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EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Schools (Weapons Collectors' Catalogues)
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will take steps to ban the sending to schools of weapons collectors' catalogues ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : My right hon. Friend has no power to prevent books or other materials from being sent to schools. However, we look to advertisers to ensure that unsuitable material is not directed at children and young people, and that the provisons of the British code of advertising practice are followed. Schools should raise suspected breaches of the code with the Advertising Standards Authority, which administers it.
Degree Courses
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many students are studying on four-year degree courses in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland at (a) universities and (b) other institutions of higher education.
Mr. Jackson : In 1987 there were 20,800 full-time and sandwich students at universities in Great Britain, and 26,500 full-time, sandwich and part-time students at polytechnics and colleges in England, on the first year of four-year degree courses. Separate figures for university
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students in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are not readily available. Figures for polytechnics and colleges in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are a matter for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.Column 280
Mature Students
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many mature students are studying on (a) full-time and (b) part -time courses at (i) universities, (ii) adult education colleges and (iii) other institutions of higher education in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Mr. Jackson : The available information is shown in the following table :
Institutions in
|England |Wales |Scotland |Great Britain |Northern Ireland
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Home full-time
Universities (GB) |13.7 |1.3 |2.2 |17.3 |1.1
Polytechnics and Colleges (GB) |36.9 |1.8 |5.7 |44.5
Non advanced further education (England) |34.8
Part-time
Universities (GB) |13.8
Polytechnics and colleges (GB) |97.5 |3.8 |9.7 |111.0
Non advanced further education (England) |86.7
1. Mature students are defined as postgraduates aged 25 or over and first degree, sub-degree and non advanced students aged 21 or over on the
first year of their course.
Not readily available.
Figures for non-advanced further education in Wales and Scotland and higher and further education in Northern Ireland are a matter for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Assisted Places Scheme
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list all the schools which receive pupils paid for in whole or in part under the assisted places scheme in (a) Nottinghamshire and (b) Nottingham and the number of assisted place pupils each school had in 1987- 8.
Mr. Butcher : The information requested is as follows. In addition to the schools listed, Worksop college has been invited to join the APS from September 1989.
|School name
------------------------------------------------------------
Nottingham High school<1> |89
Nottingham High school for girls<1> |188
<1>Location: City of Nottingham.
<2>Assisted place holders 1987-88.
Teachers (Secondary Schools)
Mr. Nicholas Baker : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish in the Official Report the number of teachers employed in secondary schools in the maintained sector who teach (a) religious education and (b) mathematics, together with the total number of pupils currently on roll in those schools ; and if he will make a statement about the numbers coming forward for qualification as such teachers.
Mrs. Rumbold : Estimates from the 1984 secondary school staffing survey show 21,200 teachers of religious education and 40,500 teachers of mathematics in
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maintained secondary schools in England. A further such survey was conducted in 1988, and the results of this are expected to be available shortly.In January 1984 there were 3,646,000 pupils on the rolls of maintained secondary schools in England, falling to 3,070,000 by January 1988.
The numbers of students commencing initial teacher training in secondary phase religious education and mathematics in England averaged 250 and 1,030 respectively for the three years 1986-88 (270 and 1,080 in England and Wales).
16 to 18-year-olds
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will place in the Official Report figures to show (a) by standard region and (b) by local educationl authority (i) the numbers and percentage of 16-year-olds in full-time education, (ii) the numbers and percentage of 18-year-olds in full-time education, (iii) the numbers and percentage of 16-year-olds on approved training schemes and (iv) the numbers and percentage of 18-year-olds on approved training schemes for each of the last available five years.
Mr. Jackson : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to the hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw) on 28 November at column 83 .
Information on training schemes is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment.
Childcare Provision
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has as to how many (a) universities, (b) polytechnics and (c) colleges of further education have integral child care provision ; what is the number of available places in each ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Jackson : This information is not held centrally.
Ms. Armstrong : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what advice he has given to (a) the Universities Funding Council and (b) the Polytechnics Funding Council with regard to child care provision within the institutions for which they have responsibility.
Mr. Jackson : None. Child care provision is a matter for individual institutions.
