Milner Holland Committee (Hansard, 7 July 1964)

§ Mr. A. Lewis

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs, whether he will ask the chairman of the Milner Holland Committee to issue an interim report, in view of the fact that their full report is not expected until the end of the year and the importance of this matter being discussed during the forthcoming General Election campaign.

EXCHEQUER GRANT FOR WELSH BOOKS
Exchequer Grant	Allocations of Grant by University of Wales Press Board
Financial Year (1)	Amount (2)	Period in which grant allocated (3)	Number of books awarded grant (4)	Average amount of grant per book (5)
Year ended	£	Year ended		£
31st March, 1957	…	1,000	31st Decemver, 1957	…	12	57
31st March, 1958	…	1,000	31st December, 1958	…	28	48
31st March, 1959	…	1,000	31st December, 1959	…	34	31
31st March, 1960	…	1,000	31st December, 1960^*	…	41	53
31st March, 1961	…	3,000	31st March, 1961^*	…	19	76
31st March, 1962	…	3,500	31st March, 1962	…	35	98
31st March, 1963	…	4,000	31st March, 1963	…	51	78
31st March, 1964	…	4,500	31st March, 1964	…	59	76
^* Period of overlap—see Notes 1 and 2.
NOTES:
1. The original scheme was announced in January, 1956, the first Exchequer grant being made available in August of that year. Up to 31st December, 1960, the University of Wales Press Board, which undertook the task of administering the grant on behalf of the Government, made its allocations of grant on a calendar year basis as shown in column 3.
2. It was announced in January, 1960, that the grant for the financial year 1960–61 (which would have been the last year of the original grant scheme) was to be £3,000 and that this figure would be increased annually by £500 to a level of £5,000 in 1964–65.
3. Initially, any part of the Exchequer grant which remained unallocated at the end of the period was carried forward to the next period (e.g. a balance of £315 at 31st December, 1957).
4. In respect of money provided in 1960–61 and subsequent years, it was agreed that any balance of grant unallocated by the Press Board at the end of a financial year should be surrendered to the Treasury. The only sum so surrendered, to date, has been £475 which remained unallocated at 31st March, 1961.
5. The figures in columns 4 and 5 relate to books awarded grant for the first time. In a few instances applications have been made for increased grants; such supplementary grants, where approved, are allocated from the current Exchequer subsidy but the grants so paid are not reflected in the above-mentioned figures.

72W