§ Mr. Joseph Deanasked the Secretary of State for Industry when he intends to seek to give statutory effect to the National Enterprise Board guidelines.
§ Mr. VarleyFollowing consultation with the National Enterprise Board I have issued two directions under Section 7(1) of the Industry Act 1975 giving immediate statutory effect to the National 215W Enterprise Board guidelines. These directions are styled The National Enterprise Board (Takeovers and Mergers) Direction 1976, and The National Enterprise Board (Guidelines) Direction 1976. I have today laid copies of these directions before Parliament as I am required to do by Section 7(3) of the Act. Typescript copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and are available from the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office. The text will shortly be published as an informal parliamentary paper.
The content of the guidelines is essentially the same as that of the draft published in March last. Some changes have been made to adapt the text to a form suitable for legal direction, but only one change of substance has been made. This conveys a delegated authority for the National Enterprise Board to make loans or guarantees or engage in joint ventures, without informing me, where the cost is less than £10 million and no new or significant policy issues arise.