Capital Expenditure
Mr. Hargreaves : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the amount available for capital expenditure on schools and further education establishments in 1989-90, including the voluntary aided sector.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : Local education authorities have today been informed of their allocations of prescribed expenditure for 1989-90, and of the allocations for capital spending by the governors of voluntary aided and special argeement schools in their area. The allocations are as follows :
List of major aided projects for the 1989-90 design list
Local Education Authority |Name of School |(Governors Fees) 1989-90
|(£000's)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barnet |St. Agnes |35
Bradford |Baildon |30
Devon |Cuthbert Mayne Ph 2 |66
Dorset |St. Clement's and St. John's|30
Hertfordshire |St. Clement Dane's |80
Kent |Ashford St. Mary's |24
Liverpool |St. John Almond |92
Oxfordshire |Blessed George Napier |20
Somerset |St. Augustine's, Taunton |54
Staffordshire |St. Peter's Cobridge |15
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List of major aided projects for the 1989-90 design list
Local Education Authority |Name of School |(Governors Fees) 1989-90
|(£000's)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barnet |St. Agnes |35
Bradford |Baildon |30
Devon |Cuthbert Mayne Ph 2 |66
Dorset |St. Clement's and St. John's|30
Hertfordshire |St. Clement Dane's |80
Kent |Ashford St. Mary's |24
Liverpool |St. John Almond |92
Oxfordshire |Blessed George Napier |20
Somerset |St. Augustine's, Taunton |54
Staffordshire |St. Peter's Cobridge |15
List of major aided projects for the 1989-90 design list
Local Education Authority |Name of School |(Governors Fees) 1989-90
|(£000's)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barnet |St. Agnes |35
Bradford |Baildon |30
Devon |Cuthbert Mayne Ph 2 |66
Dorset |St. Clement's and St. John's|30
Hertfordshire |St. Clement Dane's |80
Kent |Ashford St. Mary's |24
Liverpool |St. John Almond |92
Oxfordshire |Blessed George Napier |20
Somerset |St. Augustine's, Taunton |54
Staffordshire |St. Peter's Cobridge |15
Antarctic Survey
Mr. Yeo : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what assessment he has made of the
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environmental implications of the proposed new gravel airstrip to be built by the Natural Environment Research Council's British Antarctic Survey in the British Antarctic Territory ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Kenneth Baker : The British Antarctic Survey has made a thorough assessment of the consequences for the environment of the proposed new airstrip. NERC has submitted a comprehensive environmental evaluation to me and to my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. I am placing copies in the Libraries of both Houses today. Further copies are available from NERC. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has circulated the evaluation to the consultative parties to the Antarctic treaty in accordance with recommendation XIV-2 of the treaty. Any comments received will be considered in preparing the final text of the report and be taken into account in
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reaching final decisions about the construction of the airstrip. I commend this thorough report to hon. Members as further evidence of the Government's concern for the environment.GCSE
Mr. Higgins : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has as to how many constituents of the right hon. Member for Worthing have still not received their GCSE results ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : The independent GCSE examining groups, which are responsible for issuing results, are not aware that any results for summer 1988 GCSE examinations are still outstanding. As in previous years, some results remain to be confirmed because they are the subject of appeals. The groups have undertaken to deal with these appeals as quickly as possible.
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Meningitis
Mr. Shersby : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish in the Official Report, in tabular form, details of all research being carried out into meningitis with support from public funds, showing the name of the research worker, the title and duration of each project, the establishment at which it is being conducted, and the amount of research grant being provided.
Mr. Jackson [holding answer 19 December 1988] : Directly relevant research being supported by the MRC is set out in the table. Total expenditure on the projects under way in 1987-88 was £216,000 ; expenditure in 1988-89 will be at a higher level, but cannot be accurately estimated at this stage. The Department of Health is supporting a case study of meningococcal disease in eight west country health districts, co- ordinated by Dr. R. Stanwell-Smith, Bristol and Weston health authority. The amount of the grant is £38, 100 and the duration, May 1988 to March 1990. Some support for research on meningitis is also provided through UGC block grants to universities.
