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Tourism (Cardiff)
3. Mr. Simon Coombs: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to assist the development of Cardiff as an international tourism destination. [31648]
Mr. Gwilym Jones: The Wales tourist board, the Cardiff Bay development corporation, local authorities and Cardiff Marketing Ltd. are working together to promote Cardiff as a major international tourism destination.
Mr. Coombs: Is my hon. Friend aware that superb visitor attractions such Techniquest and Harry Ramsden's fish restaurant, both of which I had the pleasure of visiting earlier this year, are making a significant contribution towards Cardiff Bay development corporation's target of 2 million visitors by the end of the century? What help can my hon. Friend and his Department give to those who would like to see an opera house in Cardiff bay, as yet another international facility to attract visitors?
Mr. Jones: I am glad to know that my hon. Friend has visited Harry Ramsden's and Techniquest. By coincidence, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister had the same pleasures on Thursday and Friday. I can report that we all returned from Porthcawl reinvigorated with fresh confidence for the future. I can tell my hon. Friend that I believe that Cardiff Bay development corporation is well on track to achieve its target. Its current year target is more than 1.3 million visitors, and I think that both its targets will be achieved. I would welcome opportunities to explore further possibilities for tourist attractions, not least an opera house or whatever would be felt most agreeable to the local community.
Higher Education
4. Mr. Dafis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent representations he has received on funding for higher education in Wales. [31649]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (
Mr. Jonathan Evans): This year, my hon. Friends and I have received 20 letters from Members of Parliament, representative bodies and individuals about higher education in Wales.
Mr. Dafis: I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his new post and I am glad to see him on the Treasury Bench. Did he listen carefully to the representations of the heads of higher education institutions in Wales who told him and the Government that the combination of cuts in spending that are projected to continue until 1999 and the increase in student numbers are creating an impossible situation in higher education? In particular, the 44 per cent. reduction in capital spending is serious, especially as there is no sign that the private finance initiative will take off and work effectively in Wales. Will he seriously address this situation, recognising the enormous importance of higher education to the Welsh economy and to the future success of Wales as a nation and act accordingly by at least suspending further cuts until the Dearing report has been completed and provided to the Government?
Mr. Evans: I thank the hon. Gentleman for the generosity of his welcome. I regard higher education as one of the Government's great success stories. It goes without saying that the increase in the proportion of our young people with opportunities for higher education has led to some of the difficulties to which the hon. Gentleman refers. From one in eight, we have moved to one in three young people now having such opportunities. That is why it was clearly right for the Government to entrust Sir Ron Dearing with studying the implications of that increase. The hon. Gentleman will be delighted to know that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State met the heads of higher education last week. My right hon. Friend has said that he will take account of the points that they put to him in the coming public expenditure survey round and, in due course, when he considers any recommendations from Sir Ron Dearing. The private finance initiative should be strongly welcomed. A balance has to be struck in that initiative and, at the moment, aiming for 30 per cent. seems to be the right balance.
Maternity Care
5. Lady Olga Maitland: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what progress has been made on standards of maternity care in hospitals in Wales. [31650]
Mr. Gwilym Jones: Public satisfaction with NHS health care remains high--typically more than 90 per cent. Information from the 1995 Welsh health survey shows that more than 19 out of 20 women surveyed were satisfied with the care provided by midwives, in particular.
Lady Olga Maitland: For most women, childbirth is the most important time in their lives during which they need medical assistance. Has my hon. Friend studied a report from the Department of Health in England entitled "Changing Childbirth", which gives greater priority than ever before to assessing the individual needs of a mother and to helping her to make her own choices about the management of childbirth? Does he intend to implement the report's proposals in Wales?
Mr. Jones: I am well aware of the Department of Health report to which my hon. Friend refers. We have a
protocol that covers the matter, and it is being updated. The work is being led by the North Wales health authority. In addition, the chief medical officer and the chief nursing officer have commissioned a review of the matter, focusing on making progress with the various parties in the protocol. The report is imminent.
Mr. Gareth Wardell: Now that the problems of the internal market have been seen clearly in Wales, will the Minister guarantee that there will be no reduction in the standard of maternity care as a result of the substitution of staff grade doctors for consultants in maternity units?
Mr. Jones: I can assure the hon. Gentleman that no one in the NHS in Wales wants any reduction in care.
