Britain: An official handbook > 1966

INDUSTRY
Rural Industries
Councils to
Promote
Industry
271
but the provision of the Finance Act 1963? which gives an industrial under¬
taking freedom to write off for tax purposes the cost of new fixed plant and
machinery at any rate it chooses (‘free depreciation’), applies to Northern
Ireland as well as to the Development Districts of Great Britain. Under the
Industries Development Acts (Northern Ireland) 1945 to 1953, a comprehen¬
sive and flexible scheme of assistance (which can include the tenancy or
purchase on favourable terms of a government-built factory, together with
a grant towards the cost of plant and machinery and the cost of transferring
equipment from a factory outside Northern Ireland) can be offered to projects
which appear likely to make a desirable contribution to the economy of
Northern Ireland. Grants and loans can also be offered to the appropriate
authorities for the improvement of basic services if these should be considered
inadequate for a given development. Firms which are assisted under the
Industries Development legislation are expected to undertake a specific
development which will employ an agreed number of persons within a given
period. Under the Capital Grants to Industry Acts (Northern Ireland)
I954 t0 I9(>2, manufacturing enterprises in Northern Ireland are entitled to
claim outright grants of 33-J per cent of their annual expenditure on plant
and machinery and industrial building, subject, in the case of firms new to
Northern Ireland, to a maximum grant of .£200,000 in any one year. This
assistance, which is largely unconditional, is intended primarily to encourage
modernisation and capital investment.
Since I945> new firms have been established in Northern Ireland and
150 schemes of expansion carried out with government assistance, develop¬
ments which at present are employing some 55,000 persons. The Ministry
of Commerce is the Northern Ireland government department concerned
with the administration of the Industries Development and Capital Grants
legislation.
Encouragement is given to the development of rural industries. In England
and Wales there is the Rural Industries Bureau, which, on the recommenda¬
tion of Rural Community Councils, provides technical advice and instruction
to craftsmen and small rural businesses; it also provides loans from the Rural
Industries Loan Fund, started in i94°> f°r the acquisition of equipment and
the purchase or improvement of workshops. In Wales the Development
Commission1 has financed small factories to stimulate rural industries and
prevent rural depopulation. In Scotland the Scottish County Industries
Development Trust, founded in 1935, exercises local and national respon¬
sibilities for the development of rural industries, and in Northern Ireland
the Rural Industries Development Committee is run with government assist¬
ance under the auspices of the Northern Ireland Council of Social Service.
In Scotland and Wales there are national organisations devoted to encouraging
the expansion and diversification of industry. The Scottish Council (Develop¬
ment and Industry), with a wide membership including local authorities,
trade associations, trade unions, chambers of commerce, co-operative societies
and banks, is concerned with the economic development of Scotland. It
assists the expansion of existing industry, fosters the growth of new industries,
especially in areas requiring development, encourages exports, organises
1 The Development Commission approves and administers advances by grants or loans
from the Development Fund, established by the Development and Roads Improvements
Fund Acts 1909 and 1910. At the present time the Fund may be used to help and
expand agriculture and rural industries and also to promote the development and
improvement of fisheries.