HC Deb 05 April 1939 vol 345 cc2878-81

Considered in Committee under Standing Order No. 69.

[Sir Dennis Herbert in the Chair.]

Motion made, and Question proposed, That, for the purposes of any Act of the present Session to make further provision for civil defence it is expedient to authorise—

  1. (a) the payment out of moneys provided toy Parliament of—
    1. (i) the new grants specified in Table I below in respect of the expenses there specified, being expenses incurred either before or after the passing of the said Act,
    2. (ii) the increases in existing grants specified in Table II below,
    3. (iii) the expenses of Government Departments specified in Table III below, whether incurred before or after the passing of the said Act,
    4. (iv) the compensation specified in Table IV below;
  2. (b)the extension of the meaning of the expression "defence services" in Section one of the Defence Loans Act, 1937;
  3. (c)the payment into the Exchequer of any sums received under the said Act of the present Session by any Government Department or the Electricity Commissioners.

TABLE I.
New Grants.
Persons to whom grant made. Expenses to which grant made. Maximum rate of grant.
Owners or occupiers of factory premises, mines (including quarries) and commercial buildings; employers generally (including public utility undertakers). Reasonable capital expenses, in providing or securing provision of air-raid shelter— The standard rate of income tax for the year 1939–40.
(a)for persons living or working in or about the premises, mine or commercial building;
(b)for employs;
(c)in the case of dock or harbour undertakers, for employs and other persons likely to be found in the dock or harbour area.
Public utility undertakers (except railway and electricity undertakers). Approved expenses on measures designed to secure the due functioning of the undertaking in the event of hostile attack. Fifty per cent. or in the case of measures by dock or harbour undertakers for providing services not required from the undertaking apart from hostile attack or danger thereof, eighty-five per cent.
Railway undertakers. Approved expenses on measures as respects— One hundred per cent.
(a) the execution of works or the provision of accommodation, plant, materials or equipment (including stocks of stores) with a view to providing or maintaining essential railway services in the event of hostile attack; and
(b) the provision for persons employed by them on duties in connection with essential railway services of special protection or equipment to enable those services to be maintained during air raids.
The Central Electricity Board. (1) Approved expenses on measures designed to secure the due functioning of their undertaking in the event of hostile attack. Fifty per cent.
(2) Payments to other electricity undertakers of those undertakers' approved expenses in taking measures for securing the due functioning of their respective undertakings in the event of hostile attack.
(3) Approved expenses in acquiring, storing, insuring and maintaining stocks of plant and equipment (including wires and cables) with a view to those stocks being made available for temporary use by the Board or other electricity undertakers in the event of damage consequent upon hostile attack; in making arrangements for the distribution in that event of any such plant and equipment; and in acquiring land, acquiring, insuring, storing and maintaining other property, and doing anything, necessary or expedient for any of those purposes.
Dock or harbour undertakers. Approved expenses on measures designed to provide facilities in the event of hostile attack for the collection of casualties occurring in the dock or harbour or on adjacent land, and the treatment of those casualties in first-aid posts. Fifty per cent.
Occupiers of factory premises, owners of mines (including quarries) and public utility undertakers. Approved expenses on measures for eliminating or screening flames or glare, or for rendering premises less readily recognisable by aircraft. Fifty per cent.
Persons to whom grant made. Expenses to which grant made. Maximum rate of grant.
County and county borough councils and councils of large burghs. Approved expenses in rendering premises suitable for a hospital for the treatment of casualties occurring in Great Britain from hostile attack or for the purpose of protecting persons in hospitals from injury in the event of hostile attack (including the council's share of approved expenses so incurred by any combination of councils of which it is a member). The higher of the two following rates, that is to say, seventy per cent. or the excess over one-tenth of the produce of a rate—
(a) in England of 1d. in the pound;
(b) in Scotland of four-fifths of 1d. in the pound.
Local authorities. Approved expenses incurred— One hundred per cent.
(a) in collecting and furnishing to His Majesty's Government information useful for the preparation of their plans for transferring the civil population in the event of war or the imminence of war, and accommodating and maintaining persons transferred,
(b) in taking in advance measures for any such transference, accommodation or maintenance,
(c) in providing for the storage and preservation of material and equipment, and
(d) in taking part in carrying out any such plan.
Local authorities. Approved expenses in carrying out measures mentioned in schemes for securing the availability of special supplies of water for extinguishing fires caused by hostile attack. Ninety per cent.
Forward to