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Small Firms (Access to Government)

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the outcome of his Department's review of how to facilitate small firms' access to appropriate areas to Government procurement in the light of good practice. [27512]

Mr. Jonathan Evans: Action has been taken in a number of areas to facilitate small firms' access to the Department's procurement procedures. Our contribution to the DTI's booklet "Tendering for Government Contracts", which provides small firms with contact points has resulted in an increase in the number of enquiries. Information provided by suppliers has been distributed to purchasing staff around the Department. It is also practice for all tenders to contain a contact point for dealing with inquiries relating to the contract. An exercise to identify which of the Department's suppliers are small or medium enterprises will be completed shortly as part of the development of a national purchasing system. This will allow trends in the use of small firms to be measured in the future. I have asked my officials to keep the question of access for small firms under review and to introduce further measures where the scope for improvements can be identified.

Small and Medium Businesses

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what proportion of his Department's budget was spent on procurement from small and medium enterprises in 1995-96. [27527]

Mr. Jonathan Evans: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

PRIME MINISTER

Small and Medium Businesses

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Prime Minister what proportion of his Department's budget was spent on procurement from small and medium enterprises in 1995-96. [27524]

The Prime Minister: For these purposes my office is part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the hon. Member to the

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reply given today by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Secretary, Office of Public Service.

Civil Servants (Party Policies)

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Prime Minister what representations he has received in the last six months from individual civil servants or their representative bodies expressing concern that civil servants have been asked to cost policies of opposition political parties; and if he will make a statement. [27359]

The Prime Minister [holding answer Tuesday 30 April]: As far as I am aware, none.

Mr. Hughes: To ask the Prime Minister if (i) he and (ii) his Departmental colleagues have in the last six months asked civil servants to cost policies of opposition political parties; and if he will make a statement. [27360]

The Prime Minister [holding answer Tuesday 30 April]: Civil servants have, from time to time, been asked to cost Opposition policies, insofar as they can be identified. The guidelines on costing policies of Opposition parties, were submitted as a memorandum to the Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee in 1990, and were published in its fifth report, HC260, Session 1989-90.

WALES

Departmental Staff

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the number of staff employed at the Welsh Office in (a) 1979, (b) 1985, (c) 1990, (d) 1994 and (e) 1995; and if he will make a statement. [26989]

Mr. Hague: The full-time equivalent number of staff employed in my Department was:

Year	Number of staff
1979(4)	2,680
1985	2,402
1990	2,406
1994	2,586
1995	2,480

(4) Nearest available, December 1978.

The figures relate to April for each year except 1979.

The current figure is 2,295, a reduction of 185 since April 1995.

Departmental Advertising

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proportion of his Department's advertising budget was allocated to local weekly newspapers in Wales in (a) 1993-94 and (b) 1994-95; and if he will make a statement. [26990]

Mr. Hague: Of the total which was spent on advertising in 1993-94, some 28 per cent. was spent with local weekly newspapers in Wales, and the corresponding figure for 1994-95 was some 21 per cent.

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Community Care

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the new directors of social services in each of the new counties of Wales on community care; and if he will make a statement. [26970]

Mr. Richards: The social services inspectorate Wales has met all the new directors of social services to monitor their progress on delivering community care as part of their overall responsibilities.

Drug Abuse

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to meet the chief constable of North Wales to discuss measures to limit drug abuse; and if he will make a statement. [26971]

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Mr. Richards: My right hon. Friend and I met the chief constables of all Welsh forces on 16 January this year to discuss amongst other things, drug and alcohol misuse. He has no plans to do so again in the near future.

Disability

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what he has made of the number of disabled people, by category, in each of the local authorities in Wales. [26969]

Mr. Richards: No estimates have been made of the numbers of disabled people by category in each local authority. Information currently available relating to the number of disabled persons registered under section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948 in each of the former county councils is given in the following table. Similar information has been requested from each local authority and will be available later in 1996.

1 May 1996 : Column: 539

Number of persons on the handicap register at 31 March 1995

	Clwyd	Dyfed	Gwent	Gwynedd	Mid Glamorgan	Powys	South Glamorgan	West Glamorgan	Wales
Disability
Deaf with speech	29	109	246	52	252	49	206	170	1,113
Deaf without speech	114	75	241	49	213	32	116	109	949
Hard of hearing	784	429	214	94	940	400	617	549	4,027
Blind	950	1,370	1,797	1,046	2,068	290	1,017	935	9,473
Partially sighted	1,243	1,055	1,421	719	1,660	252	670	1,421	8,441
General(5)	46,117	9,144	14,562	4,459	40,414	7,268	3,689	11,081	136,734
Number on register	49,237	12,182	18,481	6,419	45,547	8,291	6,315	14,256	160,737

(5) The number shown for Clwyd relates to 31 March 1993.

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Press Inquiries and Interviews

Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which Welsh Office Ministers will respond to press inquiries or requests for interviews on each portfolio subject in the Welsh Office responsibilities; and what changes or restrictions have been placed on the granting of interviews during recent weeks. [27156]

Mr. Hague: Ministers respond on the basis of their own portfolio of responsibilities. There have been no changes or restrictions placed on granting interviews in recent weeks.

Small and Medium Businesses

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proportion of his Department's budget was spent on procurement from small and medium enterprises in 1995-96. [27518]

Mr. Hague: The information requested is not held centrally.

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

Ethnic Minorities

Mr. Steinberg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage of people entering higher education are from ethnic minority groups. [27383]

Mr. Forth: The available information is given in the following table:

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Home entrants to higher education in higher education institutions in the UK 1995-96 (provisional)

Ethnic group	Percentage(6)
White	87.4
Black Caribbean	1.4
Black African	1.9
Black other	0.6
Indian	3.0
Pakistani	1.6
Bangladeshi	0.4
Chinese	0.8
Asian other	1.2
Other	1.6
All students	100.0

(6) Based on those students for whom ethnicity information was collected/provided.

Training and Enterprise Councils

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to set (a) commitment and (b) recognition targets for TECS for Investors in People with firms of under 50 employees. [27188]

Mr. Paice: I expect training and enterprise councils to offer support to all firms, including those with under 50 employees. I have no plans to set TECs Investors in People targets for firms with fewer than 50 employees.

Government offices agree targets with TECs for Investors in People. The targets are linked directly with the achievement of the national targets for education and training. Lifetime target 3 calls for 70 per cent. of all

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organisations employing 200 or more employees, and 35 per cent. of these employing 50 or more, to be recognised as Investors in People.

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