Application of Following Sections of Part Ii

Part of Clause 17 – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 May 1976.

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Photo of Gavin Strang Gavin Strang , Edinburgh East 12:00, 10 May 1976

In the clause as originally drafted the formal training had to be in agriculture but after a full discussion in Committee an amendment by my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnor (Mr. Roderick) to remove the restriction was agreed to on Division. This has the effect, which we believe to be desirable, of widening the kind of further education which an applicant could undergo without becoming ineligible. The present proposal by hon. Members is to require that the applicant should have spent at least two of the three years ending with the date of the tenant's death working in agriculture or attending a full-time course in agriculture.

This amendment would effectively rule out the son or daughter who worked on the farm for the two years and then went on to take a full-time course in a nonagricultural subject and whose father died before he could return to work on the farm. It would also rule out the son who, in the five years up to his father's death, worked on the holding for two years—one before and one after a three-year university course, unless this were in an agricultural subject.

On the other hand, if the son did his formal course first and then completed two years' work on the farm before his father dies, he would satisfy the eligibility test. So, under the amendment, his eligibility would depend on the order in which he takes his studies and puts in the practical work on the farm.

The excessive importance which would therefore be attached to the sequence of studies in relation to actual agricultural work is unjustified and illogical. It introduces considerable complexity into a test which surely ought to be simple and straightforward.

8.15 p.m.

I turn to Amendment No. 50. The question whether the agricultural restriction on this concession is necessary was the subject of debate in Standing Committee which took up almost the whole of one morning. No one can complain after this evening, therefore, that is has not been given a generous airing or that the decision was finally taken without due consideration.

An applicant has to pass through two selection processes on his way to obtaining a direction from the Agricultural Land Tribunal. The first process applies to the coarse sieve. It checks the credentials of an applicant and satisfies the Agricultural Land Tribunal that he is indeed a close relative as defined, that he has established a link with the holding, and that he is not occupying a commercial farm elsewhere. He is then allowed to move on to the much finer sieve of the selection process, where the tribunal will satisfy itself that he is in all respects suitable to become a tenant of the holding.

This is a very important matter, not only for the applicant but for the landlord. The tribunal will be expected to carry out this duty with great attention and care, and I have every confidence that it will. The duty may well require a final task in the selection process—that of choosing between suitable applicants.

If the fine sieve is there and is being applied with attention and care, I see no harm in widening the mesh of the original sieve in the way we have done by the original amendment.

I do not want to go into a detailed argument as to the merits and demerits of various degree courses, other than to refer to the speech last Thursday by the hon. Member for Westmorland (Mr. Jopling) who said that the three-year course might have been spent reading Arabic studies. Bearing in mind the second sieve that I have already talked about, does this matter? The applicant may still impress the Agricultural Land Tribunal with his agricultural knowledge and experience and his general outlook sufficiently for the Tribunal to be satisfied that he is suitable to take over the tenancy.

I was pleased to see that the right hon. Member for Cambridgeshire (Mr. Pym) has to some extent moved towards us. He was opposed to any modification of the original Bill and we are glad that he has acknowledged that a degree in business studies or economics should not be regarded as totally unsuitable and that we should not base eligibility on that. Someone who has studied economics or attended a course in business studies should not be ruled out as he would have been originally.