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Algrade Trust

Mr. Home Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland further to the Lord Advocate's letter of 24 July

5 Dec 1995 : Column: 172

1995, what evidence he has that one of the new trustees of the Algrade Trust has a background in the specialist teaching of people with learning difficulties. [3338]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The evidence comes from an account of the qualifications of the new trustees given by their legal advisers. One of the trustees is Mrs. Ethel Marsh, Dip.C.E. who was head teacher of the James Gillespie school between 1976 and 1993. This lady was the convenor of the primary, nursery and special section of the Lothian Head Teachers Association involving the educational needs for pupils with special learning difficulties.

Mr. Home Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a further statement on the investigation of the affairs of the Algrade Trust by the Scottish Charities Office, with special reference to the underspending of money paid to the trust for the care and accommodation of handicapped people; the expenditure by the trust on the purchase of properties and the conveyancing of property purchased with trust funds to other parties. [3339]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The Scottish Charities Office continues to make inquiries into the past circumstances of the Algrade Trust, including its accounting and expenditure as well as the purchase and conveyance of properties. The nature and extent of these inquiries is such that it will be some time before they are completed and the results are known.

Planning, Industrial and Economic Development Advisers--PIEDA

Dr. Hendron: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on how many occasions his Department has commissioned PIEDA to carry out educational reports. [3184]

Mr. Raymond S. Robertson: PIEDA was commissioned in August 1995 to carry out a study of the funding of further education in the islands. The study covers Orkney, Shetland and Lewis where there are existing further education colleges. The study is due to report by the end of 1995. PIEDA has also carried out work in the educational sector in Scotland which has been commissioned by others.

Long-stay Beds

Mr. Robin Cook: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the numbers of long-stay beds in the NHS in Scotland in 1990, broken down to show the numbers for the (a) elderly, (b) psychiatry, (c) learning difficulties and (d) chronic young sick, categories; what are the figures under these categories for 1 April; and if he will estimate in these categories the number of available long-stay beds in the NHS in Scotland by (i) 1 April 1998 and (ii) 1 April 2000. [3445]

Mr. Michael Forsyth: Future bed numbers in each health board area are a matter for local determination based on a thorough assessment of local health needs.

The information requested for 1990 and 1995 is as follows:

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NHS and joint-user and contractual hospitals in Scotland-- average available staffed NHS beds; by selected specialty; years ending 31 March

	1990	1995
All selected beds	29,218	22,231
Geriatric long stay	9,132	7,442
Psychiatric specialities	14,407	11,034
Learning difficulties	5,283	3,468
Young chronic sick	396	287

1. The figures in the table relate to long stay beds for geriatric and young chronic sick patients, and to total beds for psychiatric and learning difficulty patients. Around 40 per cent. of psychiatric beds and 10 per cent. of learning difficulty beds are used for the care of short stay patients. 2. The figures show information on the average daily number of available staffed beds. This indicates the number of beds which are staffed and are available for the reception of in-patients and day cases.

Minebea Electronics

Dr. Godman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much money has been paid to Minebea Electronics, Kelburn business park, Port Glasgow, in public grants; and what is the type of grant aid by which such money was given to the company. [2794]

Mr. Kynoch [holding answer 4 December 1995]: None. The company has, however, accepted an offer of regional selective assistance. No payments have, as yet, been made; in the event of a payment being made, details of the RSA offer will be published in "Labour Market Trends".

Forestry Planting (Greenlawdean)

Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he expects to be in a position to make a decision about the outstanding forestry planting application at Greenlawdean in Berwickshire; and if he will make a statement. [3564]

Mr. Kynoch: My noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Scotland visited Greenlawdean on November 13 and has decided not to call for an environmental assessment of the forestry planting proposals.

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Asbestos (East Kilbride)

Mr. Ingram: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when the management of East Kilbride development corporation first became aware of the presence of asbestos in the internal construction of houses in the Telford road area of the new town; and when the board of development corporation was notified of the problem. [4121]

Mr. Kynoch: Officials at the development corporation were formally advised of the presence of asbestos in the corporation's homes in Telford road on 1 February 1995. The board was notified on 14 March 1995.

ENVIRONMENT

Rural Businesses

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has made of the number of rural businesses which have closed in each year since 1990. [2573]

Mr. Clappison: We do not hold information in this form.

Battersea Power Station

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what discussion he has had, and with whom, regarding the future development of Battersea power station; and if he will make a statement. [3172]

Sir Paul Beresford: None. Discussions are continuing between Wandsworth council, English Heritage and the owners about the future of the Battersea power station site. The Government are not party to those discussions but would like to see the future development of this important site on the River Thames resolved as soon as possible.

Dorset County Council

Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment by how much in monetary and percentage terms Dorset county council has budgeted to overspend or underspend on each of its standard spending assessments for the current year. [3443]

Sir Paul Beresford: The following is the information.

5 Dec 1995 : Column: 173

Dorset county council budgeted net revenue expenditure compared to SSA, 1995-96

	SSA	Budgeted net revenue expenditure		Difference
	£ million	£ million	£ million	Percentage
Education	198.0	213.5	15.5	7.8
Personal social services	77.6	73.8	-3.8	-4.9
Fire	12.4	14.4	2.0	16.1
Highway maintenance	24.8	26.1	1.3	5.2
Other services	25.4	30.7	5.3	20.9
Capital financing	20.1	0.1	-20.0	-99.5
Total	358.3	358.6	0.3	0.1

Note: Budgeted net revenue expenditure for the first five SSA blocks include an estimate of capital expenditure charged to revenue account-- CERA--calculated by apportioning the total CERA of £27.4 million as reported by Dorset county council, to those SSA blocks in proportion to net current expenditure.

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Revenue Support Grant

Sir Irvine Patnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much revenue support grant was paid to each metropolitan district for 1994-95; and what was the percentage movement from the previous year. [3198]

Sir Paul Beresford: The information is as follows:

Table to show the 1994-95 RSG for the metropolitan districts, and the percentage change relative to the previous year

Local authority	1994-95 RSG (£ million)	Percentage increase over 1993-94
Bolton	101.883	5.7
Bury	51.112	20.6
Manchester	273.804	2.4
Oldham	97.549	6.6
Rochdale	90.838	9.9
Salford	100.055	8.3
Stockport	71.991	6.0
Tameside	77.076	8.8
Trafford	67.227	5.6
Wigan	101.827	19.4
Knowsley	93.268	8.0
Liverpool	267.523	-0.3
Sefton	98.886	14.6
St. Helens	69.749	11.4
Wirral	128.889	8.7
Barnsley	72.868	22.4
Doncaster	118.287	14.7
Rotherham	93.795	16.4
Sheffield	197.476	14.8
Gateshead	86.866	14.0
Newcastle upon Tyne	125.898	12.8
North Tyneside	71.868	15.5
South Tyneside	66.138	11.6
Sunderland	130.167	15.8
Birmingham	538.753	-1.1
Coventry	123.711	0.3
Dudley	87.861	13.3
Sandwell	129.213	1.4
Solihull	48.024	5.7
Walsall	110.911	14.9
Wolverhampton	114.446	-6.0
Bradford	242.052	1.8
Calderdale	71.680	8.9
Kirklees	136.948	3.4
Leeds	259.446	11.7
Wakefield	107.079	23.2

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