CUTLERY AND STAINLESS STEEL FLATWARE INDUSTRY (SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH LEVY) ORDER 1962 (Hansard, 20 November 1962)

§ LORD DERWENT

My Lords, this Order, if it is approved by Parliament, will be made under the authority of Section 9 of the Industrial Organisation and Development Act, 1947. This Act provides that charges may be imposed by Order on persons engaged in an industry 801 if it is expedient for funds to toe available for certain purposes, including that of scientific research.

Two years ago the cutlery industry asked that a levy should be imposed on firms in the industry to provide funds which, with a grant from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, would finance the cost of collective scientific research on behalf of the industry by the Cutlery Research Council. As a result of this approach the 1960 Order came into operation on January 1, 1961.

The D.S.I.R. grant was conditional on the scale of research being expanded at the end of two years, and this involves an increase in the industrial contribution towards the cost as well as an increase in the amount of the Government grant. The primary purpose of this Order, which replaces that made two years ago, is to increase the contribution from the industry from £9,000 a year to just on £14,000 a year. On an income from industry of £9,000 the D.S.I.R. grant has been £6,000 but when industry contributes £14,000 the Government grant will be £9,000. Thus the amount available for research will be increased from £15,000 to £23,000 a year. The Order has been drafted in full accord with the wishes of the trade organisation representative of manufacturers in the industry and with the support of the trade union to which the workpeople belong.

The basis on which the levy has been imposed for the last two years is unchanged but the rate has been increased by half to provide the additional yield which is required, and a general exemption of the first £3,000 of annual turnover has been introduced in place of the existing exemption of businesses with a turnover of less than £1,000 a year. The exemption of the first £3,000 of turnover will reduce the number of firms liable to pay the levy by a third—from 280 to about 190—and will relieve small firms with a turnover of less than £10,000 of any increase in their contribution. Only firms in the industry with a turnover of £10,000 or over will pay more.

The opportunity provided by the need for a new Order to secure additional funds for scientific research has been 802 taken to stop a loophole in the provisions of the 1960 Order in relation to businesses in the industry which change hands between the base period (on the turnover of which the levy is charged) and the levy period.

I beg to move that this Order be approved.