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Teachers' Pay Award

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the impact of the teachers' pay award on class sizes; and if he will make a statement. [18449]

Mr. Richards: Class sizes will depend upon decisions taken by local education authorities about the allocation of funding, the decisions taken by schools about the deployment of resources and by parents choosing the school they wish their child to attend. If local authorities decide to give priority to schools, we see no reason why class sizes should rise on average.

Bala-Dolgellau Main Road

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many representations he has received during the past two years on the Bryncoedifor section of the Bala-Dolgellau main road. [18620]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: There has been one item of ministerial correspondence and 10 letters from the public addressed to the Highways Directorate about the temporary traffic lights near Drws y Nant on the A494 trunk road.

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when work will commence on the Bryncoedifor section of the Bala to Dolgellau main road; and if he will make a statement. [18609]

Mr. Jones: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 24 January 1996, column 297. The Drws y Nant

6 Mar 1996 : Column: 277

improvement on the A494 trunk road is programmed to start in 1997, subject to the satisfactory completion of the statutory procedures and the availability of finance.

New Patients

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) how many NHS family doctor practices have accepted new NHS patients in (a) 1993, (b) 1994 and (c) 1995; and if he will make a statement; [18820]

(2) how many dental practices in Wales have accepted new NHS patients in each year since 1993; and if he will make a statement. [18658]

Mr. Richards: The information is not available centrally.

NHS Dentists

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many patients were registered with NHS dental practices in (a) 1980, (b) 1985, (c) 1990 and (d) 1995, showing this as a percentage of the population of Wales. [18659]

Mr. Richards: Information on the number of patients registered with general dental practitioners in Wales was collected centrally--by the Dental Practice Board--for the first time at the end of 1990. However, as it took some time for patients to register, meaningful data were not available until 1991. The available information is given in the following table:

	Number of patients registered	Percentage of population
30 September 1991	1,229,875	43
30 September 1995(5)	1,622,426	56

(5) 1994 population figure has been used to calculate the percentage as 1995 data is not yet available.

Eye Tests

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many NHS eye tests were given in Wales in (a) 1991, (b) 1993 and (c) 1995; and if he will make a statement. [18805]

Mr. Richards: Information on sight tests paid for by family health services authorities during the period in question is given in the following table:

	Number of NHS sight tests
1991-92	332,240
1993-94	397,310
1994-95	420,900

GP Practice Charters

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what percentage of family doctor practices in Wales at present produce their own charters; and if he will make a statement. [18804]

Mr. Richards: As at December 1995, 59 per cent. of GP practices in Wales had practice charters.

6 Mar 1996 : Column: 278

Rhondda Healthcare Trust

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations his Department has received from the Rhondda Healthcare NHS trust during the past year; and if he will make a statement. [18619]

Mr. Richards: Routine discussions between my Department and the Rhondda Healthcare NHS trust have taken place during the normal course of business. I have received one formal representation in response to the consultation on the formation of the North Glamorgan NHS trust.

Charter Mark

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many NHS Wales organisations were awarded the charter mark for outstanding service in (a) 1993, (b) 1994 and (c) 1995, and if he will make a statement. [18806]

Mr. Richards: The information is as follows:

	Number of awards to NHS Wales
1993	3
1994	1
1995	7

Schoolchildren (Exclusions)

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many schoolchildren were excluded (a) permanently and (b) temporarily from (i) junior and (ii) secondary schools in Wales in (1) 1993, (2) 1994 and (3) 1995; and if he will make a statement. [18818]

Mr. Richards: Information on pupil exclusions has not been collected centrally in the past. Returns to the January 1996 schools census, which asked how many boys and girls were excluded in the 1994-95 academic year, will provide information in due course and supplementary data have also been sought recently from local education authorities.

Grant-maintained Schools

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which applications from schools for grant-maintained status are being considered. [18922]

Mr. Richards: My right hon. Friend is currently considering an application for grant-maintained status from St. Brigid's independent school, Denbigh, Clwyd.

Special Education, Flintshire

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what additional funds he will make available to assist special educational needs in infant and primary schools in the new Flintshire county council. [18915]

6 Mar 1996 : Column: 279

Mr. Richards: My right hon. Friend's final decisions on the Welsh local government revenue settlement for 1996-97 were approved by Parliament on 8 February. It is for individual local authorities to determine how the resources that are made available are allocated between services, including education, in the light of their statutory responsibilities and their perception of local needs and priorities.

Guidance Notes

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many pages of guidance notes have been issued by (a) his Department, (b) regulatory authorities and (c) non-departmental public bodies in each of the last three years. [18638]

Mr. Hague: This information cannot be provided except at disproportionate cost.

Overseas Voters

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many people living overseas applied to be registered to vote in the general election of 1992 in each of the Welsh parliamentary constituencies; and if he will make a statement. [18618]

Mr. Sackville: I have been asked to reply.

Information on numbers of overseas applicants is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, the numbers of overseas electors by constituency on the 1992 election register is given in table 1.4 of "Electoral Statistics 1993" (Series EL no. 20), a copy of which is in the Library.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Christmas Bonus

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what were the reasons for the low outturn of payments of the non-contributory pensioners' Christmas bonus in 1994-95. [17803]

Mr. Heald: The estimates for non-contributory Christmas bonus were based on previous projections of the demographic and case load data. The forecasts proved to be too high, resulting in an underspend against provision. However, the outturn for contributory Christmas bonus was greater than forecast, with the result that total out-turn on contributory and non-contributory Christmas bonus was in excess of forecast.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many written parliamentary questions were passed for answer to executive agencies and non-governmental departments in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [14985]

6 Mar 1996 : Column: 280

Mr. Burt: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the table:

Session	Written answers provided by agency chief executives
1992-93	495
1993-94	442
1994-95	389
1995-96 to date	155

Note:

Written parliamentary questions concerning matters which have been delegated to the chief executive of an executive agency in its framework document, normally receive a reply from the Minister to the effect that he or she has asked the chief executive to reply direct to the Member by letter.

Source:

Departmental archive of written answers; figures were obtained by a clerical count and may be subject to error.

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