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WALES

Nursery Voucher Scheme

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many representations he has had concerning the nursery voucher scheme; and if he will make a statement. [25588]

Mr. Richards: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Ceredigion and Pembroke, North (Mr. Dafis) on 15 January 1996, Official Report, column 379. Some 3,000 separate representations have now been received, the vast majority continuing to consist of petitions, printed pro forma letters and postcards, many organised by primary schools.

Private Finance Initiative

Ms Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of funding to be made available to his Department through the private finance initiative in (a) 1995-96, (b) 1996-97 and (c) 1997-98. [26181]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: Estimated capital expenditure by the private sector on Welsh Office private finance initiative projects in 1996-97 is £60 million and for 1997-98, £150 million. No capital expenditure was recorded for 1995-96.

Beef and Suckler Cow Premiums

Mr. Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he plans to announce payment of beef and suckler cow premiums. [26183]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: I announced on 4 April that the vast majority of claimants should receive their payments by the end of April. We are on target to achieve that objective.

Paramedics

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many qualified paramedics there are per head of population in Wales; and if he will make a statement. [26000]

Mr. Richards: These figures are not routinely collected. An informal survey showed that there were 434 paramedics in Wales at 31 March 1995--1.49 per 10,000 population.

Welsh Language

Mr. Dafis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the bodies and organisations which he has been informed (a) are and (b) are not preparing language schemes in accordance with the Welsh Language Act 1993, indicating for (a) where possible the dates on which those schemes will be received by the Welsh Language Board; and if he will make a statement. [25764]

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Mr. Richards: This is an operational matter for the Welsh Language Board. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member and I will arrange for a copy of the letter to be placed in the Library of the House.

School Admissions

Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 16 April, Official Report, column 426, in respect of which schools he has received information on their approved admissions number. [26289]

Mr. Richards: Details of approved admission numbers are contained in the formal proposals for grant-maintained status that schools have to publish following a successful ballot and on which my decision as to whether they become grant-maintained is based. These details were provided in my reply of 16 April to the hon. Member.

Late Payments

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what percentage of bills were paid late by his Department in 1995-96. [26126]

Mr. Hague: This information is being collated by the Department of Trade and Industry and will be published by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade before the summer recess.

Public Bodies

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the public bodies to which he appoints members ranked in order of their current level of spending and indicating (i) in total and (ii) for each body (a) the number of members and the percentage appointed by him and (b) the budget for the last available two years expressed in constant 1996 prices, and with the annual percentage change. [26030]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: As the answer to the hon. Members question is detailed, I have made arrangements to place a copy of the reply in the Library of the House.

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much was paid late to the private sector by his Department for goods and services in 1995-96. [26143]

Mr. Hague: The information is not available in the form requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Fluorescent Lighting

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the average amount of mercury in a fluorescent lighting tube. [25748]

Mr. Page: Fluorescent lighting tubes currently produced are estimated to contain on average 10mg of mercury.

Beaufort's Dyke

Mr. Foulkes: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what reports he has evaluated of explosions in

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the immediate vicinity of Beaufort's dyke which were related to pipelaying activities undertaken by British Transco. [25721]

Mr. Eggar: The Department of Trade and Industry did not receive any reports directly but, during our regular contacts with The Scottish Office Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department we were informed of the British Geological Survey's findings. The DTI liaised with Premier Transco Ltd. in its contacts with BGS where information on explosions used during construction of the pipeline, particularly on the landfall sections, were made available, and efforts made to reconcile the data. It was concluded that the hitherto unexplained explosions, highlighted in the BGS survey, were the result of either military activity or preparatory work relating to the construction of the Scotland to Northern Ireland pipeline.

Employment Costs

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what non-wage employment costs are faced by businesses in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) France and (c) Germany. [25108]

Mr. John M. Taylor: In the UK, for every £100 paid in wages, employers on average have to find an additional £18 in non-wage labour costs. In France, they must find another £41; and in Germany, £32.

Wages

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what recent representations he has received about levels of wages in industries formerly covered by the wages councils. [25113]

Mr. John M. Taylor: Between April 1994 and April 1995, average earnings of full-time workers covered by the main wages councils prior to their abolition in August 1993 rose at a comparable rate to that of workers employed in all industries. I have received few representations on this matter in recent months.

