Financing Research in Industry

Abstract

WHEN Lord Barnby withdrew his bill to enable the Board of Trade to impose a statutory levy to finance research in industry last autumn, it was stated that the Government would take the earliest opportunity to see whether other proposals of the same kind could be tried. The matter was raised in the House of Commons in the committee stage on the Emergency Laws (Transitional Provisions) on January 23, when Sir Stafford Cripps moved an amendment to include a regulation, Defence (Services for Industry) Regulations, 1945, to enable the Board of Trade, should it be so desired, after consultation with any particular industry or branch of industry, to make arrangements for securing co-operative provision within that industry for certain facilities including research and experiments in matters relating to manufacture, consumption, collection and publication of statistics and other services conducing to increased efficiency in production and marketing of products. In explaining the purpose of the regulation, Sir Stafford Cripps stated that its inclusion would give the Government eighteen months or more to find out whether industries desired this method of levy for co-operative service, so that there would be time to draft a more permanent form of legislation which might be required. The proposed collective action is limited to research, market research, the collection of statistics and such matters, with a financial limit of £500,000, and no such levy can be made without the consent of a large part of the industry concerned and without an order being placed before the House of Commons.