§ Mr. Hendersonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the most recent meeting which the Herring Buyers' Association had with his Department.
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§ Mr. Hugh D. Brown:At a meeting with officials on 12th January representatives of the Herring Buyers' Association were told that the Government were prepared to consider requests from individual companies for assistance under section 7 of the Industry Act.
The association, while clearly preferring some special sectoral scheme which would benefit its industry as a whole, undertook to consider this proposal in consultation with its membership and to report back in due course. To help the association in its consideration my officials will be writing to it, and to the trade unions involved, explaining in detail the assistance which could be available to their members. I hope that the association will examine the offer carefully, since it could afford prompt and substantial help to companies in serious difficulty