Loan Guarantee Scheme

Mrs. Roche: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many firms in city challenge and inner city task force areas received loan guarantees under the small firms loan guarantee scheme in 1995-96; what was the total amount guaranteed to these firms; and what was the total amount guaranteed to these firms because they were in these geographical areas. [26039]

Mr. Page: The estimated number of loans guaranteed to firms in city challenge or inner city task force areas in 1995-96 is around 160 at a value of £3.98 million. Final statistical details are not yet available.

Around 30 of the loans, at a value of around £80,000, would have fully benefited from trading from an address within the specific inner-city areas; around 125, at a value of £3.6 million, would have received partial benefits. The remainder did not benefit from their location.

Mrs. Roche: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many firms which received loan guarantees under the loan guarantee scheme in the last year will be ineligible to apply for loans because of new exclusions coming into force on 1 September. [26041]

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Mr. Page: The estimated number of loans guaranteed under the scheme in 1995-96, for business activities that will be excluded from 1 September, is around 700. Final statistical details are not yet available.

Business Links

Mrs. Roche: To ask the President of the Board of Trade which business links are charging for services; what is the charging structure for each such business link; and what date will mark the end of the three-year pump-priming period for each business link. [26034]

Mr. Page: All business links are charging for at least some of their services. Business links are private sector companies, not Government bodies, and each has its own charging structure. A list of the dates when three-year pump-priming will end, or has ended for all business links with an offer, is given in the table. The final payment of DTI grant will be made up to four months after the dates shown.

Area	Date when DTI pump-priming offer funding ended or is due to end
Birmingham	31 March 1996
Manchester	31 March 1996
South-east Cheshire	31 March 1996
North Cheshire	31 March 1996
Tyneside	31 March 1996
Leicestershire	26 September 1996
Hereford and Worcester	9 March 1997
CEWTEC (Ellesmere Port)	27 March 1997
Gloucestershire	30 March 1997
Thames Valley	31 March 1997
Dorset	31 March 1997
Barnsley/Doncaster	31 March 1997
Wigan	31 March 1997
Shropshire	5 April 1997
Walsall	11 July 1997
Southern Derbyshire	26 July 1997
Lincolnshire	29 July 1997
Dudley	31 July 1997
Wearside	31 July 1997
Cumbria	30 September 1997
Mers	30 September 1997
County Durham	23 March 1998
Isle of Wight	31 March 1998
Milton Keynes	31 March 1998
WESSTTEC (Avon)	31 March 1998
Central England	31 March 1998
Coventry/Warwickshire	31 March 1998
Staffordshire	31 March 1998
Calderdale and Kirklees	31 March 1998
Rotherham	31 March 1998
Northumberland	31 March 1998
Teeside	31 March 1998
Devon and Cornwall	31 March 1998
Sandwell	9 April 1998
Bedfordshire	30 April 1998
Rochdale	30 April 1998
St. Helens	30 April 1998
Oldham	21 May 1998
Sheffield	29 June 1998
Somerset	30 June 1998
Bolton/Bury	31 July 1998
North Derbyshire	10 August 1998
Leeds	17 August 1998
Greater Nottingham	22 August 1998
Hertfordshire	31 August 1998
Humberside	17 September 1998
Kent	30 September 1998
City Partners (London)	30 September 1998
Wakefield	9 October 1998
Wiltshire	13 October 1998
East London	22 October 1998
Central London	23 October 1998
South-west	24 October 1998
West London	24 October 1998
SOLOTEC (South London)	26 October 1998
Northamptonshire	6 November 1998
Essex	18 December 1998
Sussex	31 December 1998
North Nottinghamshire	17 January 1999
North-west London	31 January 1999
Norfolk and Waveney	31 January 1999
Bradford and district	5 February 1999
North London	19 February 1999
Surrey	25 February 1999
Heart of England	28 February 1999
Greater Peterborough	28 February 1999
Wolverhampton	12 March 1999
Central and South Cambridgeshire	31 March 1999
Suffolk	31 March 1999
North Yorkshire	31 March 1999
Hampshire	31 May 1999

24 Apr 1996 : Column: 184

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