I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
The sole purpose of this short Bill is to enable county councils to give increased contributions where necessary towards the financing of county committees of agriculture in the local financial year commencing 1st January, 1975.
The committees of agriculture are financed each year by means of contributions from their respective county councils together with State grants related to such contributions. The State grant normally approximates to the local rates contribution by the county councils, but in the case of the 12 committees of agriculture in the small farms areas of the west and north-west of the country, further State assistance is granted by way of a contribution of 75 per cent instead of the normal 50 per cent towards the cost of employing adequate numbers of advisory staff.
The existing statutory ceiling of county council contributions, which has been in operation since 1st April, 1972, is a sum not exceeding 15 times the produce of a rate of 1p in the £ in the area consisting of the county, exclusive of any urban areas therein. Under section 1 subsection (1) of this Bill, it is proposed to increase the ceiling to 40p in the £ with effect from 1st January, 1975. This maximum does not, of course, make it mandatory on county councils to reach it or, indeed, to meet the demands of committees of agriculture, unless they see fit.
Section 1 subsection (2) would enable county councils to make any necessary preliminary arrangements during the current financial year with a view to adopting a suitable rate contribution, within the proposed new maximum, in respect of the coming financial year.
Over the past decade there has been a considerable expansion in the agricultural advisory services, the total number of advisory staff under the committee has in that period almost doubled from 354 to 654. There is still a need, however, for further strengthening these services in most counties. In recent times I have approved of the creation by each of the 27 committees of agriculture of a post of deputy chief agricultural officer with special responsibility for educational matters. In addition, there will now be over 70 posts of senior instructor the holders of which will supervise, under the CAO, the work of all advisers in a particular advisory district. A significant development in recent years has been the provision of much needed headquarters for committees of agriculture, and also the provision of new agricultural education centres. To date 16 such centres have been provided at a total cost of some £415,000, and my Department have paid a total of £183,000 in grants towards the centres. A further seven centres are under construction. I have recently increased the maximum grant towards the cost of each approved centre from £15,000 to £20,000.
In the year 1973-74 ten committees were on a rate between 14.5p and 15p (maximum) in the £, while a further ten committees were in receipt of the produce of a rate between 12p and 14p in the £. Increased salaries have contributed to the deterioration in the finances of all committees, whose staff, in addition to having secured increased remuneration under conciliation and arbitration proceedings, have been granted the benefits of the national wage agreements, including the 15th round which was payable from 1st June of this year.
This Bill is required, and is, in fact, essential to ensure that those committees which in the immediate future cannot carry out their statutory functions on their present incomes, will be permitted to seek sufficient funds to enable them to do so. Some committees either now have or will have substantial deficits on 31st December next. Unless action is taken now the position will deteriorate further.
I would see an advantage in having the statutory upper limit abolished entirely, if only with a view to avoiding an over-frequent resort to amending legislation which is inevitable in present circumstances of undue restriction on the necessary contribution from the rates. I am advised, however, that the abolition of a maximum rate contribution as it exists would not be feasible unless it were substituted by other statutory amendments which would confer new powers on me thus limiting the activities and finances of the individual committees of agriculture. Because of the administrative and other difficulties this would involve and more particularly as it would remove from the committees and from the county councils a responsibility which desirably they would have, I consider that the present system should continue, but that the maximum rate contribution should be fixed at a sufficiently high level to permit committees of agriculture to perform their functions without an undue pre-occupation with trying to avoid deficits.
In the circumstances I consider that the existing maximum rate contribution of 15p in the £ should be increased to 40p in the £. Accordingly, I recommend the Bill to the House.