§ 26. Mr. Boyd-Carpenterasked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity what is the annual cost of the staff of the Agricultural, Horticultural and Forestry Industry Training Board.
§ Mr. HattersleyThe number and remuneration of staff are matters for the Board to determine. Relevant information is given in the published accounts of the Board. Expenditure on salaries for the seven months the Board was in operation during its first financial year ended 31st March, 1967, was £15,226. The accounts for the last financial year have not yet been published.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterDoes the cost fall on the producer, by way of the levy, or on the taxpayer? What steps are being taken to restrain the growth of staff of this Board in the same way as the Department is attempting to restrain it in respect of Government Departments?
§ Mr. HattersleyWe are anxious that all industrial training boards should run with minimal staffs because of the obligations on us all to restrain increases in servants in the public service. To answer the first point of the right hon. Gentleman's supplementary question, from now on the Board's costs will be borne entirely by the industry, according to the policy of the Industrial Training Act which his right hon. Friend introduced three years ago.