(1)Where in the exercise of their functions the Corporation carry out any project in response to representations made by any Government department other than the Post Office that it is in the public interest that the project should be carried out, the Minister in charge of the department may with the consent of the Treasury make to the Corporation out of moneys provided by Parliament—
(a)payments to meet all or any part of the expenditure (including overhead expenditure) incurred by the Corporation in carrying out the project and payments by way of fees to the Corporation for carrying out the project, or
(b)payments in respect of any loss arising in the carrying out of the project.
(2)Any Minister may with the consent of the Treasury undertake to make at a future time any payment which he has power to make under the foregoing subsection.
(3)Except with the approval of the Minister of Technology, the Corporation shall not enter into arrangements with the Minister in charge of a Government department (other than the Minister of Technology) to carry out any project in the exercise of their functions under section 2 of this Act, being arrangements under which the Minister in charge of the Government department concerned undertakes to make any payment to the Corporation of the kind described in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1) of this section.
(4)Where a Government department requests the Corporation to enter into arrangements for carrying out any project, being arrangements under which any such payment as aforesaid is to be made, then for the purposes of section 2(1)(a), (c) and (d) of this Act a representation made to the Corporation by the Government department—
(a)that it is in the public interest that the project should be carried out, or
(b)both that it is in the public interest that the project should be carried out and that the relevant invention is not being developed or exploited or sufficiently developed or exploited, or, as the case may be, that the requirements in the said section 2(1)(c) or (d) are fulfilled as respects the relevant research,
shall be conclusive, but that shall not of itself impose a duty on the Corporation to carry out the project.
(1)The Corporation shall keep proper accounts and proper records in relation to the accounts, and shall prepare in respect of each financial year of the Corporation (which shall be a year ending on 31st March) a statement of accounts in such form as the Minister may with the approval of the Treasury direct.
(2)The accounts of the Corporation shall be audited by auditors to be appointed annually by the Minister.
(3)A person shall not be qualified to be so appointed unless he is a member of one or more of the following bodies—
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales;
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland;
The Association of Certified and Corporate Accountants;
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland;
Any other body of accountants established in the United Kingdom and for the time being recognised for the purposes of section 161(1)(a) of the [1948 c. 38.] Companies Act 1948 by the Board of Trade;
but a Scottish firm may be so appointed if each of the partners is qualified to be so appointed.
(4)So soon as the accounts of the Corporation for any financial year thereof have been audited, the Corporation shall send to the Minister a copy of the statement of accounts prepared in respect of that year together with a copy of any report made by the auditors on the statement or on the accounts.
(5)On receipt by the Minister under the last foregoing subsection of the Corporation's copy of their statement of accounts he shall send a copy of the statement (with a copy of any accompanying report by the auditors) to the Comptroller and Auditor General.
(6)The Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine every statement and report sent to him under the last foregoing subsection, and may inspect the accounts to which the statement relates and any records relating thereto, and shall certify the statement and lay a copy of it together with his report thereon before Parliament.
(1)The Corporation shall furnish the Minister with such information concerning the property and activities of the Corporation as the Minister may from time to time require.
(2)The Corporation shall as soon as possible after the end of each financial year of the Corporation make a general report to the Minister as to the exercise by the Corporation of their functions during that year, and the report for any year shall set out any direction given to the Corporation under section 3 of this Act during that year unless the Minister has notified to the Corporation his opinion that it would be against the national interest so to do.
(3)The Corporation's annual report under this section shall record any application made by the Corporation under section 8 of this Act in the financial year to which the report relates, and include a statement in a form approved by the Minister showing the grounds on which the application is made; and if the application was granted in whole or part the report shall record that fact and include particulars of the manner in which the application was granted.
(4)The Corporation's report shall also record any direction given by the Minister under section 8(5) of this Act in the financial year to which the report relates.
(5)The Minister shall lay a copy of every report of the Corporation before Parliament.
Nothing in this Act shall operate to preclude the Parliament of Northern Ireland from enacting legislation for purposes similar to the purposes of this Act.
(1)This Act may be cited as the Development of Inventions Act 1967.
(2)In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
" the Corporation " means the National Research Development Corporation;
" invention " includes any new process or new technique and shall be construed without regard to whether or not a patent has been or could be granted;
" the Minister " means the Minister of Technology.
(3)The [1948 c. 60.] Development of Inventions Act 1948, the [1954 c. 20.] Development of Inventions Act 1954 and the [1965 c. 21.] Development of Inventions Act 1965 are hereby repealed.
(4)Any approval, consent or direction given, any appointment made or any other thing done under or by virtue of any provision of the said Acts shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to have been given, made or done under or by virtue of the corresponding provision of this Act; and anything begun under any provision of those Acts may be continued under the corresponding provision of this Act.
(5)Without prejudice to the last foregoing subsection, any provision of this Act relating to anything done, or required or authorised to be done, under, or by reference to, that provision or any other provision of this Act shall have effect as if any reference to that provision or to that other provision, as the case may be, included a reference to the corresponding provision of any Act repealed by this Act.
(6)So much of any document as refers expressly or by implication to any enactment repealed by this Act shall, if and so far as the context permits, be construed as a reference to this Act or the corresponding enactment therein.
(7)Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting the general application of section 38 of the [1889 c. 63.] Interpretation Act 1889 with regard to the effect of repeals.
(8)This Act shall come into force at the expiration of the period of one month beginning with the day on which it is passed.