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The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council introduces an independent pay scheme in 1994.The Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils will come into being on 1 April 1995.
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment he has made of (a) the benefits and (b) the disbenefits of commissioning private sector lawyers to draft legislation.
Mr. David Hunt: The Chancellor of the Exchequer intends to conduct a pilot scheme in which private sector lawyers would draft part of the 1996 Finance Bill. The Government will assess carefully the results of this pilot to see whether the work of parliamentary counsel can usefully be supplemented in this way.
Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will list in each remaining large mental hospital, by district and region, in Wales, how many in-patients are long stay, with over a year in hospital care and how many were admitted before 1971; (2) if he will list the remaining large mental hospitals still open, by region and health district, in Wales, together with the number of patients, their age, the number of available beds and the estimated date of closure in each case;
(3) if he will list the large mental hospitals open, giving in each case the number of patients, their age, the number of available beds and the estimated date of closure by region and health district in Wales;
(4) how many in-patients (a) are long stay with over one year in hospital care and (b) where admitted before 1971 in each remaining large mental hospital, giving the figures by district and region.
Mr. Richards: Information on the number of resident patients, their length of stay and age, as at 31 March 1993, and the number of beds, as at February 1995, is given in the table.
Resident Patients as at 31 March 1993 Duration of Stay Age (a) |Number of beds as DHA and Hospital |Total |>1 yr |>25 yrs |>16 |16-64 |65+ |at February 1995 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clwyd: North Wales (b) |224 |71 |2 |0 |155 |61 |236 East Dyfed: St. Davids |225 |105 |3 |1 |128 |95 |284 Gwent: Pen Y Fal |277 |184 |1 |1 |84 |180 |130 St. Cadoc's |186 |80 |0 |1 |64 |119 |236 Mid Glamorgan: Glanrhyd |298 |184 |7 |1 |101 |186 |164 Powys: Mid Wales |172 |104 |10 |0 |61 |104 South Glamorgan: Whitchurch |240 |107 |2 |8 |121 |110 |266 West Glamorgan: Cefn Coed |265 |83 |0 |1 |126 |133 |298 Source: Psychiatric Census 1993, unpublished information provided by health authorities, 1995. (a) Excluding age not known. (b) North Wales is due to close in September 1995.
Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will list the large mental hospitals which have closed in Wales, by region and district, and the present use of their sites;
(2) if he will list any region and district those large mental hospitals which have closed in each of the last five years; and if he will give the present use of their sites.
Mr. Richards: Parc hospital, Mid Glamorgan closed in September 1994. The site was sold to the Home Office for use as a grade 2 prison.
Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, (1) if he will list the remaining large mental hospitals, by region and district, which are still admitting (a) in-patients and (b) acute admissions;
(2) if he will list the large mental hospitals which are still admitted (a) in-patients and (b) acute admissions by region and district.
Mr. Richards: All remaining large mental illness hospitals, listed as follows, are still admitting patients:
Clwyd--North Wales
East Dyfed--St. David's
Gwent--Pen y Fal
--St. Cadoc's
Mid Glamorgan--Glanrhyd
Powys--Mid Wales
South Glamorgan--Whitechurch
West Glamorgan--Cefn Coed
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received concerning the deregistration of Bryn Alyn Hall residential school; on what date these representations began; what investigations his Department undertook into the proper running of the school under the Children Act 1989; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood: I have not received specific representations concerning the registration of Bryn Alyn Hall school. The Welsh Office Education Department, through Her Majesty's inspectors of schools, has been monitoring standards at the school and is currently considering the report of HMI's latest inspection. The Welsh Office has not investigated the running of the school under the Children Act, but I understand that the Clwyd social services department has inspected the welfare of children accommodated there in the light of its responsibilities under section 87 of that Act.
Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if he will list for 1993 94 the expenditure on staff cars for
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(a) regional health authorities, (b) district health authorities and (c) hospital trusts in Wales.Mr. Richards: The information requested is not held centrally.
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement explaining how he took into account the teachers' pay award when allocating revenue support grant to county councils.
Mr. Richards: My right hon. Friend's 1995 96 local government settlement decisions took account of Welsh local authorities' need to spend and their ability to make efficiency savings. They also reflected the Government's view that public sector pay increases should be paid for through improved performance. Revenue support grant in support of spending is allocated between local authorities in accordance with distribution formulae agreed annually with the local authority associations. The formulae for county councils take account of pupil numbers and the relative costs of teaching them.
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the cost of implementing the teachers' pay award for each local education authority in Wales; and if he will give figures for employers' contribution to (a) national insurance and (b) pensions in addition to the direct wage costs.
Mr. Richards: The teachers' pay award will cost local education authorities in Wales about £16 million. This excludes the cost of national insurance and pension contributions which cannot be separately identified. I have not estimated the cost to each LEA.
