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RUC Stations (Ministerial Visits)

Mr. William Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will list the Royal Ulster Constabulary stations to which she has paid a visit since 1 May 1997, indicating the date and the time spent at each such police station. [67658]

Marjorie Mowlam: The location, date and duration of each such visit are shown in the table.

Location	Date	Duration (minutes)
Strand road	9 May 1997	30
Lurgan	17 June 1997	30
Newtownabbey	26 September 1997	40
Dungannon	8 October 1997	30
Musgrave street, Belfast	24 October 1997	30
Ballymoney	7 November 1997	30
Enniskillen	13 February 1998	30
Waterside	13 March 1998	30
Strand road	12 May 1998	45
Antrim	18 May 1998	30
Mahon road	10 July 1998	30

It should be noted that the durations above have been taken from the programme schedules arranged prior to each visit, as opposed to exact times on the day (which are not readily available). Visits of this kind regularly exceed the arranged times.

Prisoners (Early Release)

Mr. William Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons given early release from prison under the Belfast agreement have been charged with an offence since their release. [68867]

Mr. Ingram: None.

2 Feb 1999 : Column: 557

WALES

Departmental Papers

(Access for Visually Impaired)

Mr. Michael J. Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has for departmental (a) White and (b) Green Papers to be made available on floppy disk format in a form which facilitates access for the visually impaired. [67850]

Mr. Michael: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office on 27 January 1999, Official Report, column 296. In considering the changes in IT needed in preparation for the arrival of the National Assembly for Wales, I have asked my officials to make provisions for making documents and information accessible to people for whom the standard printed form is not appropriate. This will include floppy disk versions which are in a format which facilitates access for the visually impaired. Guidance on how to reach the largest possible target audience when producing documents for use by people outside the Department, including White and Green Papers, has been issued to staff at the Welsh Office. The Guidance will also be incorporated into a revised Equal Opportunities Handbook.

Tourism

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on his policies for the tourism industry in North East Wales. [68361]

Mr. Hain: The development of regional policies is an operational matter for the Wales Tourist Board within the Wales Tourism Strategy published in 1994 and endorsed by Ministers.

It is currently working with the Regional Tourism Company, local authorities and local businesses to implement a number of initiatives including growth in the short break/additional holiday market and development of business travel markets. North East Wales is particularly well placed to benefit from these matters.

I have asked the Board's Chief Executive to provide my hon. Friend with more details. A copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.

In future this will become the responsibility of the National Assembly.

Rural Transport

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales by how much he has increased spending on rural transport in real terms between 1998-99 and 1999-2000. [68356]

Mr. Hain: The bus subsidy grant scheme will make £5 million available to local authorities in 1999-2000, of which £3 million must be spent on rural bus services and the remaining £2 million may be spent on either rural or urban services. In 1998-99 £2.25 million was made available exclusively for rural services. This means that direct support for rural bus services in 1999-2000 will increase by at least 30 per cent. in real terms, and probably significantly more than that.

2 Feb 1999 : Column: 558

In future this will become the responsibility of the National Assembly.

Health Service Salaries

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the total cost of salaries for (a) nurses and (b) general practitioners in Wales in the last year for which figures are available. [68365]

Mr. Jon Owen Jones: (a) In 1997-98 the total cost of salaries for nursing, midwifery, health visiting was £448.846 million.

(b) General practitioners are independent contractors to the NHS and information on their salaries is not collected centrally.

Source:

Annual accounts of NHS trusts and health authorities 1997-98.

In future this will become the responsibility of the National Assembly.

Numeracy and Literacy

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his assessment of the scale of improvements in numeracy and literacy in schools in Wales in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [68355]

Mr. Hain: As the following table illustrates there has been an underlying improvement in the standards achieved in English, Welsh and mathematics. In all cases we are well on course to achieve the targets we have set for 2000 and 2002. Without exception we have already started making inroads into the year 2000 targets.

Percentage of pupils achieving the expected level (9)

	Key Stage 1 (7-year-olds)	Key Stage 2 (11-year-olds)	Key Stage 3 (14-year-olds)
English
1996	78	56	56
1997	80	64	59
1998	80	64	62
Welsh
1996	83	54	69
1997	85	56	69
1998	86	65	71
Mathematics
1996	82	56	55
1997	83	64	59
1998	84	61	60

(9) Level 2 for 7-year-olds; level 4 for 11-year-olds; and level 5 for 14-year-olds

Targets: By 2000 between 60 and 70 per cent. of 11 and 14-year-olds should achieve the level expected for their age. By 2002 the target is between 70 and 80 per cent. achieving the expected levels.

In future this will become the responsibility of the National Assembly.

Genetically Modified Crops

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the current acreage of genetically modified crops under cultivation in Wales. [68357]

2 Feb 1999 : Column: 559

Mr. Jon Owen Jones: There are no genetically modified crops under commercial cultivation in Wales nor in the rest of the UK.

In future this will become the responsibility of the National Assembly.

Economic Prospects (North-East Wales)

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what new measures he is implementing to improve economic prospects in North-east Wales. [68354]

Mr. Hain: "Pathway to Prosperity--An Economic Agenda for Wales" was published last July. It contained a wide range of measures for modernising and raising the competitiveness of the Welsh economy including North East Wales. These include:

An Entrepreneurship Action Plan

Know How Wales

Millennium Bug Support

Strengthening Business Connect.

Numerous measures have been announced since that time, including:

A Business and Environment Challenge Scheme

Connect for a Better Business.

In future this will become the responsibility of the National Assembly.

School Pupils

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many children attend (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each of the county authorities in Wales. [68358]

Mr. Hain: The information is as follows:

Full and part time pupils in LEA maintained and grant-maintainedschools by unitary authority: numbers at January 1998

Unitary authority	Primary	Secondary
Blaenau Gwent	7,923	4,538
Bridgend	13,188	9,262
Caerphilly	18,978	12,746
Cardiff	31,191	20,884
Carmarthenshire	15,767	12,085
Ceredigion	5,934	4,977
Conwy	10,084	6,888
Denbighshire	9,098	6,713
Flintshire	15,331	10,076
Gwynedd	10,965	7,220
Isle of Anglesey	6,469	4,878
Merthyr Tydfil	6,567	4,673
Monmouthshire	7,656	5,326
Neath Port Talbot	14,347	9,194
Newport	15,015	9,685
Pembrokeshire	11,220	7,966
Powys	11,755	8,289
Rhondda, Cynon, Taff	24,931	18,308
Swansea	22,524	15,432
Torfaen	9,711	7,382
Vale of Glamorgan	12,413	8,312
Wrexham	12,624	7,018
Wales	293,691	201,852

Source:

Schools' Census

In future this will become the responsibility of the National Assembly.

2 Feb 1999 : Column: 560

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