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7.40 pm
Mr. Martyn Jones (Clwyd, South-West): I shall speak briefly about the effects of the revenue support grant on services for my constituents and on the local authority
areas that are being formed from Clwyd. Unfortunately, I was unable to speak in the revenue support grant debate. Following it, during Welsh Questions on 19 February, I asked a question of the Secretary of State for Wales. I pointed out that, during the past two years, 411 teachers had gone from the Clwyd area but the number of pupils had grown by 710. I asked what he would say to the parents of pupils in my constituency. He did not tell me, but he said that I had not voted against the revenue support grant. I must put on record the fact that I was unable to attend the debate because I was in Brussels, on a day trip, on Select Committee business. I can assure the House that it was quite gruelling. We talked to Franz Fischler, the Agriculture Commissioner, about problems in agriculture which affect my area. There were three Tories with me who also did not vote--in their case for the revenue support grant--so I was on a winner there in terms of numbers.
The Chancellor's Budget last year assumed a freeze on local authority spending in 1996-97. All the signs are that, after the Budget, the situation is worse. His verdict on the settlement was that pay and price increases should be offset--or more than offset--by efficiency savings and other economies. How often have we heard that one? It takes no account of local authority associations' demand for a cash increase of 13 per cent. just to maintain services and cope with the growing demographic and legislative pressures of community care, rising pupil numbers, the new landfill tax and maintaining local roads. It is hard to see how local authorities in Wales will survive within the Government's capping limits.
In my constituency, the county borough council of Wrexham faces an additional burden--the costs and difficulties of coping with the effects of local government reorganisation. It and other councils in Wales face a very difficult year in 1996-97.
We all remember the Tory fiasco at the most recent local government elections. It is upsetting and frustrating to think that the Government's continuing cuts to local authorities may in part be due to their almost total lack of representation at that level of government. When a Government have become so distant from the people that they are prepared continually to slash local funding, in the knowledge that it will badly damage public services, it is dishonourable for them to cling to power. A grant settlement sufficient to prevent damage to our public services is vital.
I mentioned the horrendous cut in the number of teachers, which has resulted in an increase in class sizes in the Clwyd area--now Flintshire, Denbighshire and Wrexham, the new unitary authorities. I point out to hon. Members that, in future, I intend to use the word "Scottism", the dictionary definition of which will be: an example of Government incompetence wrapped up in layers of doublespeak, contradiction and paradox, with an abundant supply of Ministers reinterpreting the meaning of words to suit the occasion. An example of a Scottism is when a Government refuse to acknowledge "sophism" as the dictionary definition of a downright lie.
Examples of Scottisms are, as is to be expected, abundant in the Welsh Office, particularly in education. As I have said, we have 400 fewer teachers in Clwyd and an extra 700 pupils, yet we are supposed to believe that we have been given an increase in education funding.
Another concern is the nursery voucher scheme and its specific impact in Wales. There has been plenty of rhetoric from the Welsh Office but little in the way of hard facts and figures. How much will really be taken from each local authority to pay for the scheme? Do not the Government realise that nursery education--thanks to Labour authorities in Wales--is already provided by more than 90 per cent. of local authorities in Wales, and that the changeover to nursery vouchers will disrupt the system? The Welsh already pride themselves on nursery provision. A classic Scottism is the use of the word "nursery" in this case because, as Ministers should know, the word means different things in Wales and England, as Welsh children already enjoy it as part of local authority provision.
It is appropriate to note that the National Farmers Union in Wales reported this week farmers' disgust that the Government are to cut discretionary payments for the use of milk in schools and in school catering. Pupils will no longer benefit every day from receiving just under half a pint of low-cost milk. As hon. Members will know, the EU scheme enables schools to buy subsidised milk and milk products and pass on the benefits to children in the form of cheaper or free milk. Milk is an important nutritional element in the diet of children throughout the United Kingdom, providing them with the essential protein and calcium necessary for healthy development. The National Osteoporosis Society and nutrition experts have stated that drinking milk may help children to guard against osteoporosis in later life.
The growth and popularity of convenience foods, particularly sugary snacks, make the cut particularly worrying. The cut is disgraceful, bearing in mind the fact that it is being made at a time of widespread concern about the poor quality of child nutrition. It is another example of cost cutting at any cost and of the Government scrambling around to slash resources to patch up their own mismanagement.
I come now to the problems in the fire service. I shall quote from a letter that the north Wales fire authority sent me:
about £296,000--
It has written to the Home Secretary requesting him to meet a delegation so that it can raise the above and other issues of concern with him. A copy of that letter has been sent to the Secretary of State for Wales, so I hope that, in his winding-up speech, the Minister will say that the Secretary of State will support the authority's case to the Home Office. I hope that he will support it to the full.
We have heard about the problems of Theatr Clwyd. I believe that writing off the £1.3 million debt--although it sounds a lot of money--is not enough, because it is only a £200,000 revenue equivalent: in other words, the debt repayment is £200,000 a year. That means that the three remaining authorities in Clwyd will have to stump up at least £150,000. Wrexham, certainly, cannot afford that: it can probably afford only about £50,000.
Mr. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cirencester and Tewkesbury):
I am delighted to be able to speak in our annual St. David's day debate--and to be the only English contributor apart from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, which may enable me to speak objectively about Wales.
I intended to make two points. The first concerned the Sea Empress; the second concerned Labour's proposals for a Welsh assembly. My right hon. Friend's speech, however, was a breath of fresh air: he announced a huge number of new initiatives. I was particularly impressed by the devolution of policy from the Welsh Office to 22 free-standing authorities, which must be one of the largest such devolutions ever announced to the House. I would have expected all hon. Members--especially Opposition Members--to welcome that, as it represents the working of local democracy and gives Wales a greater say over its own affairs.
Mr. Win Griffiths:
My hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, West (Mr. Morgan) specifically welcomed a number of those announcements.
Mr. Clifton-Brown:
I am delighted that the bipartisan spirit is returning to our debate. Surely we all want as many businesses and as much inward investment as possible in the province. The Opposition's support for my right hon. Friend's excellent proposal will help to create the confidence that will produce the inward investment and business climate to which I have referred.
"At its Budget meeting on 13th February, 1996, the North Wales Fire Authority expressed concern regarding the extreme pressure under which it would be placed during its first year.
In particular, Members of the Fire Authority were informed that the financial pressure on its revenue budget had been increased by the very disappointing level of Basic Capital Allowance given by Central Government"--
"compared with the previous combined total for Gwynedd and Clwyd . . . in excess of £1.2m.
Such was Members' concern that they have asked for an urgent meeting with the Home Secretary to highlight the likely consequences of the Authority's problems . . . Also, on a national level, concern was expressed at the current situation regarding pensions liabilities which this Authority and others in England and Wales are faced with as an increasing burden on revenue and the need for a revision of policy by Central Government."
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