HC Deb 10 November 1960 vol 629 cc1195-6
10. Mr. Boyden

asked the President of the Board of Trade why applicants for assistance under the Local Employment Act are not given reasons for the rejection of their applications.

Mr. Maudling

The Board of Trade Advisory Committee, with which full responsibility lies, accepts or rejects applications for financial assistance according to whether or not it is satisfied that the conditions laid down in Section 4 of the Local Employment Act are met. After careful consideration the Committee decided that it would not be right for the Committee to give more specific reasons than this, since these would often be based upon such considerations as the Committee's judgment of the commercial ability or financial standing of applicants, and the probability of success of particular enterprises. I endorse the Committee's view.

Mr. Boyden

Could not some categorised reasons be given to enable an applicant to know what could be put right in his application? Would it not be helpful to the general situation to have some idea of the general reasons why these applications are refused?

Mr. Maudling

The Committee makes up its own mind in these matters, and I think that it is justified. If anyone whose application has been rejected wants another shot he will receive full co-operation from the Committee's officials in helping him to reframe the application and to meet the difficulties that arise. But to start by stating publicly whether or not a certain firm is credit-worthy would seem to me to be very dangerous.

Mr. John MacLeod

But need it necessarily be made public? Surely a firm can be told, which would assist it to put forward a new application. Is my right hon. Friend aware that the present practice has caused a good deal of hardship to some firms, particularly in my constituency, which have not had reasons given for the refusal of their application?

Mr. Maudling

The Committee would help firms to reframe their applications to cover points of difficulty, but to tell firms exactly why an application has been turned down would inevitably be to invite public comment and criticism and a certain amount of lobbying from time to time from some firms that had been turned down.