Fisheries Research and Development Board

HC Deb 19 May 1980 vol 985 cc72-3W

Mr. Sproat

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what were, for the latest available 12 month period, the total financial costs, including administration, of the Fisheries Research and Development Board, the amount disbursed by that body, the number of persons, including secretaries, involved with the body, the amount of payment for, respectively, members of the body by way of salary or equivalent, expenses of members and secretarial salaries and expenses; and what were the figures in all the above categories in each of the past five years, respectively.

Mr. Buchanan-Smith

The information is not readily available for 1975–76 and

				1979–80	1978–79	1977–78
Members of board and its committees	…	…	14	31	31
Secretariat (part of time only)	…	…	…	2	2	3
Payments disbursed by board	…	…	…	Nil	Nil	Nil
Members' salaries (£'000)	…	…	…	Nil	0.06	0.10
Members' expenses (£'000)	…	…	…	1.25	2.04	2.57
Total financial costs (£'000)	…	…	…	1.25	2.10	2.67

The financial costs make no allowance for the salaries of Ministry staff or for accommodation since only a very small proportion of the time of the staff and the use of rooms is devoted to the board's affairs and the full costs of both staff and accommodation would have been incurred whether or not this body existed.