§ Mr. Eggarasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list all the nationalised industries, non-governmental organisations and agencies for which his Department either has responsibility or provides funding, as well as those sections of his Department, which provide services to the general public or to private organisations; and if he will indicate separately those which at present (a) charge no fees, (b) charge fees which do not fully cover the costs of providing those services, (c) charge fees which exactly cover the costs of providing those services and (d) charge fees which more than cover the costs of providing those services.
§ Mr. Jopling[pursuant to his reply, 6 February 1985, c. 558]: A list of the public bodies sponsored by my Department together with information on levels of Government funding is given in pages 5–8 of a booklet prepared by the Management and Personnel Office of the Cabinet Office entitled "Public Bodies 1984" and published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. My Department sponsors no nationalised industries.
Public Bodies sponsored by my Department are funded in a variety of ways which include payment by way of statutory levies and charges for individual services. Comprehensive information on specific services is not collected on a regular basis and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
As far as services provided by my Department are concerned, under the provisions of the Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1944 advice is provided free by my Department's agricultural development and advisory service. Information on services costing over £100,000 is collected annually for inclusion with other Departmental returns in the statement on fees and charges prepared by Treasury for submission to the Public Accounts Committee. The table sets out the information requested: