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Hospital Closures
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the chairman of the South Glamorgan health authority concerning hospital closures.
Coal and Steel Industries
Sir Anthony Meyer : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many people in Wales were employed in the coal and steel industries in 1979 ; and what is the total at the latest available date.
Mr. David Hunt : In December 1979, 55,200 were employed in the steel industry in Wales. The current figure is some 18,000. In March 1979, 31,000 people were employed in the coal industry in Wales. The latest available figures show that some 2,800 people now work in the industry.
Buses
Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received from bus operators in Wales on the question of the dual sourcing of buses.
Sir Wyn Roberts : We have received no such representations.
Secure Accommodation
Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he expects to announce his proposals for the provision of secure accommodation.
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Mr. Nicholas Bennett : I announced in August 1991 proposals for the provision of a new secure unit in Wales. I made a further announcement on 25 February following consideration of the responses received to those proposals.Rail Investment
Mr. John P. Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he plans to meet the chairman of British Rail to discuss investment in rail services in Wales.
Sir Wyn Roberts : My right hon. Friend is to meet Sir Bob Reid in the near future.
Housing Expenditure
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his latest estimate of the total expenditure by the Welsh Office on housing during the current financial year ; and how this compares with similar expenditure in real terms in (a) 1979 and (b) 1987.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : The latest estimate of expenditure on housing in Wales in 1991-92 is £591 million, an increase of more than 7 per cent. in real terms on the comparable figures for 1987-88. No comparison is possible with expenditure in 1979-80, as figures for that year are not available on a consistent basis.
Eryri Hospital
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he expects work to take place on upgrading the Eryri hospital at Caernarfon into a full community hospital ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Nicholas Bennet : It is a matter for Gwynedd health authority to decide when work on the upgrading of Eryri hospital should start.
Welsh Development Agency
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proposals he has to strengthen the guidelines governing conflicts of interests involving board members and staff of the Welsh Development Agency and the agency's clients.
Mr. David Hunt : Requirements concerning board appointments and procedures are set out in the Welsh Development Agency Act 1975. Guidance is also contained in "Non Departmental Public Bodies : A Guide for Departments". The guide is kept under review.
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the chairman of the Welsh Development Agency concerning the number of craft workshops available at the Old Cornmill, Porthmadog.
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will place in the Library a copy of the Welsh Development Agency's Bangor regional office routine monitoring report dated 11 April 1989 in relation to the Old Cornmill, Porthmadog development and of the communication from the Bangor regional office to the agency's head office in December 1989, and of the
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chairman's first letter to the then agency chief executive referred to in his second letter to the present chief executive dated 25 November 1991 concerning the same development.Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on what date he or his ministerial colleagues were informed of (a) the application for, and payment of, a rural conversion grant to Mr. Gwyn Jones, chairman of the Welsh Development Agency, (b) the request to Mr. Jones for a partial refund of the grant and (c) the basis on which the refund was assessed and its amount.
Mr. David Hunt : The information is :
(a) --on 13 January 1992
(b) --I was informed on 13 January 1992 that Dr. Jones had requested advice on the level of partial refund that might be involved.
(c) --on 18 February 1992.
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the chairman of the Welsh Development agency on improving procedures in making senior agency appointments.
Power Stations
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on licensing policy for gas-fired power stations by (a) PowerGen and National Power and (b) independent generators.
Mr. David Hunt : All proposals for new power plant are considered on their merits. All such projects are subject to the relevant provisions of the electricity and town and country planning Acts and also to the pollution controls operated by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution and the National Rivers Authority. These procedures ensure that power station projects take full account of general planning and environmental protection considerations.
Welsh National Opera
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the proposals for a new home for the Welsh National Opera Company.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The report of the feasibility study for a Cardiff Bay opera house is still under consideration and no firm decisions have yet been reached.
NHS Estate
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will estimate for every health authority and trust in Wales the amount required to bring the national health service estate to a condition B, exhibiting only minor deterioration.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : District health authorities in Wales are required to review the cost of backlog maintenance annually and for 1990- 91, they estimated that it would cost £186.3 million to bring the whole of the NHS estate in Wales to a standard where it is exhibiting only minor deterioration. There were no trusts in Wales at that time. This sum may be broken down by district health authority as shown in the table :
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DHA |£ million ------------------------------------ Clwyd |20.3 East Dyfed |17.9 Gwent |18.7 Gwynedd |11.4 Mid Glamorgan |22.1 Pembrokeshire |0.9 Powys |3.5 South Glamorgan |82.0 West Glamorgan |9.5
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