Agriculture Act 1967

Promotion of agricultural investment

31 Grants towards expenditure on fixed equipment, etc., and improvements, for purposes of agricultural businesses.

(1) The appropriate Minister may, out of money provided by Parliament, make to any person a grant towards expenditure incurred by that person on or after 17th January 1966 in or towards—

(a) providing or installing fixed equipment, fixed plant or fixed machinery for use wholly or partly for the purposes of an agricultural business, or

(b) replacing, improving or adapting any fixed equipment, fixed plant or fixed machinery used or to be used wholly or partly for the purposes of such a business, or

(c) doing any other thing which appears to the appropriate Minister to constitute a long term improvement to land comprised in such a business,

being expenditure approved by the appropriate Minister for the purposes of the grant.

(2) Subject to any order under section 34 of this Act, the amount of any grant under this section shall be ten per cent. of the expenditure in respect of which it is made.

(3) A grant may be made under this section subject to such conditions as the appropriate Minister may think fit to impose.

(4) In this section—

• " fixed equipment " does not include a dwelling-house but, subject to that, has the same meaning as in the [1947 c. 48.] Agriculture Act 1947 or, in Scotland, the [1948 c. 45.] Agriculture (Scotland) Act 1948, and

• " agricultural business " means a trade or business consisting in, or such part of any trade or business as consists in, the pursuit of agriculture ;

and, for the purposes of this section, contributions by a person towards the costs incurred by any authority in providing a cattle-grid under Part V of the [1959 c. 25.] Highways Act 1959, or the [1950 c. 24.] Highways (Provision of Cattle-Grids) Act 1950, shall be treated as expenditure by him in the provision of that cattle-grid.

(5) For the purposes of this section, expenditure shall be treated as incurred by a person on or after 17th January 1966 if or so far as it consists of a payment or payments made by him on or after that date, notwithstanding that the obligation to make that payment or those payments was incurred, or fell to be discharged, before that date.

32 Grants towards expenditure on agricultural tractors and harvesters.

(1) The appropriate Minister may, out of money provided by Parliament, make to any person a grant towards expenditure incurred by that person on or after 17th January 1966 in providing a new tractor or harvester in respect of which there is in force, at the time the grant is made, a licence under the [1962 c. 13.] Vehicles (Excise) Act 1962 upon which duty has been paid at the rate applicable under that Act to agricultural machines, being expenditure approved by the appropriate Minister for the purposes of the grant.

(2) Subject to any order under section 34 of this Act, the amount of any grant under this section shall be ten per cent. of the expenditure in respect of which it is made.

(3) A grant under this section shall, as the appropriate Minister may determine, be payable either as a lump sum or in two or more instalments.

(4) A grant may be made under this section subject to such conditions as the appropriate Minister may think fit to impose.

(5) In this section " new " means unused and not second-hand.

(6) Subsection (5) of the last foregoing section shall apply for the purposes of this section as it applies for the purposes of that section.

(7) In the application of this section to Northern Ireland, for the words in subsection (1) from " a licence under " to " agricultural machines" there shall be substituted the words " a licence under the [1954 c. 17 (N.I.).] Vehicles (Excise) Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 upon which duty has been paid at the rate applicable to the machines mentioned in section 4(2)(a) of that Act " ; and this section shall apply in relation to tractors and harvesters provided for use in the Isles of Stilly with the omission from the said subsection (1) of all reference to their being licensed as therein mentioned.

33 Supplements to improvement and water supply grants.

(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) below, the appropriate Minister may, out of money provided by Parliament, make in respect of any grant to which this section applies a supplementary grant, payable in such manner as the appropriate Minister may determine, of an amount equal (subject to any order under section 34 of this Act) to five per cent. of the cost or expenditure by reference to which the amount of the first-mentioned grant (hereafter referred to as " the basic grant") was calculated.

(2) No grant shall be made under this section unless application for payment of the basic grant, or of the first instalment of the basic grant, was first made on or after 17th January 1966; and no grant shall be so made in any case where the amount of the basic grant exceeds or exceeded forty-five per cent. of the cost or expenditure by reference to which it was calculated.

(3) Where any grant to which this section applies is payable by instalments on the completion of parts of the work in respect of which it is made, each instalment thereof shall be treated for the purposes of subsections (1) and (2) above as if it were a separate grant.

(4) Subject to any order under section 34 of this Act, the following are the grants to which this section applies—

(a) grants made under section 30 of this Act, or under section 12 of the [1957 c. 57.] Agriculture Act 1957 (which relates to long-term improvements of agricultural land, and is superseded by the said section 30);

(b) grants made in respect of improvements of a kind to which the said section 30 applies out of money provided by Parliament by any Act passed after 27th April 1966 but before the passing of this Act;

(c) grants made under section 1(1) of the [1960 c. 22.] Horticulture Act 1960 (horticultural improvements); and

(d) in England and Wales, grants made in respect of works for the supply of water under section 15 of the [1940 c. 14.] Agriculture (Miscellaneous War Provisions) Act 1940 or section 5 of the [1944 c. 28.] Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1944.

(5) A grant may be made under this section subject to such conditions as the appropriate Minister may think fit to impose.

34 Power to vary rates, and extend scope, of grants for agricultural investment.

(1) Orders may from time to time be made under this section—

(a) varying, either generally or as respects expenditure or, as the case may be, basic grants of a description therein specified, the rate at which grant is payable under section 31, section 32 or section 33 of this Act;

(b) providing for the making of grants under the said section 32, at such rate as may be so specified, in respect of expenditure incurred on or after a date not earlier than 17th January 1966 in the provision of any description of self-propelled machines other than tractors and harvesters;

(c) providing for the making of supplementary grants under the said section 33, at such rate as may be so specified, in respect of grants under any enactment other than one specified in subsection (4) of that section, being grants for the payment of which, or of the first instalment of which, application was first made on or after a date not earlier than 17th January 1966.

(2) An order under this section—

(a) may be made for England and Wales, for Scotland, for Northern Ireland, or for any two or all of those parts of the United Kingdom jointly,

(b) shall be made with the consent of the Treasury, and by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State jointly if it is made for Great Britain or the United Kingdom, and the appropriate Minister in any other case,

(c) may contain such incidental and supplemental provisions as appear appropriate to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State or, as the case may be, to the appropriate Minister,

(d) may be varied or revoked by a subsequent order,

(e) shall be made by statutory instrument.

(3) A statutory instrument containing an order under subsection (1)(a) above, or an order under subsection (1)(b) or (1)(c) above providing for the payment of grants at a rate other than that specified in section 32(2) or, as the case may be, 33(1) of this Act, shall be laid before the House of Commons after being made, and the order shall cease to have effect at the end of twenty-eight days after that on which it is made (but without prejudice to anything previously done under the order or to the making of a new order) unless before the end of that period the order is approved by resolution of that House.

In reckoning any period of twenty-eight days for the purposes of this subsection, no account shall be taken of any time during which Parliament is dissolved or prorogued or during which the House of Commons is adjourned for more than four days.

(4) A statutory instrument containing any other order under subsection (1) above shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of the House of Commons.