---

Hospital Admission Units

Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many Welsh acute hospitals have opened admission units; and what analysis he has made of the impact of admission units on (a) rapid admission and (b) treatment (i) generally and (ii) patients brought in on emergency ambulances. [10259]

Mr. Hague: I understand that the majority of Welsh hospitals have opened admission-assessment units; their individual operation is a matter for the respective trusts.

Clwydian Community Trust

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the headings and amounts of his subventions to the Clwydian Community Trust indicating the amounts for the current financial year; and if he will make a statement. [9963]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: The Clwydian community NHS trust has drawn down one long-term loan of £1,000,000 during the current financial year.

Cardiff Bay Barrage

Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the annual operating costs of the Cardiff Bay barrage; and what proposals he has discussed with the chairman of the Cardiff Bay development corporation and the two riparian local authorities concerning the sharing of those costs after the winding up of the corporation. [9957]

Mr. Hague: None. The corporation has not yet provided a detailed estimate of the operating costs of the barrage beyond December 1999; but will do so later this year, following completion of the wind-up consultation exercise and consideration of a management company option.

Mr. Elletson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the estimated cost to public funds of (a) completing the construction of the Cardiff Bay barrage and (b) dismantling and removing the superstructure and foundations already in place and returning the site to the condition which obtained before construction commenced; and if he will make a statement. [10723]

Mr. Hague: The barrage contracts are operational matters for the corporation; I will ask the chief executive to write to the hon. Member and will arrange for a copy of his response to be placed in the Library of the House.

Mr. Elletson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what targets the Welsh Office has set for attracting inward investment and jobs to Cardiff by 2000; and what

15 Jan 1997 : Column: 294

assessment he has made of the effect a failure to complete the construction of the Cardiff bay barrage would have on the ability of the region to meet those targets. [10722]

Mr. Hague: I have not set any specific inward investment or job creation targets for Cardiff or for Cardiff bay. I have noted that the targets set by the development corporation in its corporate plan are to provide by the year 2000 around £1 billion private sector investment and 15,000 new jobs. The barrage is a key component in the corporation's regeneration strategy and is expected to be completed in 1998.

Rugby World Cup

Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on how many occasions his rugby world cup co-ordinating group has met; if he will list its members and organisations represented and the date of the next meeting. [10472]

Mr. Hague: The rugby world cup liaison group has met three times. The chief officers of the following bodies have been invited to attend or sent representatives:

the Welsh Rugby Union, the Wales Tourist Board, the Welsh Development Agency, the Development Board for Rural Wales, the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation, the Welsh Local Government Association, Cardiff Marketing, Cardiff county council, the Sports Council for Wales, the Arts Council of Wales, Welsh Food Promotions, the Welsh Language Board, Carmarthen county council and CADW.

Other organisations are invited to send representatives if the group is discussing items in which they might have an interest.

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 16 January.

EU Regional Affairs Commissioner

Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 17 December, if he will list the principal reasons for not meeting the European Commissioner responsible for regional affairs (a) on 6 December and (b) at another point during her visit to Wales. [10476]

Mr. Hague: Constraints on my diary and on the programme for the Commissioner's visit meant that we were unable to meet on this occasion.

Housing

Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many (a) local authority and (b) housing association houses have been built in Wales in each of the last 10 years. [10484]

Mr. Jonathan Evans: Information on the number of completions, by tenure for each of the last 10 years, has been published in table 2.3 of "Welsh Housing Statistics,

15 Jan 1997 : Column: 295

1996", a copy of which is in the Library of the House. The numbers shown for housing association completions are based on local authority returns.

Jobs

Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he expects to announce details of the remaining 700 new jobs of the total new jobs package he announced in the Welsh Grand Committee on 30 November 1996, Official Report, column 10. [10501]

Mr. Hague: Further announcements are expected very soon.

Sea Empress Oil Spill

Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to continue funding research into the environmental impacts of the Sea Empress disaster after the publication of the Sea Empress environmental effects committee report in 1997. [10482]

Mr. Jonathan Evans: My right hon. Friend will consider this in the light of the report of the Sea Empress environmental evaluation committee.

School Assessment

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what factors underlie the omission of the subject of Welsh in his projection of school assessment results; and if he will make a statement. [10403]

Mr. Jonathan Evans: The results for Welsh are included alongside those for the other core subjects in the national curriculum results booklets. As part of the bright future programme to raise standards of literacy and numeracy, Welsh is included in the performance indicators developed for the end of each key stage.

Farmers (Negative Equity)

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the number of farmers with negative equity problems; and if he will make a statement. [10520]

Mr. Jonathan Evans: This information is not collected by the Department.

Local Government Finance

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish for each of the county and county borough councils in Wales and for Wales as a whole in constant prices (a) the estimated cost of the 1997 teachers' pay award, (b) the estimated cost of community care, (c) the estimated cost of provision for police authorities and (d) the remaining amount of total standard spending assessments announced on 12 December indicating, in each case, the actual and percentage increase or decrease relative to equivalent figures for 1996-97 set after consultation in January 1996; [10726]

(2) if he will publish for each of the county and county borough councils and for Wales as a whole in constant prices (a) total standard spending assessments, including provision for community care and police authorities, set after consultation with local authorities in January 1996

15 Jan 1997 : Column: 296

for 1996-97, (b) the equivalent provisional standard spending assessments following his statement to the House on 12 December 1996 for 1997-98 and (c) the percentage change between (a) and (b) in each case.[10719]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: Specific costs such as teachers' pay are not identified separately within local authorities' standard spending assessments. The 1997 teachers' pay award will be announced by the School Teachers' Review Body in the near future. It has been directed to have regard to affordability in the light of the 1997-98 local government revenue settlements for England and Wales.

