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Welsh House Condition Survey
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he expects his Department to publish the next Welsh house condition survey.
Column 883
Mr. Gwilym Jones : I expect the results of the survey to be published in the spring.
Compulsory Competitive Tendering
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy to exempt public bodies from being required to put out to competitive contract activities costing less than £100,000 a year.
Mr. Redwood : No. Purchasing by public bodies should be based on value for money. Goods and services should be acquired by competition unless there are good reasons to the contrary.
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list for each public body for which he is responsible all activities costing less than £100,000 a year, together with the appropriate payments in each case, which they contracted out for competitive tender for the latest convenient financial year.
Mr. Redwood : This information is not held centrally.
Energy Efficiency Office
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to establish a Welsh Energy Efficiency Office on the lines of those that currently exist in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : There has been a regional energy efficiency office in the Welsh Office since 1983.
Industrial Aid
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much central Government money was spent on developing industry in Wales for each year since 1979 in (a) cash price and (b) 1993-94 prices.
Mr. Redwood : Expenditure through the Welsh Office's main schemes for business support is shown in the following table. The figures do not include grant-in-aid for development agencies in Wales, nor expenditure by DTI on United Kingdom-wide schemes.
|Cash prices<1>|1993-94
|000's |prices
|000's
------------------------------------------------------------
1979-80 |55,417 |136,208
1980-81 |111,500 |231,614
1981-82 |134,198 |254,177
1982-83 |131,766 |232,976
<2>1983-84 |85,359 |144,235
1984-85 |49,939 |80,347
1985-86 |105,090 |160,193
1986-87 |117,128 |173,465
1987-88 |76,726 |107,882
1988-89 |93,287 |122,915
1989-90 |68,542 |84,440
1990-91 |57,806 |65,900
1991-92 |74,147 |79,496
1992-93 |70,927 |73,232
<3>1993-94 |77,188 |77,188
<1> Expenditure comprises regional development grant,
regional selective assistance, regional enterprise grant,
and exchange risk guarantee scheme.
<2> Figures for regional development grant up to 1983-84
are gross of receipts. All other figures are net of
receipts.
<3> Latest provision.
Column 884
Assisted Places Scheme
Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much the Welsh Office has spent on the operation of the assisted places scheme in each year since 1981 ; how many pupils have been covered by the scheme since 1981 ; and if there was any overspend on the budget allocated in each of these years.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The information is as follows :
Year |Cost of |Number of |Overspend
|assisted places|pupils in
|scheme |assisted places
|scheme
|£ |£
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1981-82 |160,783 |114 |-
1982-83 |274,777 |220 |-
1983-84 |459,626 |318 |-
1984-85 |626,876 |403 |-
1985-86 |842,488 |495 |-
1986-87 |1,519,772 |580 |429,772
1987-88 |1,394,246 |622 |47,246
1988-89 |1,359,681 |633 |-
1989-90 |1,589,392 |631 |-
1990-91 |1,756,283 |634 |-
1991-92 |2,064,813 |662 |116,813
1992-93 |2,457,230 |700 |57,230
Wind Power
Mr. John Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his national policy for Wales for wind farms.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : The Government's policy is to stimulate the development of renewable energy sources, including wind power, wherever they have prospects of being economically attractive and environmentally acceptable in order to contribute to diverse, secure and sustainable energy supplies.
Mr. John Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many wind farms have so far been constructed, or have been approved ; and for how many planning applications are pending.
Mr. Gwilym Jones : As at the beginning of February 1994, the operational status of wind farms in Wales under the non-fossil fuel renewables orders 1 and 2 was :
|Number
---------------------------------
Generating |6
Under construction |2
Planning approved |2
Information on planning applications pending is not collected by the Welsh Office.
Equipment Thefts
Mr. Menzies Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish a list of the equipment stolen from his Department in the last three years for which information is available ; and what was the approximate value of each item.
Mr. Redwood : Details of equipment stolen from the Department during the last three financial years are set out in the following tables :
Column 885
|£
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Financial Year 1990-91
Wax jacket |\
Camera |/ |780.30
|----
|780.30
Financial Year 1991-92
Desk top calculator |25.00
Office equipment |70.00
Radio/cassette player |133.50
1 generator |\
1 microwave | |
1 strimmer | | |1,493.51
1 wheelbarrow |/
Tools |546.67
1 microwave |140.00
Landrover wheel, tyre and padlock |418.58
Radio telephone and various lifejackets |759.28
|----
|3,586.54
Financial Year 1992-93
Radio/cassette player |168.50
Radio/cassette player |168.50
Laptop computer |2,000.00
Pallet truck |150.00
|----
|2,487.00
Column 886
A55 Conwy Tunnel
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the original tender price for the A55 Conwy tunnel project ; what is his current estimate of the final cost of the contract ; and how much of any estimated increase in cost is due to matters other than price inflation provisions within the contract.
Mr. Redwood : The tender price for the main contract for the A55 Conwy crossing project was £102 million. The final cost, excluding the price inflation provision within the contract, is of the order of £144.5 million. Most of the increase reflects the unforeseen circumstances encountered during the contruction of this large and complex scheme. Price inflation provision accounts for around a further £18 million.
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he is taking to ensure that Welsh interests are represented on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
Mr. Redwood : Consideration is currently being given to appointing a suitable candidate from Wales.
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