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In the early days of the Ministry, Intelligence reports, were the duty of the Press and Committee Officers and reports were compiled from material sent by L.I.Cs. In order that a report on public morale after an air raid could be furnished for Headquarters use, the Press Officer made local Regions who were prepared to assist. After a sharp raid on Leicester on the night of Nov. 19th 1940, the Assistant Press Officer visited the city and prepared a report on conditions during and after the raid, for Home Intelligence.

In October, 1941, a full time Intelligence Officer was appointed for the Regional Office. It was her duty to visit L.I. Committees and to make suitable contacts all over the Region to ensure that the material received was a fair cross section of public opinion.

Committees needed training to report impersonally what was the public feeling in their area about various subjects; there was a tendency for individual members to air personal grievances or opinion and to put them forward to Nottingham as the opinion of many. Contacts in the Region were often made through social service bodies, through voluntary organisations, through employer's associations, trade unions, etc. In some cases it was possible for the Intelligence Officer to meet valuable assistants through escorting Ministry speakers to their meetings in factories at Rotary Clubs, Women's Institutes, etc.

The Intelligence Officer worked closely with other Government Departments in the Region and furnished them with extracts from the weekly report likely to be of interest. In return these Departments supplied information about Government restrictions which were confusing or troubling the public. Such information was incorporated in a weekly bulletin called Questions and Answers which was distributed through Local Information Committees, C.A.B. etc. (Later this document was supplied from H.Q. and 350 copies were distributed in the Region each week). Requests for extra copies of these leaflets came frequently from factory Welfare Officers, C.A.B. Libraries, etc.

In addition to the normal weekly report prepared for H.Q., special 151 - 2 -reports were prepared from time to time on specific subjects at the request of other Government Departments, the Regional Commissioner, the R.A.C. etc. Rumours were reported to the Publicity Security Officer at R.H.Q. who valued the Service and, on occasions, asked for permission to make further inquiries.

In September, 1944, the Regional Commissioner was provided, at his request, with a special report on public hostility towards the granting of undue privileges to Italian Prisoners of War and in November of that year the Regional Advisory Committee was provided with a report on public reaction to the New Education Bill. Following this latter report, it was possible to arrange for Mr. A.H. Dunn, H.M.I., to address the Committee on the workings of the new Act and thus enable members to correct misapprehension amongst the public.

The work of the Department grew, until in December, 1944, in addition to the Regular report from Local Information Committees, there were 300 contacts who forwarded material for the Regional Intelligence Report. These observers sent in their reports on a monthly rota system so that each week about eighty reports from men and women of all walks of life from every district of the Region sent in a summary of public opinion as they met with it. From this material and from reports furnished by the Regional Police Officer, Postal Censorship and Local Information Committees, a balanced view of Regional opinion on the war effort, restrictions, shortages, rumours, etc. was formulated.

The work of Wartime Social Survey, created some comment in the Region, particularly in the days of its inception. Chairmen of Local Information Committees were sent a confidential letter explaining the work of the organisation. Some questioning of its functions was received; Committees felt that the introduction of paid investigators into the area was unnecessary, that the Committees’ position was being usurped. It was, however, explained that the work of one was supplementary to the work of the other.