§ 5. Mr. J. Grimstonasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation why he has increased the fee payable for the grant of a Certificate of Airworthiness to a prototype aircraft to roughly double the present fee.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (Mr. Beswick)The fee is now related to the actual cost of investigation by the Air Registration Board, subject to a maximum.
§ Mr. GrimstonWill the hon. Gentleman say when the fee was last fixed at the previous figure?
§ Mr. BeswickI cannot say when the fees were last fixed, but the fact is that the deficit which is made up by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and by the guarantors has been increasing each year for the last 10 years.
Air-Commodore HarveyDoes the hon. Gentleman realise that the cost of renewing a certificate of airworthiness has gone up twice in the last few years? How does he account for that?
§ Mr. BeswickI account for it by the fact that the cost of investigation has increased. The hon. and gallant Gentleman will agree—I think both sides of the House will agree—that the Air Registration Board is efficient and economical in its workings.