DIRECTORATE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS
ADMINISTRATION
By: R J P Hayes
page 1 of 5


Functions of the Directorate

Although other papers and presentations have dealt with various aspects of the work of the Directorate, it is thought that it would be helpful if the functions of the Directorate were summarised in this paper.

The Directorate is required -

a. to advise its customer services, namely the Police, Fire, Civil Defence and Prison services in England and Wales, and other divisions in the Home Office about radio, line, public address, closed circuit television and other telecommunications matters;

b. to maintain liaison with the Scottish Home and Health Department and the appropriate authorities of Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man on matters of common interest; and with Police Forces and Fire Brigades not in the Home Office radio scheme;

c. to represent the Home Office on various bodies, including various Cabinet and interdepartmental committees, concerned with telecommunications;

d. to plan and assign frequencies in the bands allocated to the Home Office and to control call-signs and operating procedures;

e. to collaborate with the Post Office Corporation on design and provision of specialised line facilities;

f. to design and engineer new radio schemes;

g. to arrange for the development, production, procurement, testing, storage, installation, maintenance and repair of communications equipment for its Customer Services;

h. to maintain radiac instruments in a serviceable condition and to ensure that they are correctly calibrated;

j. to provide a resource of operational equipment for emergency use and to set up special communications systems when required;

k. to assess and recover rental charges for equipment provided to its Customer Services;

l. to cost and apportion installation and maintenance charges for work carried out for its Customer Services and to recover these charges.

Organisation of Directorate

To carry out these functions, the Directorate has at the present time 920 staff, of whom 522 are professional engineers and technical staff, 135 are administration typing and stores staff and 263 are industrial support staff. The staff are employed throughout England and Wales:- at Headquarters in Central London; at the Central Communications Establishment at Harrow; at Area Headquarters; at 10 Wireless Depots and their outstations; and at specialised Maintenance Units at Andover, Wiltshire and Bishops Cleeve Gloucestershire.

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