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Sir Wyn Roberts : Six representations have been received regarding the effect of current Severn bridge toll charges and practices on tourism in Wales.
Local Government Reform
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will set up a unit within the Welsh Office to advise local authority joint committees on grant application for grants during the period of transition to the new unitary structure ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : No. Advice will be issued to transition committees at the appropriate time where necessary.
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what arrangements he will make to encourage efficient adoption of information technology by the new unitary authorities ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Gwilym Jones : I shall be urging the new authorities to make the fullest possible use of existing IT facilities.
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) when he will issue guidelines for the listing of assets of local authorities prior to their merger to the unitary councils and the residual authority ;
(2) what representations he has received on the timing of the introduction of compulsory competitive tendering for unitary authorities ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer that I gave him on 14 December.
Public Bodies
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what his Department's policy is regarding the use of executive search consultants in making appointments to public bodies ; and if he will (a) list the appointments where such consultants have been used and (b) list the cost in each case since April 1992.
Mr. Redwood : Executive search consultants are considered only in cases where candidates for a public appointment are unlikely to be found from the Department's register of candidates or recommendations from other sources.
Since April 1992, consultants have not been used in making public appointments. Some of the bodies themselves do use search consultants for appointments within their powers.
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which of the appointments made to public bodies by his Department since April 1992 have been advertised.
Mr. Redwood : Since 1992, I have advertised the chairmanship of the Welsh Development Agency and the Cardiff bay barrage independent groundwater complaints administrator. It is my policy to advertise by press release and/or paid advertisement the important posts available.
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what are the minimum and maximum numbers of possible board members of (a) the further education funding council and (b) the higher education funding council ; what guidelines he has issued concerning the composition of these boards ; and what specific guidance has been given on how many board members should be (i) from ethnic minorities, (ii) women, (iii) from the local business sector, (iv) from local authorities and (v) from trade unions ;
(2) what criteria are used in the selection of the chair and the executive members of (a) the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales ; (b) the Further Education Funding Council for Wales and (c) Housing for Wales, in respect of relevant experience and qualifications ; and if he will make a statement.
Sir Wyn Roberts : Under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, the Further and Higher Education Funding Councils for Wales are required to have a minimum of eight and a maximum of 12 members. The Chairmen and members were appointed in accordance with the criteria set out in section 1 and section 62 respectively of the Act, which require members of the councils to have relevant experience in further and/or higher education or in the industrial, commercial and financial sectors or the professions.
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In making the appointments to the board of Housing for Wales, I consider factors including the skills, experience and capabilities relevant to the successful conduct of this major public body.Forestry Commission Woods
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list all Forestry Commission woods in Montgomeryshire ; what plans he has to sell off any of these woods under the current disposals programme ; and if he will make a statement.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The Forestry Commission is preparing such a list which will also show those woods which are currently on the market, and I shall send a copy to the hon. and learned Gentleman as soon as possible. I shall also arrange for a copy to be placed in the Library of the House.
Environmentally Sensitive Areas
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the date of expiry of the initial five year experimental phase of the environmentally sensitive area scheme in Wales ; when he expects the new environmentally sensitive area agreement to be made available ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood : The first management agreement signed under the Environmentally Sensitive areas (Cambrian Mountains) Designation Order 1986 expired on 18 June 1992. A revised scheme, under the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Cambrian Mountains) Designation (Amendment) Order 1992, came into force on 30 June 1992.
Sheep Annual Premium
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many sheep farmers in Wales have not yet received their sheep annual premium ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood : Around 4,000 of the 17,445 valid claims received remain to be paid ; a further 1,000 will be paid out shortly. The remaining claims are being given priority.
Press Releases
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many press releases his Department has issued in each year since 1979.
Mr. Redwood : My Department issued press releases for the Welsh Office and on behalf of other Government Departments as follows :
Year |Welsh Office |Other departments|Total ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <1>1979 |- |- |197 1980 |- |- |440 1981 |- |- |484 1982 |742 |292 |1,034 1983 |847 |253 |1,100 1984 |916 |187 |1,103 1985 |878 |420 |1,298 1986 |814 |470 |1,284 1987 |779 |564 |1,343 1988 |960 |558 |1,518 1989 |815 |511 |1,326 1990 |881 |397 |1,278 1991 |1,245 |329 |1,574 1992 |1,088 |256 |1,344 1993 |1,039 |146 |1,185 <1>Last seven months.
Records have not been kept of the split between press releases issued for the Welsh Office and for other departments for the years 1979, 1980 and 1981.
