White Fish Authority Publicity Scheme (Hansard, 27 February 1973)

§ Mr. Anthony Stodart

My right hon. Friends and I have now considered the representations we received following the statement which my right hon. Friend the Lord President made last July about the future of this scheme.

In doing so, we have taken into account both the very wide range of opinion expressed by the industry on this question, and the need to look at the authority's publicity work in the context of its overall resources and responsibilities. We have also borne in mind the effects of imposing a further change in the authority's administrative arrangements at this particular time.

Our conclusion is that it would not be right to determine the scale of any future activities in the field of publicity or the means by which these should be financed, until the authority has had a chance to reassess its priorities in the light of its forthcoming move to Edinburgh. We have therefore decided that the existing publicity scheme should continue for the time being, but that the authority should be asked as a matter of priority to consider what changes in this, and in its levy arrangements as a whole, might be appropriate to existing needs. Such changes would of course be the subject of further consultation with the industry.