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will list the schools which are holding significant balances in their budgets without plans for how the money should be spent, by local education authority;
(2) if he will list those schools which had deficit budgets at the end of the 1993 94 financial year for schools, by local education authority.
Mr. Richards: Budgetary details of individual LEA-maintained schools are contained in financial outturn statements that LEAs are required to prepare under section 42 of the Education Reform Act 1988. Copies of the statements for the financial year ending 31 March 1994 have been placed in the Library of the House. Comparable figures for grant-maintained schools are given in the following table.
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Grant-maintained |£ school ------------------------------------------------------------------ Bryn Elian, Clwyd |77,480 Derwen, Clwyd |30,054 Eirias, Clwyd |214,357 Emrys ap Iwan, Clwyd |111,062 Maelor, Clwyd |34,670 Pen-y-Bryn, Clwyd |-1,546 Brynmawr, Gwent |6,918 Cwmcarn, Gwent |-18,510 Our Lady and St Michaels, Gwent |272 St. Albans, Gwent |35,095 Caergeiliog, Gwynedd |36,729 Llanerfyl, Powys |30,213 St. Cyres, South Glamorgan |100,993 Stanwell, South Glamorgan |118,129 Bishop Vaughan, West Glamorgan |69,542
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what further progress there has been on the acquisition of land for the purposes of a bird sanctuary, adjudged to be comparable with the loss of wetland wading birds' feeding grounds at Cardiff bay; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood: The Cardiff Bay development corporation is discussing the statutory processes for acquiring land with the Land Authority for Wales.
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the chairman of the Countryside Council for Wales concerning the progress on the bird mitigation measures proposed in consequence of the loss of wader wetlands feeding grounds at Cardiff bay.
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what are the dates of instalment payments of urban investment grant paid by the Cardiff Bay development corporation to Grosvenor Waterside plc with respect to the development of accommodation for the relocation of NCM Ltd. from the Crown buildings, Cathays Park.
Mr. Redwood: Payment of UIG within the urban development area is an operational matter for the Cardiff Bay development corporation and the chief executive will respond to the hon. Member in writing.
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what consultations he has had with the chairman of the Cardiff Bay development corporation concerning the payment of urban investment grant to Grosvenor Waterside with respect to the provision of a pre-let office block to accommodate NCM Ltd. on its relocation from Crown buildings, Cathays Park.
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, further to his press release of 10 February, what provision he will make for the Queen's counsel appointed under section 81 of the Children Act 1989 in respect of child abuse in north Wales to investigate his relevant departmental files.
Mr. Redwood: The QC will have full access to all relevant papers held by my Department.
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Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the chairman of South Glamorgan health authority concerning the funding of the new access road and flyover connecting the Eastern avenue--A48--trunk road and the University hospital of Wales.
Mr. Redwood: I met with the chairman of South Glamorgan health authority on 8 March 1994 to discuss a wide range of issues.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he is taking to increase the percentage of aid money spent on children's health, educational and developmental needs.
Mr. Baldry: One aid programme priority objective is effective support for the development of education and basic health services. The activities we support will help meet the needs of children and young people.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what percentage of the United Kingdom aid budget is currently on (a) primary health care, (b) nutrition and malnutrition, (c) education, (d) immunisation programmes, (e) job creation and (f) infrastructure.
Mr. Baldry: The information requested is given in the table for 1993 94, the latest year for which information is available. Percentage of ODA bilateral aid which is allocable by sector spent on selected sectors, 1993 94.
Primary Health Care--7.5 per cent.
Nutrition and Malnutrition--0.04 per cent.
Education--17.6 per cent.
Immunisation Programmes--n/a
Job Creation--n/a
Infrastructure--n/a
Notes
Over £270,000 was spent on specific nutrition and malnutrition projects in 1993 94. Many other projects also contained a nutrition and malnutrition element, but are part of wider projects and thus not included in these figures.
The ODA's management information system does not separately identify expenditure on immunisation, job creation and
infrastructure. It is therefore not possible to identify expenditure on those sectors except at a disproportionate cost.
Miss Lestor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of development aid to the education sector is allocated to expanding non-formal education.
Mr. Baldry: In 1993 94, the latest year for which information is available, 0.5 per cent. of identifiable expenditure on aid to the education sector was allocated to non-formal education projects. This amounted to £569,000.
In addition, other significant bilateral project expenditure, for which figures are not centrally held, gave support to the non-formal education sector.
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Miss Lestor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what measures are taken by his Department to ensure the full participation of vulnerable groups in the design, implementation and evaluation of Overseas Development Administration projects.
Mr. Baldry: The Overseas Development Administration gives a high priority to issues of participation and ownership. A range of methods are currently being deployed to ensure that all stakeholders, including vulnerable groups, participate in the design, implementation and evaluation of projects.
