FURNITURE INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (AMENDMENT) ORDER, 1958 (Hansard, 7 July 1958)

§ THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (LORD MANCROFT)

My Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Lord Bathurst I beg to move that this Order be approved. The Order amends the Furniture Industry Development Council 612 Order of 1948, which set up a Development Council for the furniture industry. The 1948 Order gave the Council authority, with the approval af the Board of Trade, to impose levies on persons manufacturing domestic furniture, provided that any such charge should be computed so as to yield as nearly as possible an equal sum in each period of twelve calendar months, but not so as to yield more than £75,000 in any period of three years. The Amending Order increases the limit on the maximum amount of the levy, which averages £25,000 a year, to £30,000 a year.

The Council require this increase in order to meet the cost of the work which they consider to be necessary and which the industry wishes to be done. Both sides of the industry have been consulted. The trade unions recommended an increase in the maximum amount of the levy to £33,000 a year; the manufacturers recommended an increase to £30,000 a year; and this figure, as the highest common factor of the advice offered to the Board of Trade, has been included in the draft Order. We further propose, that the maximum amount which may be charged shall be fixed for one year, instead of for three years, as was provided for in 1948. This change also has been approved by the trade organisations concerned and will bring the conditions governing the levy into line with those which regulate the levy imposed by the only other Development Council—namely, the Cotton Board. The Amendment only increases the maximum amount of the levy which may be approved by the Board of Trade, and the Furniture Development Council will continue to have to obtain the approval of the Board of Trade for any levy which they may wish to impose within that maximum amount.