Employment and Training Act 1973

10 (1) For subsection (1) of section 7 of the Act there shall be substituted the following subsection—

(1) An industrial training board shall from time to time, and whenever directed to do so by the Commission, submit to the Commission for the Commission's approval proposals for the exercise of functions conferred on the board by section 2 of this Act and may from time to time, and shall whenever directed by the Commission to do so, submit as aforesaid—

(a) proposals for the delegation of all or any of those functions to committees established under section 3 of this Act; and

(b) proposals for the raising and collection of a levy.

(2) After subsection (1) of section 7 of the Act there shall be inserted the following subsections—

(1A) Any proposals by a board in pursuance of paragraph (b) of the preceding subsection must include—

(a) proposals for exempting from the levy any employer who, in view of the small number of his employees, ought in the opinion of the board to be exempted from it; and

(b) such information or further information as the Commission directs the board to furnish, and any additional information which the board considers appropriate, for the purpose of assisting the Minister to decide whether a levy order made in pursuance of the proposals would fall within sub-paragraph (i) or sub-paragraph (ii) of section 4(2A)(d) of this Act;

and proposals in pursuance of paragraph (a) of this subsection may be made in respect of different numbers of employees for different employers or classes of employers and may provide for numbers of employees or for employers or classes of employers to be determined by reference to such factors as are specified in the proposals.

(1B) Any proposals made by a board in pursuance of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section may include proposals for securing that exemption certificates issued by the board shall not exempt from the whole or a portion of the levy the employers or some of the employers in the industry, and different proposals may be made in pursuance of this subsection as respects different categories of employers and different portions of the levy; but the Commission shall not approve proposals made in pursuance of this subsection unless—

(a) it is of the opinion that the proposals are necessary to encourage adequate training in the industry; and

(b) it is satisfied, by evidence furnished to it by the board, that—

(i) organisations appearing to it to represent more than half of the persons whom it considers are likely to be liable to make payments by way of levy in consequence of the proposals, and

(ii) organisations appearing to it to represent persons whom it considers are together likely to be liable to make payments by way of levy in consequence of the proposals which amount to more than half the aggregate amount of those payments,

consider, after taking reasonable steps to ascertain the views of the proposals taken by the persons aforesaid who are represented by the organisations, that the proposals are necessary as mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection.

(1C) It shall be the duty of the Commission to submit to the Minister any proposals which are made to the Commission in pursuance of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section and approved by the Commission.

(3) In section 7(2) of the Act for the words from " the proposals submitted " to " unsatisfactory he" there shall be substituted the words " it appears to the Minister, after he has considered a report made to him by the Commission on the proposals submitted in pursuance of the direction, that the proposals are unsatisfactory he ".