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North West Regional Railways Ltd.

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the total value of the assets transferred to North West Regional Railways Ltd. [3949]

Mr. Watts: The total value of net assets transferred to North West Regional Railways Ltd. was £9,649,000.

Mr. Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the annual cost to North West Regional Railways Ltd. of leasing the railway stations at (a) Nelson and (b) Colne from Railtrack. [3950]

Mr. Watts: Individual station lease charges are commercially confidential between Railtrack and the station operator concerned.

Waste Pharmaceuticals

Sir Mark Lennox-Boyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will modify the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road and Rail (Classification, Packaging and

6 Dec 1995 : Column: 275

Labelling) Regulations 1994 to allow the transport of waste pharmaceutical in containers of up to 60 litres in volume. [3547]

Mr. Norris: These regulations permit small receptacles of waste medicines to be exempted from certain transport provisions providing they are amalgamated in packagings of not more than 30kg in total. Any suggestion that such goods may be carried safely in larger receptacles should be made known to the Health and Safety Commission before 1 March 1996 in response to the current consultative document on the revision of the regulations.

Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how much capital expenditure is forecast to be included in the private finance initiative for the current financial year and the next five financial years; [3834]

(2) if he will list for each scheme so far agreed under the private finance initiative (a) capital and (b) revenue costs to public funds (i) under the PFI and (ii) estimated to have been incurred had the scheme been funded wholly within the public sector. [3808]

Mr. Watts: The amounts and timing of capital expenditure on PFI projects are subject to competition. Our current estimate for 1995-96 is around £330 million; estimates for the next three years are given in the "Financial Statement and Budget Report" 1996-97; no estimate of such capital expenditure has been made beyond the survey years.

As to public sector contributions to PFI transport schemes, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers I gave to him on 28 June at column 262 and 7 November at column 265. Financial details of individual schemes, including the level of on-going revenue payments from the public sector to the private sector over the contract period, are commercially confidential. The Department applies a value-for-money test to all its procurement decisions, including procurement under the private finance initiative.

WALES

NHS Trusts

Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list all NHS trusts (a) as of 30 November and (b) with effect from 1 April 1996. [4068]

Mr. Richards: The information requested is as follows:

(a) NHS Trusts in Wales as at 30 November 1995:
Pembrokeshire NHS Trust
Glan Clwyd Hospital NHS Trust
Wrexham Maelor Hospital NHS Trust
Clwydian Community Care NHS Trust
Powys Health Care NHS Trust
Glan Hafren NHS Trust
Gwent Community Health NHS Trust
Llandough Hospital and Community NHS Trust
Bridgend and District NHS Trust
Swansea NHS Trust

6 Dec 1995 : Column: 276

Llanelli/Dinefwr NHS Trust
Carmarthen and District NHS Trust
Ceredigion and Mid Wales NHS Trust
South and East Wales Ambulance NHS Trust
North Wales Ambulance NHS Trust
Derwen NHS Trust
Nevill Hall and District NHS Trust
Gwynedd Hospitals NHS Trust
Gwynedd Community Health NHS Trust
Rhondda Health Care NHS Trust
Mid Glamorgan Ambulance NHS Trust
Velindre NHS Trust
East Glamorgan NHS Trust
Morriston Hospital NHS Trust
Cardiff Community Healthcare NHS Trust
University Hospital of Wales Healthcare NHS Trust
University Dental Hospital NHS Trust
West Wales Ambulance NHS Trust
Glan-y-Mor NHS Trust (Shadow running until 1 April 1996)
(b) Trusts from 1 April 1996
The three remaining directly managed units in Wales, the Merthyr/Cynon health unit, the Rhymney Valley health unit and the Hensol health unit have submitted applications to acquire Trust status from April 1996. Three months public consultation on the applications commenced 25 September 1995. If these applications are successful, the Rhymney Valley Health Unit will be absorbed into the existing Glan Hafren NHS Trust, the Hensol Health Unit will merge with the existing Bridgend and District NHS Trust and the Merthyr/Cynon Health Unit will become the new North Glamorgan NHS Trust.

Rail Privatisation

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the consequences of rail privatisation in respect of Wales, and if he will make a statement. [2921]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: Privatisation is designed to improve the quality of infrastructure and rail services in Wales.

Cardiff Bay Barrage

Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if the date of impoundment of the Cardiff bay barrage will be conditional upon the prior provision of adequate alternative bird reserves being completed and in place as covered in the letter of 2 November from the Welsh Office regional development division to Mr. D. Gould. [3724]

Mr. Hague: The date of impoundment of the waters of Cardiff bay is not conditional upon completion of bird reserve compensation measures. However, the intention is to complete the bird reserve before the start of impoundment.

GP Fundholding

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the latest number of general practitioner fundholders in each county in Wales; how many applications to set up schemes are outstanding; and if he will make a statement. [4009]

6 Dec 1995 : Column: 277

Mr. Richards: There are 146 GP fundholding practices in Wales:

Clwyd: 21
Dyfed: 21
Gwent: 21
Gwynedd: 11
Mid Glamorgan: 11
Powys: 12
South Glamorgan: 24
West Glamorgan: 25.

A further 66 practices are preparing to start fundholding from next April.

Mr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what were the total administrative costs of running general practitioner fundholding schemes in each year since the inception of the schemes. [4008]

Mr. Richards: Reimbursement to general practitioner fundholders in respect of expenses covered by management allowances since the inception of the scheme is as follows:

	£ million
1990-91	0.112
1991-92	0.518
1992-93	1.677
1993-94	3.055
1994-95	3.759

Smoking

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his policy concerning smoking in public buildings in Wales; and if he will make a statement. [3856]

Mr. Richards: In December 1991, the Government published a non-statutory code of practice on smoking in public places, aimed at everyone with responsibility for monitoring the indoor environment of buildings frequented by the public. It suggests how exposure of the public to environmental tobacco smoke can be minimised, and provides guidance on suitable smoking policies for public places.

The Government believe that the voluntary approach has a greater chance of success than legislation because no-smoking policies produced in response to public pressure are more likely to be accepted and observed.

School Funding

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will meet the head teachers of John Summers high school, Elfed high school, Connah's Quay high school, Castell Alun high school, St. David's high school, and Hawarden high school to discuss his allocation of moneys and other resources for the next financial year. [4020]

Mr. Richards: It is for individual local authorities to determine how the resources that are made available are allocated between services, including education, in the

6 Dec 1995 : Column: 278

light of their statutory responsibilities and their perception of local needs and priorities. I suggest the schools pursue this matter with the relevant local authority.

Health Authorities

Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list all health authorities with effect from 1 April 1996. [4067]

Mr. Richards: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my right hon. Friend the Member for Conwy (Sir W. Roberts) on 2 November 1994 Official Report, columns 1139-40. by my right hon. Friend the then Secretary of State for Wales.

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