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Location |Investigator |Project |Tenure
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MRC Clinical Research Centre |Head of Divison |Pathogenesis and immunobiology of |Commenced April 1984
Divison of Communicable |Dr. Taylor-Robinson | meningococcal infection | and ongoing
Diseases
MRC Clinical Research Centre | Head of Division |Isoenzyme analysis for differentiation of |Commenced April 1988
Division of Communicable |Dr. Taylor-Robinson | Neisseria meningitidis infection | and ongoing
Diseases
University of Sussex |Dr. B. G. Spratt |Molecular basis and molecular epidemiology |3 year support, yet to
School of Biological Sciences | of the emergence of penicillin resistance in Neisseria meningitidis|commence
Oxford University |Professor E. R. Moxon |Molecular basis of Haemophilus influenza |Professor E. R. Moxon
Paediatrics | Pathogenicity
Edinburgh University |Dr. Cecilia C. Blackwell |Secretor state and susceptibility to bacterial |September 1987-February 1989
Bacteriology | meningitis
Leicester University |Dr. G. J. Boulnois |Genetic engineering of polysaccharides |January 1988-December
Microbiology | 1990
Aberdeen University |Professor T. H. Pennington |Studies on the population genetics and typing |April 1988-March 1991
Bacteriology | of Neisseria meningitidis
Southampton University |Dr. J. E. Heckels |Immunobiology of Meningococcal outer |August 1988-July 1991
Microbiology | membrane proteins
University of Surrey |Dr. J. J. McFadden |DNA probes to study epidemiology and |October 1988-September
Microbiology | virulence of Neisseria meningitidis
| infections
Students
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what has been the total number of home full-time and sandwich students in higher education in each year since 1979 ; what has been the total full-time equivalent number of part-time students in higher
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education in each year since 1979 ; and what has been the total number of home full-time entrants to universities in each year since 1979.Mr. Jackson [pursuant to his answer 28 November 1988] : I regret that figures for full-time and sandwich students were in error and included non-United Kingdom-domiciled students. The corrected answer, which also includes final figures for part-time students in 1987, is therefore as follows :
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Student numbers in Great Britain
thousands
Academic year
beginning in
|1979 |1980 |1981 |1982 |1983 |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Higher education United Kingdom domiciled
Full-time and sandwich |451.2|465.0|488.4|504.6|517.5|525.1|530.6|540.0|549.7
Part-time |267.7|280.8|290.0|296.6|306.2|308.5|325.8|348.9|359.3
FTE<1> of part-time |93.7 |98.3 |101.5|103.8|107.2|108.0|114.0|122.1|125.7
United Kingdom domiciled entrants to university
Undergraduate |75.7 |77.4 |74.0 |71.5 |69.2 |70.5 |70.3 |70.7 |72.5
<1> Defined as 35 per cent. of part-time students.
ENERGY
Chapelcross and Calderhall
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy pursuant to his answer of 8 December, what the appropriate share of decommissioning the nuclear power plants at Chapelcross and Calderhall will cost public funds over the next five years ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Spicer : The operator of the nuclear power plants at Chapelcross and Calder Hall does not expect them to be taken out of service over the next five years, so no contributions from public funds to the costs of decommissioning these facilities are expected to be made over that time.
Subsidence (Compensation)
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy when he expects to receive British Coal's annual report on the administration of the subsidence compensation scheme referred to in the Government's White Paper in response to the Waddilove report.
Mr. Michael Spicer : I have now received this report from British Coal and have arranged for copies to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses today.
WALES
Physically Handicapped People
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his Department's response to the joint submission made in July by the Spastic Society and the Wales Council for the Disabled, on the need for an all- Wales physical handicap strategy ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Grist : Our officials are still considering the issues raised by the discussion document and will be consulting these organisations and other relevant groups in due course.
Welsh National Opera
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received (a) from local authorities in Gwynedd and (b) from others, seeking Welsh Office support for the establishment of an arts centre at Llandudno to provide a north Wales base for Welsh National Opera ; and what is his response on this matter.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : My right hon. Friend has received representations from Aberconwy borough council and Gwynedd county council and has also received 41 letters in support of the scheme since the beginning of the year.
Aberconwy borough council has been told that, whilst we see the attractions of the project and accept that Llandudno would be a suitable location for it, we have reservations about the financial aspect of the scheme as presented, not least the request that central Government should fund most of the cost.
The council has been invited to consider submitting revised proposals which would overcome these reservations.
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School Governors
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what information he has as to which local education authorities in Wales, in organising the election of school governors (a) afforded parents the opportunity to (i) post in nomination forms and (ii) vote by post and (b) told parents in writing of their rights to submit nominations or ballot papers by post, with an indication of the address to which they were to be posted and adequate time for this to take place ; and if he will undertake a survey of the conduct of these elections in Wales.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : The detailed information requested is not collected centrally.