Provision in respect of care in the community is included within local authorities' standard spending assessments. Individual allocations for 1996-97 and 1997-98 at constant prices are shown in table 1. The remaining information requested for councils standard spending assessment at constant prices is given in tables 2 and 3.

Provision for police authorities is assessed separately and comprises SSA and police grant. These figures at constant prices are shown in table 4. The figures provided in the tables have not been adjusted to take account of changes in local authority functions between 1996-97 and 1997-98.

Table 1: Allocations within total standard spending assessments in respect of care in the community

	1997-98(29)	1996-97	Change	Percentage
Council	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)	change
Blaenau Gwent	4,157	3,758	399	10.6
Bridgend	7,133	6,401	732	11.4
Caerphilly	8,968	8,085	884	10.9
Cardiff	15,677	14,109	1,568	11.1
Carmarthenshire	10,924	9,839	1,085	11.0
Ceredigion	4,174	3,753	421	11.2
Conwy	7,182	6,485	697	10.8
Denbighshire	5,678	5,170	508	9.8
Flintshire	7,115	6,393	722	11.3
Gwynedd	7,553	6,804	749	11.0
Isle of Anglesey	3,909	3,608	301	8.3
Merthyr Tydfil	3,746	3,413	333	9.8
Monmouthshire	4,451	3,941	510	12.9
Neath Port Talbot	8,734	7,794	940	12.1
Newport	7,212	6,553	658	10.0
Pembrokeshire	6,229	5,597	632	11.3
Powys	7,400	6,687	713	10.7
Rhondda, Cynon, Taff	15,248	13,748	1,501	10.9
Swansea	13,329	12,092	1,237	10.2
Torfaen	4,536	4,088	448	11.0
The Vale of Glamorgan	5,875	5,363	512	9.5
Wrexham	6,660	5,963	697	11.7
All county and county borough councils	165,891	149,644	16,247	10.9

(29) Allocations in the provisional 1997-98 local government revenue settlement estimated at 1996-97 prices.

15 Jan 1997 : Column: 297

Table 2: Standard spending assessments excluding allocations for care in the community

	1997-98(30)	1996-97	Change	Percentage
Council	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)	change
Blaenau Gwent	59,937	60,738	-801	-1.3
Bridgend	100,649	101,186	-538	-0.5
Caerphilly	135,717	136,242	-524	-0.4
Cardiff	230,477	230,924	-448	-0.2
Carmarthenshire	138,167	138,519	-352	-0.3
Ceredigion	56,240	56,162	78	0.1
Conwy	84,105	83,563	542	0.6
Denbighshire	73,029	73,384	-356	-0.5
Flintshire	106,235	106,166	70	0.1
Gwynedd	99,975	99,599	376	0.4
Isle of Anglesey	56,737	57,194	-457	-0.8
Methyr Tydfil	51,807	52,446	-639	-1.2
Monmouthshire	60,396	60,104	293	0.5
Neath Port Talbot	111,319	112,657	-1,338	-1.2
Newport	109,344	110,963	-1,618	-1.5
Pembrokeshire	93,878	94,833	-955	-1.0
Powys	108,848	108,961	-114	-0.1
Rhondda, Cynon, Taff	191,365	193,338	-1,973	-1.0
Swansea	179,302	181,451	-2,149	-1.2
Torfaen	72,492	73,709	-1,217	-1.7
The Vale of Glamorgan	88,245	89,270	-1,025	-1.1
Wrexham	92,158	92,595	-436	-0.5
All councils	2,300,424	2,314,005	-13,581	-0.6

(30) Provisional 1997-98 local government revenue settlement estimated at 1996-97 prices.

Table 3: Total standard spending assessments

	1997-98(31)	1996-97	Change	Percentage
Council	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)	change
Blaenau Gwent	64,094	64,496	-402	-0.6
Bridgend	107,782	107,587	194	0.2
Caerphilly	144,686	144,327	359	0.2
Cardiff	246,154	245,034	1,120	0.5
Carmarthenshire	149,091	148,358	733	0.5
Ceredigion	60,415	59,915	500	0.8
Conwy	91,287	90,048	1,239	1.4
Denbighshire	78,707	78,555	152	0.2
Flintshire	113,350	112,559	792	0.7
Gwynedd	107,528	106,403	1,125	1.1
Isle of Anglesey	60,646	60,802	-156	-0.3
Merthyr Tydfil	55,554	55,859	-306	-0.5
Monmouthshire	64,847	64,045	803	1.3
Neath Port Talbot	120,053	120,451	-398	-0.3
Newport	116,556	117,516	-960	-0.8
Pembrokeshire	110,106	100,430	-324	-0.3
Powys	116,248	115,649	599	0.5
Rhondda, Cynon, Taff	206,614	207,086	-472	-0.2
Swansea	192,631	193,543	-912	-0.5
Torfaen	77,028	77,796	-769	--1.0
The Vale of Glamorgan	94,121	94,634	-513	-0.5
Wrexham	98,818	98,558	260	0.3
All councils	2,466,315	2,463,649	2,666	0.1

(31) Provisional 1997-98 local government revenue settlement estimated at 1996-97 prices.

15 Jan 1997 : Column: 298

Table 4: Total standard spending assessments and allocations of police grant for police authorities

Police authority	1997-98(32) (£000)	1996-97 (£000)	Change (£000)	Percentage change
Dyfed-Powys	48,777	48,579	198	0.4
Gwent	63,237	62,752	485	0.8
North Wales	69,818	69,340	478	0.7
South Wales	152,097	151,074	1,023	0.7
All police authorities	333,929	331,745	2,184	0.7

(32) Provisional 1997-98 local government revenue settlement estimated at 1996-97 prices.

---