Barry Docks
6. Mr. Sweeney: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he has taken to encourage the redevelopment of Barry docks. [31651]
Mr. Hague: On 3 June, I welcomed the launch of the redevelopment of Barry docks, which is being undertaken as a joint venture between Associated British Ports and the Welsh Development Agency, with the potential to create 2,000 jobs and 1,000 new homes.
Mr. Sweeney: On behalf of the people of Barry, I thank my right hon. Friend for his recent visit to the Barry waterfront, where he made a stirring speech. Does he agree that the project, which will mean many new jobs for the Vale of Glamorgan, represents the most important development since the docks were built? Is it not a prime example of partnership between ABP--from the private sector--the WDA and local authorities?
Mr. Hague: I thank my hon. Friend for his reference to my speech on that occasion. This is a significant project that, when completed, will do much to improve the economy of the dock area, Barry town and the Vale of Glamorgan in general. It is a fine example of partnership between the public and private sectors, and builds on our excellent record since 1979 of land reclamation in Wales. So far, more than 15,000 acres have been involved. It is the largest and most sustained programme of its kind in Europe.
Welsh Assembly
7. Mr. Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent representations he has received on the establishment of an assembly for Wales. [31652]
Mr. Hague: Since 1 January, I have received three letters about a Welsh Assembly--one in favour, and two against.
Mr. Evans: I am extremely grateful for that interesting response. Does the Secretary of State agree that there is no demand among the people of Wales--or among the good people of the north-west of England--for yet another tier of government? They think that the levels of government we currently have are bad enough. Does he
agree that going down that cul de sac would be an attack on the very integrity of the United Kingdom and would begin the break-up of the Union?
Mr. Hague: I agree with my hon. Friend that an extra tier of government would be a waste of time, a waste of space and a waste of money. It would weaken, not strengthen, the position of Wales in the United Kingdom. The people of Wales voted by four to one against the proposal on the previous occasion they were consulted on it. What puzzles them is that the Opposition want to overturn such a referendum without having the guts to say that they would hold another one.
Mr. Roy Hughes: Is it not apparent that we need an assembly now, if only to protect essential Welsh interests? We are increasingly losing out to Bristol. The latest casualties are the forensic laboratory in Chepstow and the traffic commission office in Cardiff. It appears that the Secretary of State is falling down on the job and needs some reinforcement.
Mr. Hague: The hon. Gentleman represents one of the Newport constituencies, where, on St. David's day, I was able to announce 800 new jobs because of one of the largest investments into Wales that has ever been undertaken--so I do not think anyone has been falling down on that job. That is the type of thing that has been taking place in recent years, and the establishment of an assembly would be no help whatsoever in such work.
Mr. Bernard Jenkin: What could a Welsh Assembly, under a supposed Labour Government of the future, achieve that the Welsh Grand Committee cannot? Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Welsh Grand Committee is a much better forum to protect and advance Welsh interests than a spurious assembly without a proper mandate?
Mr. Hague: The Welsh Grand Committee could achieve a good deal more if the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) would agree to its having a Question Time, which is what I have been asking him to do, but certainly an assembly could not achieve very much. Opposition Members cannot agree about how its members would be elected, so they cannot get very far with saying what it might achieve.
Mr. Donald Anderson: Might it just be that the reason for the small response to the Secretary of State is that the people of Wales do not take him very seriously, do not think it is worth writing to him, recognise that he does not want to meet our local authority leaders and feel that he and his team are no longer relevant to Wales?
Mr. Hague: They write to me in their thousands about many other subjects, so they appear to take me and my colleagues seriously. It may just be that they regard this subject as an utter irrelevance and waste of time.
Mr. Morgan: Does not the Secretary of State have to agree that a Welsh Assembly would be far more efficient and democratic than the present set-up in considering a wide range of issues, from his unconscionable dithering about the location of the new Euro-freight terminal to the new proposals for the Welsh ambulance service? Should
not the future of the Welsh ambulance service be debated and discussed in the open by the people of Wales, instead of being sorted out behind closed doors by a small, tightly knit cabal of personally motivated people--the 10 men who run the present ambulance trusts in Wales?
Mr. Hague: All those matters are handled by Ministers who are accountable to this House, and they can be debated in this House. The hon. Gentleman must bear it in mind that, if such matters were devolved to a Welsh Assembly, Welsh Members of this House would no longer be able to hold Ministers accountable on those subjects, so democratic accountability would be weakened, not improved.
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