Officials in the Department have been monitoring the process of reconstitution of school governing bodies by the local education authorities, and are satisfied that the majority of school governor elections have been conducted in accordance with the guidance which was issued on 27 July 1987 in Welsh Office Circular 12/87--"Education (No. 2) Act 1986 : Further Guidance".
We have at present no plans to undertake a survey of the conduct of school governor elections in Wales.
National Museum of Wales
Mr. Faulds : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he will publish in the Official Report the attendance figures for 1988 reported by the National Museum of Wales, includings its outstations, with the percentage change on the attendance figures for 1987.
Mr. Wyn Roberts : The information will not be available until January when I shall reply to the hon. Gentleman.
Current Affairs Programmes (Presenters)
Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which presenters of current affairs programmes in Wales have been employed or commissioned to undertake freelance work by the Welsh Office or the Welsh Development Agency in the last two years ; and on how many occasions.
Mr. Peter Walker : In the last two years, the Welsh Office has commissioned Mr. Vincent Kane to promote exporting to industrialists on two occasions. In the same period, the Welsh Development Agency employed Mr. John Humphrys to appear in a video to promote the development of financial services.
Elderly People
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he plans to issue circulars by local authorities on planning guidelines to meet the needs of an increasingly elderly population in Wales.
Mr. Grist : There are no plans at present to issue specific guidance on these matters.
Housing
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he has any plans to issue planning guidance in the form of circulars to local authorities on facilitating the provision of starter homes for young couples especially in rural areas ;
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(2) if he has any plans to issue planning guidance in the form of circulars to local authorities to facilitate the provision of housing for disabled persons ;(3) if he has any plans to issue planning guidance in the form of circulars to local authorities to facilitate the provision of housing for single people.
Mr. Grist : There are no plans at present to issue specific guidance on these matters.
Eggs
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many cases of human salmonella infections were reported in Wales in each of the last three years ; and how many were directly attributed to fresh hens' eggs.
Mr. Peter Walker : The number of cases of salmonellosis in Wales is not available, but data on the number of reports of salmonellosis in Wales are given in the following table. These data include both cases and excretors. Information on how many of these reports were directly attributed to fresh hens' eggs is not available. However, it is known that, in 1988 to the end of October, there were in Wales five outbreaks of salmonellosis involving 44 people in which the likely source of infection was eggs :
Laboratory Reports of Salmonellosis from Wales to the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre Year |Total Reports ------------------------------------------ 1985 |450 1986 |690 1987 |746
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what investigations have been carried out by the public health laboratory service into outbreaks of salmonella enteriditis in Wales ; how many hen eggs were sampled ; and what were the conclusions.
Mr. Grist [holding answer 20 December 1988] : The public health laboratory service has investigated three outbreaks of salmonella enteritidis phage type 4 in Wales during 1988. On each occasion foods containing shell eggs from hens were implicated as the vehicle of infection. In the one case where the source of supply could be identified 18 eggs were sampled, but the organism was not isolated.
Rent Arrears
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish a table showing the levels of rent arrears for each local authority for each month in 1987 and for each month to date in 1988.
Mr. Grist : Data relating to rent arrears are held centrally only on an annual basis. The information provided on the following table relates to the provisional outturn for 1987-88. It is based on each local authority's final collection period for that year.
Rent arrears at end of 1987-88
Authority |Total rent arrears £
---------------------------------------------------------------
Alyn and Deeside |91,800
Colwyn |66,616
Delyn |98,565
Glyndwr |84,664
Rhuddlan |46,000
Wrexham Maelor |285,020
Carmarthen |60,617
Ceredigion |53,367
Dinefwr |63,995
Llanelli |225,290
Preseli Pembs |119,022
South Pembroke |72,084
Blaenau Gwent |89,398
Islwyn |69,500
Monmouth |114,878
Newport |260,000
Torfaen |214,055
Aberconwy |90,000
Arfon |107,200
Dwyfor |15,614
Meirionnydd |27,407
Ynys Mon |126,761
Cynon Valley |81,600
Merthyr Tydfil |97,131
Ogwr |n.a.
Rhondda |100,425
Rhymney Valley |129,552
Taff Ely |197,503
Brecknock |44,597
Montgomeryshire |73,064
Radnor |11,000
Cardiff |413,122
Vale of Glamorgan |119,800
Port Talbot |n.a.
Lliw Valley |147,931
Neath |137,278
Swansea |402,582
|----------
Total Wales |4,337,438
Primary Health Care
Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when discussions will begin with professional bodies and others on the primary health care initiative announced by him in the programme for the valleys.
