§ Mr. Arbuthnotasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is now able to make an announcement about the 80W consultative Committee on the duty-free entry of machinery, whose appointment was recommended by the Wilson Smith Committee.
§ Mr. LowYes. My right hon. Friend has now appointed this Committee. It consists of six industrialists, three with experience mainly as makers of machinery, and three with experience mainly as users of machinery, a trades union representative, and representatives of the Board of Trade and Ministry of Supply. The Chairman is an Undersecretary of the Board of Trade, and the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Supply will provide Joint Secretaries.
The industrial members are:
and the trades union representative is Mr. J. Tanner. The Joint Secretaries are Mr. D. P. Brearley (Board of Trade) and Mr. D. M. J. Gwinnell (Ministry of Supply).
- Mr. A. P. H. Aitken,
- Mr. R. W. Asquith, M.I.P.E.,
- Mr. M. A. H. Bellhouse, M.A.,
- Mr. W. Ellison,
- Sir Laurence Merriam, M.C., M.A.,
- Mr. A. Yorke Saville, M.I.Mech.E.,
As the Wilson Smith Committee recommended, the function of the committee will be to keep under review the broad policy followed by the administering Departments, including the basic criteria laid down for duty-free admission of machinery, and the general rules of administration, to consider problems arising from time to time, and to represent industry's views to the Departments. The committee will not be in any sense an appellate tribunal considering appeals on individual applications, and will have no executive responsibilities.