Patent Office (Hansard, 19 December 1969)

§ Mr. Ridley
asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give details of any increases in costs at the Patent Office, which were not foreseen at the time of the spring 1969 increases in fees.

§ Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody
At the time the estimates were made of the costs of the fee-earning branches at the Patent Office for the years 1969 to 1972 inclusive, on which were based the increases in fees effected by the Statutory Instruments made in March and April, 1969, the following increases in costs were not foreseen: a 5 per cent. increase in all wages and salaries which took effect on 1st July, 1969 and its consequential effect on superannuation costs; an increase in selective employment tax made by the Finance Act, 1969; an increase in the employer's National Insurance and graduated pension contributions which came into effect in November, 1969. These increases are estimated to increase the annual costs of the fee-earning branches by £150,000, £27,000 and £24,000 respectively, a total of £201,000.

§ Mr. Ridley
asked the President of the Board of Trade what was the increase payable in selective employment tax by the Patent Office, and by the fee-earning branches of it, respectively, due to the 1969 Finance Act.

§ Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody
The increase made by the Finance Act, 1969 in selective employment tax from July, 1969, on the basis of the number of staff in post at that date, would increase the selective employment tax payable for a full year by the Patent Office as a whole by £34,000 and by the fee-earning branches atone by £27,000.

§ Mr. Ridley
asked the President of the Board of Trade when the fees of the Patent Office were increased in the spring of 1969, on how many years he estimated 491W those fees would cover the costs of the fee-earning branches of the office.

§ Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody
The increases in the fees payable to the Patent Office in respect of patents, designs and trade marks matters that came into operation generally on 21st June, 1969, but in April, 1969 in respect of certain renewal fees paid in advance, were designed, on the information available at the time when the relevant estimates of costs were made, to enable the Patent Office to meet the cost of its fee-earning branches over the period of four years from 1969 to 1972 inclusive. However, there were inevitably a number of uncertainties, and it was recognised that a much earlier review might have to be made.

§ Mr. Ridley
asked the President of the Board of Trade what is the yield of the new increases in patent fees as set out in Statutory Instrument No. 1706; and what percentage increase this represents on the previous yield for those fees.

§ Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody
The fees set out in the Patents (Amendment No. 2) Rules 1969 (S.I., 1969, No. 1706) would, on current levels of business, yield an increase in the annual rate of revenue of £420,700. This represents 13 per cent. over the annual rate of revenue that would have been yielded by those fees before the increases made by the Order mentioned above, or 12 per cent. over the annual rate of revenue that would have been yielded by all patent fees.