§ 22. Mr. Weatherillasked the Minister of Labour if he will take steps to ensure that all establishments which become liable to pay Industrial Training Board levy are notified of this obligation within six months of liability occurring or, in any event, well before the expiry date of the firms' right to claim grant.
§ Mr. HattersleyIt is already the practice of each training board to notify establishments in its own industry of their liability to pay levy by the issue of a bulletin or similar publication within a few weeks of the relevant levy order being made and well before the expiry date for claiming grant.
§ Mr. WeatherillIs the hon. Gentleman aware that, certainly in the case of the Engineering Industry Training Board, 723 a retrospective payment for the levy has already been paid and that, if it goes on in this way, it will cause considerable hardship, especially for smaller companies? Could he not introduce a more equitable system?
§ Mr. HattersleyReverting to the hon. Gentleman's original Question, I am assured that no one under the aegis of the Engineering Industry Training Board has been refused grant because of applying after the expiry date for original applications. The way in which that Board is compounding its levy and grant proposals is intended to produce, and in some way has succeeded in producing, a minimum of inconvenience to its constitutent firms.