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WALES

Air Pollution

Mr. Dafis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on how many occasions air pollution levels have exceeded recommended official Government levels in each county and for Wales as a whole, in each of the last three years for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [470]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: There are currently four European directives on air quality which set mandatory and non-mandatory limits for lead, sulphur dioxide and suspended particles, nitrogen dioxide and ozone levels in the air.

In the last three years the relevant thresholds were breached at Government monitoring sites in Wales as follows:

			Number of Exceedences
Limit	Site	1992	1993	1994
Taken on a daily basis:
Ozone information	Aston Hill	3 days	1 day	1 day
threshold	Cardiff	2 days	--	1 day
Taken on an annual basis:
Guide value for SO2	Cwmgwrach	Exc.	--	--
	Port Talbot	Exc.	--	--
	Glynneath	Exc.	Exc.	Exc.
Taken on an annual basis:
Guide value for suspended particles	Wrexham	--	Exc.	--

Exc.= Exceeded the Guide values, based on the average daily readings taken over the year.

Further information is available in the environmental digest for Wales and the report "Air Pollution in the UK 1993-94", copies of which are in the Library of the House.

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Emergency Hospital Beds

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy to require each NHS trust to publish information regarding the frequency of closure of admittance to emergency hospital beds. [638]

Mr. Richards: I have no such proposals, but I would expect trusts to make this information available locally on request.

Mr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the frequency of the closure of admittance to emergency hospital beds, expressing the number of beds so closed as a proportion of the total number of hospital beds and indicating the percentage increase or decrease, in each case, for each NHS trust and for Wales as a whole for the last two years for which information is available. [898]

Mr. Richards: Operational information of this kind is not held centrally.

Out-of-town Superstores

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if he will list all out-of-town superstores (a) for which planning applications were made and (b) for which planning consent was granted since 1990, indicating the dates; and if he will make a statement. [1085]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: This information is not collected centrally.

Correspondence

Mr. Dafis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if it is the policy of his Department for Ministers to reply to hon. Members' letters in the language requested by those hon. Members. [1767]

Mr. Hague: If an hon. Member requests that we reply in Welsh or in English we will comply with that request.

Legislative Repeals

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what legislation from his Department passed in the last five years contains provision for statutory repeal or review. [2039]

Mr. Hague: My Department has been responsible for promoting a small number of Bills in the last five years. None contains provision for statutory repeal or review.

Small and Medium Enterprises

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what percentage of his Department's expenditure in 1994-95 was spent on procuring goods or services from small and medium enterprises. [1959]

Mr. Hague: The information requested is not held centrally.

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Dry Stone Walls

Ms Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what (a) grants and (b) other support will be available from his Department for the conservation and protection of dry stone walls from April 1996. [2328]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: Grants for the restoration, conservation and protection of dry stone walls are available from the Welsh Office in those parts of Wales which are designated as environmentally sensitive areas and those areas which come under the Tir Cymen pilot scheme administered by the Countryside Council for Wales. Support under these schemes will continue beyond April 1996.

Assistance towards the provision, replacement or improvement of walls is also available throughout Wales under the farm and conservation grant scheme which is currently due to end on 19 February 1996. I have asked my officials to investigate the possibilities that may exist to enable the continuation in Wales of grant aid for capital works--including dry stone walling--that are available under the scheme. We shall make an announcement in due course.

SCOTLAND

Hospital Closures

Mr. Robin Cook: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many closure proposals are currently being

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submitted by NHS trusts and boards with regard to long-term stay in Scotland; and if he will list the hospitals targeted for closure. [1272]

Mr. Michael Forsyth: I have approved the closure of Gartloch, Woodilee, Gogarburn, Broomhill and Lochmaddy hospitals. All will remain open until such time as the planned reprovision of accommodation and services are in place and available.

Proposals affecting Lochgreen, Lennos Castle, Craig Dunain and Eastbank hospitals have been submitted by the respective health boards for my consideration.

Closure proposals are a matter for the health boards. Before they are presented for my decision the health boards must conduct a public consultation exercise in every case. On receipt of closure proposals I look for confirmation that genuine consultations have taken place; that the reprovision arrangements are appropriate; and that the health board has agreed its proposals with the local social work and housing authorities.

District Nurses and Health Visitors

Mr. Robin Cook: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the numbers of district nurses and the numbers of health visitors employed in Scotland, broken down by real frequency and whole-time equivalents for the years between 1988 and 1995 inclusive. [1269]

Mr. Michael Forsyth: The information is set out in the tables.

27 Nov 1995 : Column: 475

Health visitors and district nurses(12): by qualification Headcount: at 30 September

	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	(13)1995
Health visitors	1,753	1,793	1,762	1,889	1,843	1,823	1,786	1,758
Health visitors(14)	1,609	1,651	1,612	1,676	1,640	1,630	1,609	1,588
Health visitor with combined duties(15)	144	142	150	213	203	193	177	170
District nurses	(16)3,220	2,727	2,702	2,696	2,687	2,650	2,672	2,691
District nurses(14)	(16)2,575	2,104	2,104	2,101	2,103	2,095	2,143	2,177
District nurse with combined duties(15)	645	623	598	595	584	555	529	514

Notes:

(12) Data from September 1991 are derived using a new occupation classification for nursing staff. This may have caused some discontinuities in the time series as previous misclassifications have been corrected.

(13) Data at 31 March 1995.

(14) The figures for health visitors and district nurses include some staff without an HV or DN qualification working in these fields, probably in a supporting role.

(15) Health visitors with combined duties including district nursing and vice versa are included under both categories in the table. (i.e., double counted).

(16) Data at 30 September 1988 include some qualified nurses working in the community but not necessarily as district nurses. In subsequent years these nurses have been reclassified. Source: National Manpower Statistics from payroll (NAMS) Information and Statistics Division.

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Health visitors and district nurses(17): by qualification Whole time equivalent: at 30 September

	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995(18)
Health visitors	1,655.3	1,696.3	1,653.5	1,751.2	1,692.4	1,663.7	1,613.5	1,588.3
Health visitors(19)	1,516.0	1,559.6	1,508.6	1,546.2	1,497.4	1,479.1	1,4431	1,424.0
Health visitor with combined duties(20)	139.3	136.7	144.9	205.0	195.0	184.6	170.4	164.4
District nurses	(21)2,555.1	2,318.0	2,281.2	2,239.4	2,201.4	2,187.5	2,177.0	2,188.2
District nurses(19)	(21)1,983.1	1,762.0	1,744.3	1,713.5	1,691.8	1,697.8	1,705.8	1,731.6
District nurse with combined duties(20)	572.0	556.0	536.9	525.9	509.6	489.7	471.2	456.6

Notes:

(17) Data from September 1991 are derived using a new occupation classification for nursing staff. This may have caused some discontinuities in the time series as previous misclassifications have been corrected.

(18) Data at 31 March 1995.

(19) The figures for health visitors and district nurses include some staff without an HV or DN qualification working in these fields, probably in a supporting role.

(20) Health visitors with combined duties including district nursing and vice versa are included under both categories in the table. (i.e. double counted).

(21) Data at 30 September 1988 include some qualified nurses working in the community but not necessarily as district nurses. In subsequent years these nurses have been reclassified. Source: National Manpower Statistics from payroll (NAMS) Information and Statistics Division.

27 Nov 1995 : Column: 477

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