WOOL TEXTILE INDUSTRY (EXPORT PROMOTION LEVY) ORDER, 1957 (Hansard, 18 July 1957)

§ THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (LORD MANCROFT)

My Lords, these two Orders are closely connected and, with your Lordships' permission, I will deal with them together. The purpose of the Orders is to amend and, since there have been three Amendments already to each, to consolidate Orders which are at present in force under the Industrial Organisation and Development Act, 1947. The one levy is for promotion of exports of the wool industry's products and the other for scientific research into the technical problems of the industry. The levies are raised in part from suppliers of wool and in part from processors of wool. In each case, the payments are based upon the quantity of wool supplied or consumed or on the number of persons employed during a defined six months' period. In order to avoid undue clerical labour in computing payments 1336 which would prove to be insignificant in amount, there are exemptions for suppliers and for users of very small quantities of wool.

The levy for export promotion, instituted in August, 1950, was designed to produce some £100,000 to £120,000 a year: the annual yield has been, in fact, about £115,000. The amended rates now proposed would, it is expected, produce a total of some £200,000 a year. When the scientific research levy was instituted in October, 1950, it was expected to produce some £100,000 to £120,000 a year and the increased payments introduced in 1952 increased the annual yield to some £155,000. The amended rates now proposed would, it is expected, produce a total of some £200,000 a year: that is, some £400,000 a year for the two levies together.

All the necessary consultations with bodies concerned have been carried out. That the industry in general values the work paid for from the two levies and desires that work to be continued and extended is borne out by the fact that the increased rates, which are the main object of these draft Orders, have been specifically requested by the principal organisation in the industry representing the great majority of the employers, the Wool Textile Delegation. They have also been warmly supported by the trade unions in the industry. I beg to move.