Advertising
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the cost of advertising by his Department has been for each year since 1979 and for each of the last 12 months.
Mr. Redwood : Welsh Office advertising expenditure for each year since 1979 is as follows :
Year |£,000 -------------------- 1979-80 |61 1980-81 |62 1981-82 |100 1982-83 |99 1983-84 |108 1984-85 |66 1985-86 |31 1986-87 |76 1987-88 |230 1988-89 |174 1989-90 |411 1990-91 |288 1991-92 |349 1992-93 |427
The records which my Department keeps and those of the Central Office of Information, which buys Government advertising, shows payments for invoices received rather than the value of actual advertising for each month. Costs are also monitored on a campaign by campaign basis. Shown is a table of monthly payments on that basis :
Total monthly expenditure
for advertising
November 1992 to November
1993
--------------------------
1992
November |969
December |30,197
1993
January |17,003
February |9,985
March |190,625
April |0
May |1,850
June |0
July |17,738
August |24,076
September |38,200
October |55,749
November |59,408
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Administration
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the total expenditure by his Department on administration in 1992-93 ; what is the estimated outturn for expenditure by his Department on administration for 1993-94 in (i) cash terms and (ii) real terms in 1992-93 prices ; and what is his estimate for expenditure on administration by his Department for 1994-95 in (a) cash terms and (b) 1992-93 prices.
Mr. Redwood : The final outturn for the recurrent costs of running the Department in 1992-93 was £60.6 million. The estimated outturn for 1993-94 is £66.8 million in cash terms and £64.7 million in 1992- 93 prices. The Department's planned running costs expenditure for 1994-95 will be published in the departmental report due for publication in February. The 1993-94 figures include superannuation, but those for 1992-93 do not ; so they do not represent a true figure for the increase.
Health Services
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will accelerate the fusion of health authorities and family health service authorities in Wales.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health announced on 21 October that enabling legislation would be introduced. Authorities are already working closely together and are establishing joint management structures.
Mr. Rowlands : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has of the income generated by private medical practice within each of the area health authorities in the years 1990, 1991 and 1992.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The amount of income from private medical practice generated within the area of each health authority in Wales in the financial years 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93 was as follows :
£ thousands District |1990-91 |1991-92 |1992-93 ---------------------------------------------------- Clwyd |528 |593 |639 East Dyfed |256 |246 |210 Gwent |62 |167 |201 Gwynedd |258 |269 |180 Mid Glamorgan |145 |228 |276 Pembrokeshire |130 |133 |155 Powys |- |- |2 South Glamorgan |94 |142 |189 West Glamorgan |221 |264 |300 Notes: 1. Consists of private in-patients (Section 65), private non-resident patients (Section 66) and accommodation and services provided under Section 58 of the National Health Service Act 1977. 2. Data for Pembrokeshire in 1992-93 relates to income received by the Pembrokeshire National Health Service Trust. Source: Health Authorities' and Pembrokeshire National Health Service Trust annual accounts.
Press Officers
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many press officers his Department has employed in each year since 1983.
Mr. Redwood : The numbers are as follows :
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Year |Press officers --------------------------------------------- 1983 |8 1984 |9 1985 |9 1986 |9 1987 |9 1988 |8 1989 |8 1990 |8 1991 |8 1992 |8 1993 |8
Green Belts
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he will announce his decision on green belts and green barriers ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The Assembly of Welsh Counties submitted its advice on strategic planning guidance in Wales, which includes its consideration of the green belt question in late July this year. My right hon. Friend is currently considering that advice.
Business Advice
Mr. Richards : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he intends to establish business centres offering easy access to business advice and support.
Mr. Redwood : Yes. I intend early next year to publish a prospectus inviting public and private sector organisations to make proposals for the formation of business centres. These will provide single points of access to advice and guidance for businesses and will have strong business leadership. I will approve a centre only if it reduces the overlap which currently exists. I will expect high-quality standards. They will provide services themselves, but will also be required to recognise the very substantial contribution that accountants, solicitors and others in the private sector make to the growth of local firms. The prospectus will be a challenge. I want to see imaginative responses.
Publicity Expenditure
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give the out-turn figures for publicity expenditure for the year 1992-93, the estimated out-turn for publicity expenditure for 1993-94, sub-divided by television, press and other categories ; and if he will make a statement concerning proposals for publicity expenditure in the next financial year.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 13 December 1993] : Publicity expenditure in 1992-93 and for the first seven months of 1993-94 is as follows :
|Television £000|Press £000 |Other £000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992-93 |77 |350 |1,547
1993-94 |- |<1>206 |<1>653
<1>Provisional out-turn.
