Industrial Reorganisation Corporation Act 1966
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1966 c. 50 |
| Year | 1966 |
Industrial ReorganisationCorporation Act 1966
1966 CHAPTER 50
An Act to provide for the establishment of a public corporation with the functions of promoting or assisting the reorganisation or development of any industry or section of an industry and establishing or developing, or promoting the establishment or development of, any industrial enterprise, and for matters relating to the corporation and its functions.
[21st December 1966]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
The Corporation
1 The Industrial Reorganisation Corporation.
(1) There shall be a body to be called the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation (in this Act referred to as ‘the Corporation’) having the functions assigned to it by the following provisions of this Act.
(2) The Corporation shall consist of a chairman and not less than seven nor more than fourteen other members.
(3) The chairman shall be appointed by the Secretary of State and the other members shall be appointed by the Secretary of State after consultation with the chairman.
(4) The members of the Corporation shall be appointed from among persons who appear to the Secretary of State to have wide experience of, and to have shown capacity in, industry, technology, commercial or financial matters, administration or the organisation of workers.
(5) The Corporation may, with the approval of the Secretary of State, appoint one or more of its members to be deputy chairman or deputy chairmen, and one or more of its members to be managing director or managing directors, of the Corporation, and may also appoint one or more persons, whether members or not, to be deputy managing director or deputy managing directors of the Corporation.
(6) It is hereby declared that the Corporation is not to be regarded as the servant or agent of the Crown or as enjoying any status, immunity or privilege of the Crown, or as exempt from any tax, duty, rate, levy or other charge whatsoever, whether general or local, and that its property is not to be regarded as the property of, or property held on behalf of, the Crown.
(7) The provisions of the Schedule to this Act shall have effect as respects the Corporation.
2 The Corporation's functions.
(1) The Corporation may, for the purpose of promoting industrial efficiency and profitability and assisting the economy of the United Kingdom or any part of the United Kingdom,—
(a ) promote or assist the reorganisation or development of any industry; or
(b ) if requested so to do by the Secretary of State, establish or develop, or promote or assist the establishment or development of, any industrial enterprise.
(2) In determining how to exercise its functions under paragraph (a ) of the foregoing subsection it shall be the duty of the Corporation to consider which industries it would be expedient to reorganise or develop for the said purpose and to seek to promote or assist the reorganisation or development of those industries which in the opinion of the Corporation it would be most expedient to reorganise or develop for that purpose.
(3) The Corporation shall have power to do anything, whether in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, which is calculated to facilitate the discharge of its functions under the foregoing provisions of this section or is incidental or conducive to their discharge, including—
(a ) the acquisition, holding and disposal of securities;
(b ) the formation of bodies corporate;
(c ) the making of loans and the giving (subject to the provisions of the next following subsection and section 7 of this Act) of guarantees with respect to loans made by others;
(d ) the acquisition and placing at the disposal of others of premises and plant, machinery and other equipment.
(4) The aggregate of the amounts outstanding in respect of the principal of any loans in respect of which guarantees have been given by the Corporation shall not exceed such limit as the Secretary of State may for the time being have imposed on the Corporation for the purposes of this subsection by a direction given to the Corporation with the approval of the Treasury.
(5) The Secretary of State may, after consultation with the Corporation, give to the Corporation directions of a general character as to the exercise and performance by the Corporation of its functions, and it shall be the duty of the Corporation to give effect to any such directions.
(6) Section 14(1) of the Prevention of Fraud (Investments) Act 1958 and section 13(1) of the Prevention of Fraud (Investments) Act (Northern Ireland) 1940 (prohibition on distributing circulars relating to investments) shall not apply to documents which the Corporation distributes in the discharge of its functions or causes to be so distributed or has in its possession for the purpose of distribution as aforesaid.
(7) In this section—
references to an industry include references to a section of an industry; and
‘industry’ includes any description of commercial or financial activity and ‘industrial’ shall be construed accordingly.
Financial provisions
3 Borrowing powers.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and section 7 of this Act, the Corporation may borrow—
(a ) temporarily, by way of overdraft or otherwise, from any person;
(b ) otherwise than by way of temporary loan, from the Secretary of State;
such sums as the Corporation may require for meeting its obligations or discharging its functions under this Act.
(2) The aggregate of the amounts outstanding in respect of any temporary loans raised by the Corporation under this subsection shall not exceed such limit as the Secretary of State may for the time being have imposed on the Corporation for the purposes of this subsection by a direction given to the Corporation with the approval of the Treasury.
(3) The Corporation shall not have power to borrow money except in accordance with this section; but a person lending money to the Corporation shall not be bound to inquire whether the borrowing of money is within the power of the Corporation.
4 Exchequer loans.
(1) The Secretary of State may with the approval of the Treasury make loans other than temporary loans to the Corporation.
(2) Any loans which the Secretary of State makes under this section shall be repaid to him at such times and by such methods, and interest thereon shall be paid to him at such rates and at such times, as he may with the approval of the Treasury from time to time direct.
(3) The Treasury may issue out of the Consolidated Fund to the Secretary of State such sums as are necessary to enable him to make loans under this section.
(4) For the purpose of providing sums to be issued under the last foregoing subsection or of providing for the replacement of sums so issued, the Treasury may at any time, if they think fit, raise money in any manner in which they are authorised to raise money under the National Loans Act 1939 , and any securities created and issued to raise money under this section shall be deemed for all purposes to have been created and issued under that Act.
(5) Any sums received by the Secretary of State under subsection (2) of this section shall be paid into the Exchequer and shall be issued out of the Consolidated Fund at such times as the Treasury may direct, and shall be applied by the Treasury as follows, that is to say—
(a ) so much thereof as represents principal shall be applied in redeeming or paying off debt of such description as the Treasury think fit, and
(b ) so much thereof as represents interest shall be applied towards meeting such part of the annual charges for the National Debt as represents interest.
5 Exchequer investment in Corporation otherwise than by way of loan.
(1) Subject to the provisions of section 7 of this Act, the Secretary of State may with the approval of the Treasury pay to the Corporation such sums as he thinks fit not exceeding in the aggregate 50 million or such greater sum as he may from time to time by order specify.
(2) In consideration of receiving sums under the foregoing subsection the Corporation shall make to the Secretary of State payments of amounts proposed by the Corporation or determined by the Secretary of State in accordance with the following provisions of this section.
(3) The Corporation shall as respects each accounting year of the Corporation—
(a ) decide whether or not to propose the making of any payment to the Secretary of State under the last foregoing subsection and, if it decides to make such a proposal, the amount it proposes to pay; and
(b ) make a payment to the Secretary of State of any amount so proposed if the proposal is approved by the Secretary of State with the consent of the Treasury or, if the Corporation make no proposal or any proposal made by it is not so approved, of such an amount, if any, as the Secretary of State may, with the consent of the Treasury and after...
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