GRANTS FOR PROVISION OF CERTAIN FIXED EQUIPMENT (Hansard, 24 June 1969)

§ Mr. William Rodgers

I beg to move Amendment No. 53, in page 8, line 17, leave out 'the last preceding' and insert 'a complete'.

I hope that it will be for the convenience of the House if we consider with it Government Amendment No. 54, in page 8, line 23, at end insert: 'but, in relation to an applicant who so elects, the period beginning with 1st April, 1969, and ending with the date of the commencement of this Act shall be treated as if it formed part of the preceding financial year and not of the financial year ending with 31st March, 1970'. The Amendment is designed to meet wishes expressed in Committee, when we had a long discussion on a very reasonable point about when payments would be made, about the expenditure of £1,000 within a financial year. Whereas I cannot say that the Amendment will necessarily meet all the points made, particularly by the hon. Member for Blackpool, South (Mr. Blaker), I hope that it will help to some extent.

In re-examining this subsection we found that as it is drafted there is some risk that applicants might, in certain cases, lose their entitlement to grant for work carried out in a certain financial 1373 year. This could occur if, for some reason, an applicant was not able to claim his grant in the year immediately following that in which the work was done—for example, in cases where there was delay in presentation of bills, or difficulty in establishing eligible expenditure. We discussed this in Committee. The Amendment removes this difficulty while at the same time preserving the essential purpose of this subsection, which is to limit entitlement to grant under this Clause to cases where the investment is at least £1,000 in a period of a year. I know that this is still a matter upon which we may wish to argue. The amount is still to be £1,000 in a period of a year. I believe that the Amendment is some advance.

Similarly, Amendment No. 54 seeks to alter subsection (4) to enable an applicant to elect that expenditure incurred in the period beginning with 1st April, 1969, and ending with the date of commencement of the Bill shall be treated as incurred in the financial year ending with 31st March, 1969, rather than in the year ending with 31st March, 1970. To those who may not have followed the proceedings on the Bill this may sound double Dutch but I give them my assurance that this represents some improvement and, on the whole, will be advantageous to those who may wish to claim grant.

§ Mr. Blaker

I welcome the Amendments which, as the Minister said, go some way to meet the points we made in Committee. Am I right in understanding that Amendment No. 53 allows an applicant to claim payment without waiting until the ensuing financial year? I do not think that that is its main effect but will it, incidentally, allow an applicant who has already spent more than £1,000, say, by July of any year to make a claim at once? If so, that will be of advantage in speeding up the reimbursement that he will receive.

The Minister explained the purpose of Amendment No. 54, which I also welcome. It is made necessary partly because the Government have changed their intentions on this point since they published the White Paper. They have altered the rules about eligible dates, and I welcome that. The Minister is right in thinking that his Amendments do not go the whole way. There is still the case where the person spends a sum over £1,000 and 1374 although he expects that it will fall due within the financial year for reasons beyond his control it does not fall due in that time. There may be cases where unfairness results.

I hope that such cases will be few. I am sure that applicants will plan their expenditure as best they can to take advantage of the provisions of the Bill as it stands, which we recognise as an improvement.