§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Neil Macfarlane)I beg to move amendment No. 1, in page 3, line 32, leave out from 'purposes)' to end of line 34 and insert—
'where the rate of the payments is one determined by the Commissioners after consultation with the British Steel Corporation and the Ironstone Royalty Owners' Association.'.I have introduced this amendment, in acknowledgment of the representations made to me in Committee by my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr. Freeman), that the Ironstone Royalty Owners' Association, as well as the British Steel Corporation, should have a statutory right to be consulted about the rate of the special afforestation grant, because the association represents the landowners to whom the grant will be paid. The association, as I made clear on Second Reading and in Committee, has already been given an informal undertaking that it will be involved in the consultation, and I am happy to seek to formalise its position by means of this amendment.My hon. Friend also sought to have enshrined in the legislation a requirement that the rate of the special grant should be subject to an annual review. I warned him that this might present technical difficulties, and I am afraid they have proved insuperable. I hope my hon. Friend will be content to accept the assurance which I now give that, notwithstanding the absence of a statutory provision in the Bill, the rate at which the special afforestation grant is paid between 1 April 1985 and 31 March 1990 will be subject to an annual review.
Amendment agreed to.