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Consultant Referral Waiting Times

24. Mr. Walter: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement about waiting times for patients awaiting referral to a consultant. [61583]

Mr. Jon Owen Jones: Latest published information shows that 93 per cent. of patients waiting for a first outpatient appointment were seen within six months, (79 per cent. within three months). In addition, 95 per cent. of patients waiting for inpatient/daycase treatment in hospital were seen within 12 months (78 per cent. within three months).

Lobbyists

25. Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on his policy on the role of lobbyists in informing decisions taken by his Department. [61584]

Mr. Michael: Lobbyists play no role in decisions made by my Department.

Territorial Army

26. Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the impact on local communities of the closure of nine Territorial Army centres in Wales. [61585]

Mr. Hain: Six Territorial Army Centres in Wales are to close of which two are not currently in use. Twenty two Territorial Army centres will remain in use: 17 in South Wales, 5 in North Wales, plus 3 centres are to be retained for cadets.

The Ministry of Defence have listened to the responses which resulted from the consultative documents with the results that the current complement in Wales of 2,982 will be reduced by 435, a reduction of 14.6 per cent., the lowest of any UK region.

NHS Trusts

27. Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on his proposals for NHS trusts. [61586]

28. Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the NHS Trust proposals for Wales. [61587]

29. Mr. Denzil Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the reconfiguration of NHS trusts in Wales. [61588]

Mr. Jon Owen Jones: I refer my hon. Friends to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for the Vale of Glamorgan (Mr. Smith), 9 December 1998, Official Report, column 309.

9 Dec 1998 : Column: 229

Local Government Finance

Ms Lawrence: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what his proposals are for local government revenue spending and grant support in 1999-2000; and what his plans are for the following two years. [63603]

Mr. Michael: Following the Comprehensive Spending Review and extensive consultation on my spending priorities in Wales, I propose that total standard spending in 1999-2000 should be £3,243 million, an increase of £143 million or 4.6 per cent. on the comparable figure for 1998-99.

This is a good settlement for local government and for Wales as a whole. It is not just about money but about partnership. It paves the way for the co-operation I have offered to the leaders of local authorities which is aimed at improving services and extending opportunity everywhere in Wales. It also sets the scene for a strong partnership between the National Assembly for Wales and local government which I believe is essential for the success of both.

The increase includes an additional £70 million revenue spending for education and extra provision so that local authorities can:

improve children's services in line with the Government's response to the report by Sir William Utting;

provide at least half price bus transport for pensioners from April 1999; and

implement a new regime to deal with contaminated land with effect from 1 July 1999.

I announced details of the settlement for police authorities on 2 December 1998.

I propose to set aggregate external finance at £2,827 million, of which I plan to make available £1,914 million in revenue support grant and council tax reduction scheme grant, £656 million in redistributed business rates and £257 million for specific grants.

I propose that the non-domestic rate poundage for Wales should rise by 3.2 per cent. in line with the Retail Prices Index for the 12 months to September 1998, giving a rate of 44.3p in the pound for 1999-2000.

There will be a scheme to limit council tax increases; it will be similar to the targeted scheme that operated for 1998-99 and I will announce further details shortly.

I also intend that there should be new arrangements for council tax benefit subsidy, to prevent the full cost of excessive council tax increases being passed onto the national tax payer in the form of higher subsidy payments. The arrangements will apply to county and county borough councils only in 1999-2000, and the National Assembly for Wales will be able to extend them to police authorities the following year.

I expect local authorities to budget prudently, and I am prepared to use my capping powers if they decide to make excessive increases in council tax.

Looking ahead to the following two years my plans provide for total standard spending and aggregate external

9 Dec 1998 : Column: 230

finance (net of specific grants) to be as reflected in the table. The National Assembly will take the final decisions. My proposals for 1999-2000, on the same net basis, are also given for comparative purposes:

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
Net TSS (£ million)	2,986	3,128	3,279
Of which Net AEF (£ million)	2,570	2,671	2,778
Percentage increase in net TSS	5.1	4.8	4.8
Real terms percentage increase in net TSS	2.5	2.2	2.3

Further information on the proposed settlement, including details for individual authorities and the detailed arrangements for council tax benefit subsidy, will be announced shortly. I will also be discussing with the Welsh Local Government Association a range of performance measures linked to this announcement.

My Department has written today to the Welsh Local Government Association and all local authorities in Wales to initiate a consultation on my proposals for next year's settlement. Copies of the consultation letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Mr. Livsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much money was allocated in the 1998-99 standard spending assessment to each local authority in Wales to repay capital debt. [62652]

Mr. Jon Owen Jones: There are no separately identifiable allocations within standard spending assessments for repayment of debt. The amounts in respect of overall capital charges included in the 1998-99 standard spending assessments are given in the following table.

	£000
Isle of Anglesey	6,772
Gwynedd	10,608
Conwy	8,659
Denbighshire	9,015
Flintshire	12,691
Wrexham	9,739
Powys	12,603
Ceredigion	5,696
Pembrokeshire	10,800
Carmarthenshire	14,353
Swansea	22,312
Neath Port Talbot	12,529
Bridgend	10,882
The Vale of Glamorgan	9,011
Rhondda, Cynon, Taff	17,065
Merthyr Tydfil	5,019
Caerphilly	12,061
Blaenau Gwent	7,606
Torfaen	8,982
Monmouthshire	5,469
Newport	13,204
Cardiff	24,236
Dyfed-Powys Police	649
Gwent Police	821
North Wales Police	678
South Wales Police	2,412
Total Unitary Authorities	249,311
Total Police Authorities	4,560
Total Wales	253,871

Capital charges cover repayment of debt, interest payments on outstanding debt, non-operational leasing charges, and for the police authorities capital expenditure charged to the revenue account. The figures are net of capital financing grants.

9 Dec 1998 : Column: 231

Mr. Livsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what measures his Department has taken to encourage local authorities in Wales to repay debt. [62653]

Mr. Jon Owen Jones: Local authorities' new borrowing is regulated by the issue of credit approvals in accordance with Government policy. Authorities have a statutory duty to make provision to meet their existing debts. It is for them to decide whether it would be prudent to repay any loan before they are contractually required to do so.

National Assembly

Mr. Dafis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assumptions he has made about the workload of the National Assembly for Wales up to autumn 1999 in planning his work in 1999. [62365]

Mr. Michael: My officials are identifying the business the Assembly will need to address in its early days, based on the emerging standing orders, the draft Transfer of Functions Order, the work currently in hand in the Welsh Office and the Government's programme of legislation. I shall share this forward look with the leaders of the political parties in Wales so that we can work towards a common understanding of the likely early demands on the Assembly's time.

Ethnic Minorities

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what action he is taking in response to the report of the Commission for Racial Equality about the treatment of ethnic minority people in Wales. [62528]

Mr. Jon Owen Jones: A Survey of current Secondary Health Care Practice was prepared by the NHS Wales Equality Unit in partnership with the Commission for Racial Equality. I attended the launch of the report on 30 November 1998 and gave the Department's support to its recommendation that health care should be accessible, fair and without disadvantage. Welsh Office officials will be meeting the Commission for Racial Equality to consider the issues further.

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