LORD RENNELLasked Her Majesty's Government:
1. How much has been collected under the Agricultural Training Board levies on the Agricultural, Horticultural and Forestry Industry since the issue of the Statutory Order 1966 No. 969 and the Statutory Return of 24th May, 1968, made under the Industrial Training Act 1964 or any subsequent instruments deriving therefrom.
2. What has been the expenditure of the Board on—
covered by the Statutory Orders.
- (a) administration of the scheme, and
- (b) on training persons, and arising therefrom
- (c) how many persons have applied, and
- (d) how many have been accepted for training, and
- (e) in which main trades and crafts falling under the categories
3. Whether the Minister is aware that farmers are obliged to send in a return for the purpose of calculating their liability to the levy covering their main activities and personnel employed, all of which information is already the subject of the quarterly returns which they send to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and whether therefore he does not 679WA agree that such a further return as is now demanded by the Training Board is redundant and involves unnecessary public expenditure on administration.
4. How many such returns and payments under the levy are, respectively, more than three months overdue and in how many cases has legal action under the Act and S.I. been taken to secure implementation.
5. How many assessments to the levy have been based on the returns made by farmers to the Board and how many are still what have been described as "notional" assessments in note 1 of the Auditors Report on the Income and Expenditure Account of the Board for the year ended March 31, 1968 on page 21 of the Report of the Board presented to Parliament on July 23, 1968, and whether such "notional" assessments have now been substantiated by the farmers' own returns.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, BOARD OF TRADE (LORD BROWN)1. About £650,000 has been collected in levy by the Board.
2. The latest available information about the expenditure of the Board is given in its Annual Report for the period ended 31st March, 1968, which has been presented to Parliament. This does not answer all the detailed questions raised, but shows that during the period in question the Board spent approximately £409,000 on administration and £154,000 on training services, and ran 112 courses attended by more than 1,200 people.
3. Information given in the quarterly return to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is collected in confidence under Section 80 of the Agriculture Act 1947 and cannot be made available to the Board without the consent of the individual supplying it. Moreover, the information as supplied would not fully meet the Board's requirements.
4. About 26,000 levy payments and about 7,500 statutory returns are outstanding. It is for the Board to decide what action to take to secure the completion of returns and the payment of levies.
5. The assessment of employers to levy is also a matter for the Board.