Miss Lestor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which of the options under consideration in the current draft declaration of the world summit on social development contained in paragraph 88 and concerning the provision of aid resources for priority human needs the Government are intending to support.
Mr. Baldry: We support the aim of increasing resources for basic human development priorities. We welcome the recognition in the social summit draft declaration of the responsibilities of developing countries' Governments to provide services to their people, but we have doubts about the value of assigning specific targets to either donors or recipients of aid, not least because of data measurement and comparability issues. The quality of basic services is as important as their coverage. We shall therefore not be supporting options 1 or 2 of paragraph 88(c) of the draft programme of action.
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the British delegation to the United Nations social summit in Copenhagen will support the proposal to reserve 20 per cent. of the aid given to developing countries by donor nations and 20 per cent. of the budgets of poorer nations for social projects such as improved access to education and health care.
Mr. Baldry: We support the aim of increasing resources for basic human development priorities. We welcome the recognition in the social summit draft declaration of the responsibilities of developing countries' Governments to provide services to their people, but we do not favour assigning specific targets to either donors or recipients of aid, not least because of data measurement and comparability issues. The quality of basic services is as important as their coverage.
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will promote, at the world summit on social development, proposals that require donors to reduce the amount of tied aid in their programme.
Mr. Baldry: No. The world summit on social development has a different focus, and would not be a suitable forum for pursuing aid-tying issues.
Mr. Tony Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will pursue at the world summit on social development the proposal for a limited sale of International Monetary Fund gold stocks to assist those developing countries for whom multilateral debt is a significant problem.
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Mr. Baldry: My right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of Exchequer proposed limited sale of IMF gold stocks as a part of his initiative on multilateral debt. We shall encourage participants at the summit to support the Chancellor's initiative.
We hope that further progress will be made when the initiative is discussed at the spring meetings of the IMF and World bank in April.
Miss Lestor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what efforts his Department are making to support measures taken by developing countries to eradicate poverty; and how his Department will strengthen the capacity of poor countries to assess the impact of international policies and programmes on the poorest people.
Mr. Baldry: The main aim of the aid programme, as stated in ODA's mission statement, is to
"help people in countries poorer than our own improve their lives." Accordingly, all the UK's objectives for the aid programme are concerned with poverty reduction.
ODA assists poor countries to strengthen their capacity to assess the impact of international policies and programmes on the poorest people in a number of ways--for example:
(a) by participating in World Bank poverty assessments, which have been carried out in a number of countries, ODA aims to improve poor countries' information on poverty and promote increased ownership by countries of policies and programmes;
(b) by undertaking a three-year collaborative research project with the NGO Action Aid, ODA is developing output indicators for poverty projects from the perspectives of the intended beneficiaries, project managers and aid donors;
(c) by supporting a three-year research programme by the Institute of Development Studies on the relative impact on the poor of direct poverty reduction projects in comparison with economic reform policies.
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his share of voting power at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Mr. Baldry: The United Kingdom's current share is 8.97 per cent.
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in what ways the policy of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development differs from that of the World bank or other Government-funded development banks.
Mr. Baldry: The EBRD and the World bank work closely in the countries of central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to foster the transition towards open, market-oriented economies. The EBRD has a specific remit to promote private and entrepreneurial initiative and provides project finance only. It is not involved in policy-based sector or balance of payments lending.
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to what extent the
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European Bank for Reconstruction and Development invests in projects of human resource development including education and health initiatives.Mr. Baldry: The bank supports regional training institutions relevant to its project investments and provides consultancy support to individual enterprises to develop management capacity. The education and health sectors are not priority areas for the bank.
Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what funds have been committed to tobacco growing and processing in developing countries in each of the past 10 years by (a) the World bank and (b) the Overseas Development Administration.
Mr. Baldry [holding reply 22 February 1995]: We are in touch with the World bank about the information requested and I will write to the hon. Member once we have a response.
As for the Overseas Development Administration, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for York (Mr. Bayley) on 25 November 1994, Official Report , column 425.
Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the outcome of the recent international meeting to discuss the replenishment of the International Development Association.
Mr. Baldry [holding reply 22 February 1995]: This was the second in a series of meetings expected to continue throughout 1995. Donors discussed IDA's approach to development effectiveness, and the challenges faced by both donors and recipients in the poorest countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa. There was also a preliminary exchange of views on such issues as regional allocations, support for structural adjustment and multilateral debt.
Dr. Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the total amount of United Kingdom aid to Pakistan in the last year for which figures are available.
Mr. Baldry: Britain provided £48.2 million of aid in 1993 94. This included £24.4 million of Commonwealth Development Corporation investment, £16.5 million of ODA project aid, £4.2 million of emergency aid and £3 million of debt relief.
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what aid has been given to the Saharwi refugees of Western Sahara in each of the last three years, and what is planned for the forthcoming year.
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