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Nursery Vouchers
Mr. Michael Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list in rank order the amount and percentage of the nursery voucher withheld by each local education authority from nursery schools in its control and indicate in each case whether the schemes have received her Department's approval. [20531]
Mr. Robin Squire: Information on the amounts of nursery grant, if any, which local education authorities plan to hold back from their schools is not supplied to the Department. Proposals for variations to schemes for local management of schools are still being processed; decisions on all of these will be made by 31 March 1997.
Key Stage 2
Mr. Spearing:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment for what reasons she has calculated average results for each local education authority's primary schools in key stage 2 on the basis of unweighted averages of individual schools' performance; and if she will publish weighted averages for authorities based on the numbers of pupils in each school. [20685]
17 Mar 1997 : Column: 434
Mrs. Gillan:
The primary school performance tables published on 11 March show how many pupils reached level 4 or above in the 1996 key stage 2 tests and teacher assessments, as percentages of the number of eligible pupils at each school.
Intestacy
29. Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Attorney-General how many people died intestate with no known kin in the last year for which figures are available; how much in money and belongings was left by them; and if he will make a statement. [18858]
The Solicitor-General:
For England and Wales, excluding the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, some 2,400 cases were referred to the Treasury Solicitor in 1996 which appeared to concern the estates of persons dying intestate with no known kin. The total of balances on estates, after setting liabilities, accounted for in 1996 following completion of their administration by the Treasury Solicitor was £8,603,204.
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30. Mr. Jacques Arnold:
To ask the Attorney-General how many cases referred to the Appeal Court on grounds of undue leniency have resulted in higher sentencing tariffs, in the last year for which figures are available. [18860]
Mr. Mark Robinson:
To ask the Attorney-General how many unduly lenient sentences he has referred to the Court of Appeal in the last year; and what was the rate of success. [18859]
The Attorney-General:
During 1996, 70 sentences were referred to the Court of Appeal on grounds of undue leniency; 62 have been heard, and an increased sentence resulted in 46, or 74 per cent. of them.
Mr. Janner:
To ask the Attorney-General how many prosecutions are pending arising out of alleged threats against individuals by neo-Nazi, fascist or other extreme right-wing bodies or persons. [18854]
The Attorney-General:
Proceedings are pending against three defendants for alleged offences of publishing and possessing racially inflammatory written material with a view to distribution, contrary to part III of the Public Order Act 1986. The written material contains extreme right-wing ideology and contains threats against, and advocates the harassment of, named individuals.
Mr. Duncan Smith:
To ask the Attorney-General what plans he has to review the guidelines on disclosure of unused material and on the handling of identification in criminal cases when statutory provisions relating to prosecution disclosure and modified committals are implemented. [20812]
The Attorney-General:
On 27 May 1976, Official Report, columns 287-88, the then Attorney-General outlined guidance, in the light of the Devlin report on identification, on the handling of criminal cases where it appeared likely that identification would be an issue. That guidance has largely been overtaken by developments in the common law and statutory provisions, including the amendment to the general nature of committal proceedings provided for by section 47 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 which takes effect on 1 April 1997.
On 18 December 1981, Official Report columns 251-52, the then Attorney-General announced guidelines on disclosure of unused material by prosecutors. Those guidelines have also now been largely superseded and the law relating to prosecution disclosure will be placed on a statutory footing when part 1 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 is implemented, also with effect from 1 April 1997. I have therefore revoked both sets of the guidelines with effect from that date.
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10. Mr. Whittingdale:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what are the unemployment rates for (a) Wales and (b) the Republic of Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [18837]
Mr. Hague:
The labour force survey provides data on unemployment which are comparable across the European Union. In autumn 1996, the International Labour Organisation unemployment rate for Wales from this source was 8.2 per cent. This compares with ILO unemployment rate of 11.9 per cent. for the Republic of Ireland in October 1996. These figures are not seasonally adjusted.
13. Mr. Jacques Arnold:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the unemployment rates for Wales relative to those of Catalonia. [18840]
Mr. Gwilym Jones:
The latest available figures for Wales and Catalonia, on a comparable basis published by Eurostat, are for April 1995 when the ILO unemployment rate for Wales was 8.7 per cent. and that for Catalonia was 19.9 per cent. These figures are not seasonally adjusted.
11. Mr. Barry Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement concerning the supply of teachers to schools. [18838]
Mr. Jonathan Evans:
I am confident that schools in Wales have a sufficient number of qualified teachers to meet their needs.
12. Mr. Sweeney:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many bathing beaches in Wales comply with European standards; and how many did so at the time of water privatisation. [18839]
Mr. Jonathan Evans:
Last year, 52 Welsh bathing waters met mandatory European standards compared with 40 in 1989.
14. Mr. Harry Greenway:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what progress has recently been made in attracting more inward investment to north Wales. [18841]
Mr. Hague:
Significant progress has been made as demonstrated by the almost 1,000 jobs and £130 million of capital investment promised by the announcements by Toyo Seal; Baumeister and Ostler; JCB Transmissions; Toyota; British Aerospace; Hoya Lens; Shotton Paper; and Eastern Group.
15. Sir David Knox:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many (a) in-patients and (b) out-patients were treated in NHS hospitals in Wales in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what were the figures in 1979. [18842]
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Mr. Gwilym Jones:
The number of in-patients and day cases treated in Welsh hospitals has more than doubled between 1979 and 1995-96 from 381,000 to 774,000. The number of out-patients rose by over 40 per cent. in the same period from 1,803,000 to 2,569,000.
16. Mr. Martyn Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the level of manufacturing output in Wales. [18843]
Mr. Hague:
Over the past three years, manufacturing output in Wales has grown by 13.9 per cent., compared to 7.2 per cent. in the UK as a whole.
17. Mr. Wigley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received concerning the introduction of the nursery voucher scheme in Wales; and what plans he has for extending the scheme to primary education. [18844]
Mr. Jonathan Evans:
In addition to ministerial correspondence, the Welsh Office has received some 6,000 letters and some 60 petitions about the nursery voucher scheme. There are no plans currently to extend the scheme beyond four-year-olds.
Mr. Win Griffiths:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the social services departments which have agreed to apply for nursery vouchers for children in foster care; and what assessment he has made of the reasons why some departments have not applied. [20287]
Mr. Evans:
The social services departments that have said that they will apply for nursery vouchers for foster children are Blaenau Gwent, Flintshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouth, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Swansea, Torfaen and Wrexham. The majority of the remainder have not said whether they will be applying.
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