§ 2.35 p.m.
§ THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD (EARL ST. ALDWYN) rose to move That the Pig Industry Development Authority Levy Scheme (Approval) Order, 1958, be approved. The noble Earl said: My Lord, your Lordships will recall that Part III of the Agriculture Act of 1957 provided for the creation of the Pig Industry Development Authority. The Authority, which is responsible for promoting technical developments in the production, processing and marketing of pigs and of pig meat, has been set up, and the need for it to get ahead with this task is fully recognised in the industry. To do this needs money, and the purpose of this Order is to provide the Authority with the means of getting it.
The Act provides that the Authority's funds shall be raised by a levy on the industry. As the Authority will serve the whole industry, it is only fair that contributions towards the cost of its work should be made by all sections of the industry. In seeking a practicable scheme, however, the Authority was faced with three main problems. First, the industry is a very complex one, and to collect fair shares from producers, dealers, processors and others concerned in it would be a formidable task. Secondly, until the Authority has an income it cannot set up an organisation which would be necessary to negotiate and implement any complicated scheme. Thirdly, and perhaps most important, any such negotiation would inevitably take a long time and would seriously delay the Authority in getting on with its job.
The Scheme set out in the Order has the special virtue of being simple in its 550 essential features and in its administration. If the Order is approved, the Authority will start to collect money at the beginning of next month. The Scheme provides for a charge to be payable to the Authority by every person who presents a pig for certification under the Fatstock Guarantee Scheme. This person may have reared the pig, or he may have bought it at a price including the guarantee payment which will be made on the pig. Provision is also made for the charge to be shared between buyers and sellers, calculated in the way described in the Order, which includes a form of ready reckoner.
The way in which the charge is to be collected by the Authority is simple. The charge is payable to the Authority by the person who receives the guarantee payment. The Government will deduct from this payment the amount due to the Authority and pass the levy on to the Authority, less a sum to cover the cost of doing this. That then will be the machinery.
As for the amounts of money involved, the Order provides that the charge shall be at the rate of 2d. a score deadweight and at an appropriately reduced rate for liveweight. The ratio between the two rates is that which is already used for payments under the Fatstock Guarantee Scheme. With the number of pigs on which guarantee payments are now being made, the proposed rates of charge will give the Authority about £470,000 a year. This is rather less than the Reorganisation Commission for Pigs and Bacon thought the Authority would need for the proper discharge of its functions, but the Authority considers that this rate of income will be enough for the first year or two, and the Agricultural Departments have no reason to dispute this assessment. It is likely that as the Authority extends its activities more money will be required, and it intends to examine the possibility of alternative methods of collection which could be adopted later if necessary. The present Scheme, my Lords, has been widely publicised by the Authority and commands, I believe, solid support in the industry. I beg to move.
Moved, That the Pig Industry Development Authority Levy Scheme (Approval) Order, 1958, be approved.—(Earl St. Aldwvn.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.