§ 31. Mr. Taverneasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will reconsider his refusal to grant aid to the Lincolnshire River Board on part of the contract sum for the Witham Improvement Scheme.
§ Mr. Scott-HopkinsMy right hon. Friend has reconsidered this decision very carefully but can find no grounds for reversing it.
§ Mr. TaverneIs the hon. Gentleman aware that there was in this case a delay between April and August in the consideration of the estimates submitted by the Board, so that the extra cost incurred was entirely the responsibility of the Ministry? Is it not inevitable, therefore, that the Board should seek to save further costs to itself and the taxpayer? Should not the Ministry reconsider this?
§ Mr. Scott-HopkinsTo a large extent, the delay was due to a discrepancy between the Board's original estimate and the tender price. This difference was about £200,000. When sums of that nature are involved, we must be very careful. In the past, the Board has infringed rules concerning grants and it is only right that we should stick to the regulations.
§ Mr. TaverneIs the hon. Gentleman aware that at the meeting with the Clerk to the Board the Ministry was requested to name previous cases in which schemes had been started without approval, but that it could not name one? Indeed, there has been only one case involving a very small sum in 1957.
§ Mr. Scott-HopkinsThe Board has been warned on twelve occasions in the last five years that its estimating was inadequate and that it should not begin schemes without prior approval.