Mr. Peter Walker : A consultation letter is to issue to all those with an interest before the recess, and I shall place the text in the Library of the House. The scheme will blend practical support for primary health care practitioners with advanced professional training initially for doctors and nurses together. It will aim to ensure that patients will be able to obtain a still wider and better managed range of services, well adapted to their needs and supportive of health promotion more generally. It will present a novel and significant opportunity for constructive development in practice team working, and in service partnership for patients. Subject to parliamentary approval I intend that just under £500,000 be made available for full year provision in support of the scheme. I hope that all of those involved will lend their efforts to help in realising the scheme's potential.
Welsh Language
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if his Department issues any guidelines to local education authorities in Wales who are converting from sixth forms to tertiary colleges, concerning the need to have a tertiary facility through the Welsh language for pupils who would otherwise have progressed to sixth form study through the medium of Welsh.
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Mr. Wyn Roberts [holding answer 20 December] : Welsh office Circular 20/88 "Educational Quality in Wales : The Response to Falling School Rolls", issued in June 1988, advised local education authorities to consider the alternative methods of provision, including tertiary colleges, when considering educational provision for 16-19 year olds. The circular advised that rationalisation proposals should take account of the place of Welsh in the curriculum to ensure continuity in, the learning of the language, both as a subject and as a medium of learning.
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will arrange for the document entitled "You and the Community Charge", published by the Department of the Environment, to be available through the medium of the Welsh language in Wales.
Mr. Grist : I refer the hon. Gentleman to my letter to him of 16 December which enclosed copies, both in English and in Welsh, of the brief guide to the community charge that has been available from the Welsh Office since last August. The publication "You and the Community Charge" refers only to England.
Housing Benefit
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list for each district (a) the number of local housing authority tenants who receive housing benefit and (b) the number of housing association tenants who receive housing benefit.
Mr. Grist : The number of local housing authority tenants who were in receipt of housing benefit during 1987-88 is given in the table. Information on the number of housing association tenants in each local authority district who receive housing benefit is not available.
Local Authority Tenants in receipt of
Housing Benefit in 1987-1988
|Number
----------------------------------------
Aberconwy |2,220
Alyn and Deeside |4,300
Arfon |4,300
Blaenau Gwent |7,841
Brecknock |2,017
Cardiff |16,217
Carmarthen |2,369
Ceredigion |2,257
Colwyn |2,450
Cynon Valley |4,213
Delyn |3,857
Dinefwr |3,947
Dwyfor |1,115
Glyndwr |2,265
Islwyn |4,477
Llanelli |5,323
Lliw Valley |3,804
Meirionnydd |1,505
Merthyr Tydfil |5,843
Monmouth |3,404
Montgomery |2,245
Neath |4,518
Newport |10,400
Ogwr |8,017
Port Talbot |4,357
Preseli Pembrokeshire |4,387
Radnor |720
Rhondda |4,220
Rhuddlan |2,050
Rhymney Valley |8,237
South Pembrokeshire |2,261
Swansea |13,681
Taff-Ely |6,034
Torfaen |10,082
Vale of Glamorgan |4,776
Wrexham Maelor |9,593
Ynys Mon |4,462
|--------
Wales |183,764
House Purchase
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will identify the district councils which are eligible to apply for money available to local authorities in rural areas with a high concentration of second homes to purchase homes for sale or rent to local people ; and whether this money will be by way of grant or loan.
Mr. Grist : All district authorities in rural areas with a high proportion of second homes are invited to apply for the £1 million extra funding available in 1989-90. The money will be made available by way of additional capital allocation and may be used to acquire property for rent or re-sale.
School Doctors and Dentists (Language)
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what guidance is given by his Department to health authorities in Wales concerning the need to ensure whenever possible that school doctors and dentists are capable of conversing with primary school children in their first language.
Mr. Grist : Welsh Office Health Circular WHSC (IS) 117, a copy of which is available in the Library, recognises the importance of individuals being able to converse in their mother tongue during contract with the Health Service, and asks authorities to offer appropriate services wherever this would be reasonable and practicable.
STC (Redundancies)
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what account the Welsh Development Agency took, when awarding grants to STC and other companies which involved closure of a site elsewhere, of the consequent redundancies.
