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Cardiff Bay Opera House
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations, on how many occasions, and on which dates he has had with the members of the Millennium Commission on the proposed Cardiff Bay opera house. [11210]
Mr. Hague: I have had no such consultations. The chairman of the commission notified me, shortly before the public announcement, of the conclusions the commission had reached about the opera house application.
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on how many occasions consultants working for the Millennium Commission on the proposed Cardiff Bay opera house have contacted his Department. [11209]
Cancer Registration
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of Wednesday 17 January, Official Report, column 559, if he will ensure that the new management of the Cancer Registry provides up-to-date cancer registration statistics. [11214]
Mr. Hague: The invitation for proposals to manage the Cancer Registry issued to Velindre and the combined centres set out clear performance targets that the successful organisation will be expected to meet. These targets include a timetable by which the backlog of registrations should be cleared and a future maximum operational delay of one year for registration data.
Red Squirrels
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on his assessment of the red squirrel population over the last decade and the measures he proposes to promote re-population of red squirrels; and if he will make a statement. [8918]
Mr. Gwilym Jones: The red squirrel has continued to decline throughout Wales, as it has throughout southern Britain, over the past 10 years. Remnant populations are now confined to a few large conifer forests on the mainland and on Anglesey. This decline is at least partly attributed to the continued spread of the non-native grey squirrel. The Countryside Council for Wales, in partnership with the Forestry Commission research division, Forest Enterprise and Forestry Authority are continuing to research the habitat requirements of both red and grey squirrels in Clocaenog forest, Clwyd to identify ways in which conifer plantations can be managed to promote red and minimise grey squirrel populations. The same organisations are also considering a method of enhancing red squirrel populations on Anglesey, which involves reducing grey squirrel populations.
Wild Birds
Mr. Dafis:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the latest populations of
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wild bird species; what were the equivalent figures for 1985 and 1990; if he will indicate the estimated total and percentage change in each case; and if he will make a statement. [9023]
Mr. Gwilym Jones:
The most recent estimates of the populations of wild birds are presented in "The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland: 1988-91", Gibbons, Reid and Chapman, 1993. Earlier estimates were published in "The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland", Sharrock 1976. Trends in populations of wild birds are addressed in "Population trends in British Breeding Birds", Marchant et al, 1990.
Information on how the size of wild bird populations changes over time is collected and reported annually through specially designed monitoring schemes, including the breeding birds survey, the wetland bird survey and the common birds census.
Mr. William Ross:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many of the mobile telephones which have been supplied to his Department in each of the last five years have been cloned; and on what dates. [11013]
Mr. Hague:
One, on a number of occasions during August and September 1995.
Mr. Morgan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the average amount of time nurses undergoing project 2000 training are available for national health service hospital duty as a percentage of the figure for whole-time trainee nurses in employment; and if he will make a statement. [11206]
Mr. Morgan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on how many days each acute hospital in Wales was closed to emergency medical admissions in (a) 1993, (b) 1994 and (c) 1995. [11207]
Mr. Hague:
This information is not held centrally.
Mr. Morgan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what guidelines he has issued to the health authorities and national health service acute hospital trusts on assessing the need for emergency medical admissions beds; what representations he has received in relation to the joint meeting of these trusts with their commissioning authorities on 17 January; and if he will make a statement. [11208]
Mr. Hague:
Recognising the likely pressure on Welsh hospitals from emergency medical admissions over the Christmas and early new year period, my Department asked senior NHS managers and health care professionals to develop an action plan aimed at minimising the risk of disruption to patient services.
An outline plan was developed before Christmas and senior managers met on 17 January to review its implementation. My officials are in regular contact with
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those co-ordinating action in the NHS and are monitoring the position closely.
I have not received any representation on this issue following the meeting on 17 January 1996.
13. Mr. Chisholm:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the relative costs of bringing up children by lone-parents and by couples. [8801]
Mr. Burt:
There is no consistent evidence that the financial requirements of a lone-parent household in bringing up a child are different from those of a two-parent household, with the exception of a potentially greater need to pay for child care when the lone parent is in employment.
14. Mr. Tyler:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what steps he is taking to make the eligibility rules for income support and family credit for seasonal workers fully compatible. [8803]
Mr. Roger Evans:
The eligibility rules for seasonal workers in income support and family credit are compatible with the aims of the respective benefits. Where possible, the eligibility rules for these benefits are aligned.
15. Mr. Llwyd:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many representations he has received on the subject of the recent changes to the system of payment of housing benefit; and if he will make a statement. [8804]
Mr. Roger Evans:
We have received a number of representations regarding the changes which came into effect on 2 January. They were the subject of consultation with local authority associations and the Social Security Advisory Committee last year. The outcome of the SSAC consultations was published in Cm 2902 in July 1995.
22. Mrs. Fyfe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has had following the announcement of the change to housing benefit rules. [8812]
Mr. Evans:
There have been a number of representations to the Secretary of State on these changes. However, the proposals are still subject to consultation with local authority associations and the Social Security Advisory Committee. The committee's report will be published in March and my response to it will be published in a Command Paper later this year.
25. Mr. Milburn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the estimated cost of young people leaving local authority care who will require shared accommodation as a result of changes in housing benefit for the under 25-year-olds; and if he will make a statement. [8816]
Mr. Evans:
No separate estimate has been made.
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Under the proposed changes, young people who have been in the care of local authorities are to be treated no differently from other young people living independently.
Mr. Steinberg:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the total cost of housing benefit paid to homeless families living in bed-and-breakfast accommodation in the last year for which figures are available. [9260]
Mr. Evans:
The information is not available in the format requested. It is estimated that the cost of housing benefit paid to homeless families housed by local authorities as boarders, in 1994-95, was approximately £9 million.
Mr. Evans:
The information is set out in the table and relates to Great Britain only. My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is responsible for the administration of housing benefit in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Wigley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish in respect of each of the constituent nations of the United Kingdom and for the United Kingdom as a whole his estimate of the total cost to local authorities of administering the new rules on housing benefit introduced in January 1995; and if he will make a statement. [8782]
Notes:
1. Homeless is defined as those families accepted as homeless by the local authority and placed in accommodation by the local authority and paying rent to the local authority.
2. Families are defined as single people or couples with children.
3. Bed-and-breakfast accommodation is not directly identified by departmental statistics; the estimate relates to those counted as boarders--i.e. rent includes an amount for meals.
Source:
The annual 1 per cent. sample of housing benefit cases.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| England | 6.00 |
| Wales | 0.25 |
| Scotland | 0.75 |
| Total GB | 7.01 |
1. Totals include first year set up costs.
2. Individual figures do not sum because of rounding.
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