A reliable estimate of expenditure for the remainder of 1993-94 is not available at present. My Department will
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shortly be carrying out an annual review of publicity expenditure plans for the remainder of 1993-94 and I will write to the hon. Member when the information is available in the new year. I aim to keep TV advertising to a minimum and then only for public information on items such as road safety and health.EMPLOYMENT
Disabled Employees (Quotas)
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list (a) the Government Departments, (b) next steps agencies and (c) public bodies which have been issued with certificates exempting them from fulfilling quota obligations on the employment of disabled people in each of the last three years.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : It has been the policy of successive Governments to treat as confidential information about the issue of permits under the quota scheme to individual employers and not to disclose it without their permission. Government Departments and agencies are not legally bound by quota legislation and do not have to apply for permits.
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list those employers currently utilising his Department's two-tick logo denoting good practice in the employment of disabled people.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Dafydd Wigley, dated 16 December 1993 :
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your Question requesting a list of those employers currently utilising the disability symbol (the "two -ticks logo") denoting good practice in the employment of disabled people.
Unfortunately I am unable to enclose a full national list with this reply. As you may know, the disability symbol was first introduced in 1990. It was reviewed towards the end of 1992 and, in order to clarify its meaning and improve its impact, we have introduced changes to the initiative which came into effect on 1 June this year. We now require employers using the symbol to make five specific commitments to good practice in the areas of recruiting, consulting and retaining disabled people, developing disability awareness and reviewing the effectiveness of the commitments in the organisation. These changes have meant that the earlier symbol users needed to re-examine their practices and, in some cases, to introduce changes before confirming whether or not they would continue to use the symbol. My field disability service has been working to contact all symbol users, discuss the new commitments and confirm which employers would continue under the new arrangements. Former symbol users not able to make the commitments have been asked to cease using the symbol.
Although we have recently compiled a draft list of symbol users throughout the country, we are not yet satisfied that old users of the symbol who are not continuing as symbol users have been fully weeded out. It is, of course, very important that we are able to provide a full and accurate list of organisations using the symbol and we are reluctant to publish it until we have had a further opportunity to check its accuracy.
The checking process is now in hand and I would hope to write to you again with a full national list as soon as it is practicable. In the meantime, I enclose for your information a
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checked list of large company symbol users with whom our Major Organisations Development Unit has been working closely.Employing people with a disability
The disability symbol
Companies using the symbol
Anglia Television
B and Q
Bank of England
Bank of Scotland
Barclays Bank
The Body Shop
Boots (dealt with by Nottinghamshire PACT)
British Nuclear Fuels
Central TV
Channel 4
Ford Motor Company
Forte plc
George Wimpey
Granada Television
Halifax Building Society
IBM
Iceland
John Menzies
Lloyds Bank
London Weekend Television
Midland Bank
National Westminster Bank
Nationwide Building Society
Pearl Assurance
Pizza Hut
Post Office Corporation
Rank Organisation
Royal Bank of Scotland
Safeways
Sainsburys
Tesco
Woolwich Building Society
Note : --The above list includes symbol users among the major companies dealt with by the Employment Service Major Organisations Development Unit. It does not constitute a full national list of symbol users. (Correct at 15 December 1993).
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the total number of certificates issued to companies in each year since 1979 allowing exemptions from quota obligations for the employment of disabled people.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Dafydd Wigley, dated 16 December 1993 :
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your Question about how many certificates allowing exemptions from quota obligations for the employment of disabled people have been issued to companies in each year since 1979.
It may help if I briefly explain employers' duties and obligations under the provisions of the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944. The Act places a duty on employers who have twenty or more workers to employ a quota of registered disabled people. It is not an offence to be below Quota. However, when in this situation, an employer has a further duty under the Act to engage suitable registered disabled people if any are available when vacancies arise. An employer who is below Quota must not engage anyone other than registered disabled person without first obtaining a permit to do so, and must not discharge a registered disabled person without reasonable cause. Permits may be issued to authorise the engagement of one or more people for specific vacancies. However the majority of employers who are granted permits receive bulk permits. These authorise the engagement of a specified number of people who are
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not registered as disabled, during a period of up to six months. Bulk permits do not grant exemption from employers' duties and obligations under the Act.We do not collect figures centrally on the numbers of permits issued overall. I am, therefore, unable to provide the precise information you asked for. However, I am able to provide figures on the numbers of employers that were below Quota on 1 June each year from 1979 onwards, who had been issued with permits at some stage in the previous 12 months. This information is in the attached table. I hope this is helpful.
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