Mr. Peter Walker : Regional grant schemes in Wales are administered by the Welsh Office. Regional selective assistance is not normally made available to projects which involve the transfer of jobs from one part of Great Britain to another with no net increase in employment. Where a relocation project involves some net increase in employment in an assisted areas location, the transferred jobs are normally discounted for the purposes of assessing any RSA grant for which the project may be eligible.
Health and Personal Social Services
Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he has reached a decision about the allocation of resources for health and personal social services in Wales in 1989-90.
Mr. Peter Walker : Subject to parliamentary approval, I propose to allocate £1,315 million in 1989-90 to health
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and personal social services in Wales. This represents a cash increase of £142 million over 1988-89 plans, and an increase of nearly £93 million over planned provision for 1989-90. The Health Service will have further additional spending power of nearly £19 million as a result of reduced superannuation contributions. My proposals include £953 million for the hospital and community health services, an increase of £103 million over provision in 1988-90. I will announce allocations to individual health authorities as soon as possible. In addition to their allocations, health authorities will retain the benefit of cash released through cost improvement programmes, income from charges for the treatment of private patients and from income generation schemes, and receipts from the sale of surplus land and buildings.I am proposing a special allocation of over £6 million in support of developments under my programme for the valleys. My proposals will also make possible the further development of modern patterns of service for those with mental handicaps, elderly people and those suffering from mental illness ; of breast and cervical cancer screening services ; measures against AIDS ; and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle.
Valleys Programme
Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he will announce allocations to district health authorities in 1989-90 announced by him in the programme for the valleys.
Mr. Peter Walker : District health authorities have today been informed that the following allocations are to be made under the programme for the valleys for projects commencing in 1989-90 and are shown in the following table.
Funding under the programme will enable health authorities significantly to advance the implementation of these schemes. All the applications made by health authorities for funding in 1989-90 have been met. In some instances the level of funding allocated under the programme has been greater than 50 per cent. of the anticipated expenditure in the year in order that the authority's contribution can be met from within the limits of its annual capital allocation. The level of funding in such cases will be balanced in any future tranches of programme allocations. Funding of individual schemes is subject to the outcome of any public consultation which may be appropriate.
These decisions represent a major investment in health care in deprived areas by my Department in partnership with the health authorities. It should yield a significant improvement in the environment and quality of health services offered to local people. Consideration is also being given to a proposal for an innovative research project into improvements in domiciliary antenatal care which would be conducted in Mid Glamorgan and Gwent. A decision on the extent of any funding from the programme to this initiative will be taken in the light of discussions with the relevant health authorities and the proposers.
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|Programme for the Valleys
|contribution in 1989-90
|£
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mid Glamorgan
1. Ystrad Fechan Community Hospital |1,600,000
2. 40 bed unit for elderly people, Aberdare
General Hospital |600,000
3. Day unit at Tyntyla for elderly mentally ill
people |75,000
4. "Know your Midwife" project, Rhondda |60,000
5. Community nursing staff |85,000
|-------
|2,420,000
Gwent
1. Ebbw Vale Community Hospital |1,883,000
2. Blaina Hospital Rehabilitation Unit |154,000
3. Blackwood Psychiatric Unit |464,000
|-------
|2,501,000
East Dyfed
Amman Valley Hospital |515,000
West Glamorgan
Pontardawe Psychiatric Day Centre |15,000
|-------
|5,451,000
SOCIAL SECURITY
Transitional Benefits
71. Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he will make a statement on the way in which transitional benefits payment is working.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The transitional payments unit is working very well and became fully operational on 14 July when the first payments were issued. Up to 13 December the unit had received 131,438 written inquiries, 71,088 telephone inquiries and 396,776 applications for housing benefit transitional payments. A total of 393,700 inquiry forms, requesting housing benefit details, have been issued to local authorities of which 330,414 have been returned. As soon as these inquiry forms are returned by authorities the unit is processing applications and so far 145,687 cases are receiving payments. The number of cases which have been found to be ineligible is 161,473. The unit has also processed 342 income support transitional payment cases of which 165 have resulted in payments being made.
Income Support
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give the total weekly income support for a married man with children aged four and six years if his income is (a) £50 per week, (b) £130 per week and (c) £160 per week.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information is set out in the table. It is for families whose head is in full-time work and not eligible for income support.
The results are hypothetical, particularly as the family is assumed to pay average local authority housing charges. This masks the wide variety of rent and domestic rates that local authority tenants actually pay and need not reflect families' circumstances and their housing arrangements in these parts of the income distribution.
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