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School Buildings

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what guidance he has given to the unitary authorities concerning sub-standard school buildings. [23533]

Mr. Richards: The condition of school buildings is the responsibility of local education authorities.

Health Services in Rural Areas

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what measures he is taking to extend the provision of health services closer to patients in rural areas; and if he will make a statement. [23525]

Mr. Richards: One of the commitments made in "Caring for the Future"--the NHS Wales plan for improving quality--is to increase safe and effective care closer to people's homes. I would expect health authorities, GP fundholders and NHS trusts to take this into account when determining what health services are provided to patients in rural areas.

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales in what circumstances doctors are permitted to dispense prescriptions to patients living in rural areas; and if he will make a statement. [23524]

Mr. Richards: Doctors may be permitted to dispense drugs and appliances to patients who satisfy their health authority that they reside in a controlled locality more than one mile from the nearest pharmacy, or would for other reasons have serious difficulty in reaching a pharmacy.

Assisted Places Scheme

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many assisted school places there are currently; and what sums were received by each school in the scheme in the latest school year. [23534]

Mr. Richards: There are some 720 assisted school places in Wales. The total amount of central Government funds received by each of the schools in the scheme for the academic year 1994-95 is as follows:

Academic year 1994-95

Schools	Total received by schools £
Christ College, Brecon	411,648
Howell's Cardiff	441,926
Howell's Denbigh	369,460
Llandovery College	280,530
Monmouth Boys	475,037
Monmouth Girls	199,541
Rydal Penrhos (Girls division)	316,277
Rydal Penrhos (Co-education division)	305,270

Council House Sales

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish the amounts (a) realised and (b) held by each local authority from council house sales receipts since council house sales were introduced; and if he will make a statement. [23751]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: The available information is given the following table:

3 Apr 1996 : Column: 246

Receipts from the sale of council houses(5)£ million

	Receipts from the sale of council houses 1 April 1981 to 31 March 1995	Usable receipts from the sale of council houses available at 31 March 1995	Total outstanding loan debt
Districts:
Alyn and Deeside	18.4	0.5	35.1
Colwyn	8.9	0.6	27.8
Delyn	15.7	0.0	32.3
Glyndwr	13.1	0.5	12.0
Rhuddlan	9.5	0.4	27.7
Wrexham Maelor	42.0	1.0	74.6
Carmarthen	16.4	0.8	35.8
Ceredigion	20.7	1.2	21.6
Dinefwr	9.7	0.6	28.1
Llanelli	28.3	0.0	47.7
Preseli Pembrokeshire	27.0	2.6	41.8
South Pembrokeshire	12.6	1.2	21.1
Blaenau Gwent	26.5	2.2	103.9
Islwyn	36.9	0.4	50.8
Monmouth	31.9	3.6	45.8
Newport	53.5	7.6	122.0
Torfaen	58.4	2.7	83.1
Aberconwy	16.3	0.2	20.3
Arfon	16.5	0.0	29.7
Dwyfor	3.9	0.3	15.9
Meirionnydd	7.6	0.0	10.6
Ynys Mon	17.5	0.2	53.7
Cynon Valley	13.6	0.0	52.9
Merthyr Tydfil	20.2	0.3	64.2
Ogwr	50.3	0.6	74.9
Rhondda	5.7	0.0	87.3
Rhymney Valley	35.5	0.0	71.7
Taff Ely	36.4	0.5	42.0
Brecknock	15.9	1.2	31.6
Montgomeryshire	13.6	0.7	23.2
Radnorshire	8.0	0.4	13.2
Cardiff	101.0	7.1	184.0
Vale of Glamorgan	38.7	6.7	60.0
Port Talbot	33.4	0.0	40.2
Lliw Valley	18.2	0.0	39.7
Neath	21.7	0.0	40.0
Swansea	47.9	0.2	135.6
Total	951.2	44.4	1,902.0

(5) Includes receipts from the sale of dwellings and the repayment of principal from local authority mortgages.

Fishing

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will increase the resources of the Welsh Agriculture Department for the provision of a mechanism to meet the needs of fishing; and if he will make a statement. [23797]

Mr. Richards: I am satisfied that the resources of the Welsh Office Agriculture Department are sufficient to meet the needs of fishing in Wales.

Sea Fisheries Committee

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will establish an all-Wales sea fisheries committee; and if he will make a statement. [23798]

3 Apr 1996 : Column: 247

Mr. Richards: Sea Fisheries Committees are set up under the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966 at the request of their constituent local authorities. This is therefore a matter for the local authorities or the SFCs themselves.

Sea Empress Oil Spill

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what are the criteria for lifting the ban imposed on fishing in the designated area affected by the Sea Empress oil spill. [23799]

Mr. Richards: The safety of consumers is paramount and the current restrictions will be lifted only when health and fisheries scientists advise that fish from the area are once again safe to eat.

There are no statutory limits on the amount of oil in fish or shellfish which is deemed safe and I am advised that it is not possible to set limits for all the possible constituents of oil. Therefore, in deciding when and where sections of the fishing industry will be allowed to operate again in the restricted area, our considerations will be on the basis of data on normal background concentrations for areas subsequently affected by the spill and such data from elsewhere around the UK. That is, we will consider whether levels are significantly higher than normal background levels.

Fish and shellfish from elsewhere around the coast of Wales and the UK remain safe to eat.

Forestry

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the number of trees planted by the forestry industry within each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [23822]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: The number of trees planted each year in Wales has increased from about 6.5 million to about 7 million over the last five years.

Cardiff University Hospital

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the recent release by Cardiff University hospital from its mortuary of one body in mistake for another. [24488]

Mr. Richards: The circumstances leading to this regrettable incident are being investigated by the University Hospital of Wales NHS trust and the coroner's office. The trust will examine whether proper procedures were adhered to and implement any necessary improvements to current systems.

Welsh Office officials will be kept informed to determine whether lessons learnt should be disseminated more widely.

Assaults on Teachers

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many cases of pupils assaulting teachers were reported in Wales in (a) 1975, (b) 1985 and (c) 1995; and if he will make a statement. [24603]

Mr. Richards: This information is not available centrally.

3 Apr 1996 : Column: 248

Waste Minimisation

Ms Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on progress in establishing an office waste minimisation strategy for his Office, indicating the targets set. [24502]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: Waste reduction is already an important feature of the Department's strategy for improving green standards internally and a range of targets are in place for reducing the amount of office waste the Welsh Office sends to landfill. These are the recycling of 37 tonnes of waste paper, 16,000 cans and 600 printer toner cartridges each year.

The Welsh Office will also review its current practices, particularly in the light of a recent pilot study of waste management carried out by the Department of the Environment, to see if existing performance can be further improved upon.

Computers

Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the problem of non-recognition by computers of the year 2000 with regard to his Department's computers and those for which it is responsible. [24397]

Mr. Hague: I do not expect there to be any difficulties in ensuring that my Department's computer systems can cater for the year 2000.

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