1958; H. McArthur, head of finance/prices working under the director of finance, 1955-1957; R.W. Foad, director of finance, 1954-1959.

The Iron and Steel Act, 1953, abolished the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain and created an Iron and Steel Holding and Realisation Agency to take over the shares of the nationalised companies and to re-sell them to private owners. The Act also set up fresh machinery for public supervision, exercised by a new Iron and Steel Board. The principle of this form of supervision was that private enterprise should be given reasonable scope to operate, but that certain matters of major policy should come within the purview of a public body of independent status. The Board's duty was to exercise general supervision over the iron and steel industry, and it was given powers to fix maximum home trade prices for most iron and steel products. Reference: 'The British Iron and Steel Federation' (The British Iron and Steel Federation, September 1963).

The largest part of the deposits made in the Centre by British Steel plc is formed by the records of the British Iron and Steel Federation (BISF) and its predecessor, the National Federation of Iron and Steel Manufacturers. The BISF archive includes records relating to the ISB. The deposits also include records of a number of regional and sectional iron and steel employers' organisations associated with the BISF, its successor the British Independent Steel Producers' Association and the nationalised British Steel Corporation.

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