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National Assembly
Mr. Win Griffiths:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he proposes to lay a draft Order making provision for the elections to the National Assembly for Wales; and if he will make a statement. [71682]
15 Feb 1999 : Column: 564
Mr. Michael:
I am laying before the House today a draft of the National Assembly for Wales (Representation of the People) Order 1999; a draft will similarly be laid in another place. An earlier draft was subject to extensive consultation with political parties and other interested groups last year. Powers to make the Order are derived from section 11 of the Government of Wales Act 1998. It is subject to Affirmative Resolution procedure.
The draft Order makes comprehensive provision for elections to the National Assembly--my intention has been to produce an instrument which can be read without requiring reference to provisions in earlier legislation. The draft therefore incorporates, with modifications to fit the circumstances of the Assembly, provisions from the Representation of the People Acts 1983 and 1985, together with statutory instruments made under those Acts and other legislation, among the matters dealt with in this way are registration of voters, polling and counting arrangements, absent voting, voting offences, campaign offences and election petitions. The draft Order also, however, takes account of the new requirements of the Registration of Political Parties Act 1998 in relation to party nomination procedures and the use of party emblems on ballot papers, and the recommendations of the Neill Committee on the limitation of political parties' campaign expenditure at the all-Wales level.
For the assistance of the House I am making arrangements for a summary guide to the draft Order to be placed in the Libraries as soon as possible. Copies of illustrative examples of the ballot papers proposed for use in both the constituency and the regional elections have today been placed in the Libraries of the House. The format of the ballot papers takes account of comments received from focus groups of voters who were consulted on various designs; the ballot paper for the regional elections will contain the names of the candidates on each registered party's list, in accordance with undertakings given during the passage of the Government of Wales Act.
I propose, if both Houses of Parliament are content with the draft, to make this Order next month. The first formal stage of the elections process under the Order is publication of notices of elections. This is scheduled to take place no later than 26 March 1999.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the mileage rates currently applicable to staff, indicating what changes have been made to encourage staff to switch from cars to public transport and other less polluting forms of travel. [70960]
Mr. Michael:
The Welsh Office rates of mileage are as follows:
| Cars with engine capacity | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 1500cc | 1501cc-2000cc | Over 2000cc | |
| Up to 4,000 miles | 35 | 45 | 48 |
| Over 4,000 miles | 20 | 25 | 32 |
15 Feb 1999 : Column: 565
| Motorcycles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Up to 125cc | Over 125cc | |
| Up to 4,000 miles | 14.6 | 22.1 |
| Over 4,000 miles | 6.1 | 9.0 |
| Pence per mile | Pence per mile | |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 4,000 miles | 16.2 | 25.3 |
| Over 4,000 miles | 6.1 | 9.0 |
Pedal Cycles: 6.0 pence per mile
Public Transport Rate: 23.8 pence per mile.
The Welsh Office green transport plan will be announced in March. It will contain further measures to encourage staff to use greener forms of travel.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 17 December 1998, Official Report, column 690, if he will list the expenditure not included in his answer incurred by (a) his agencies and non-departmental public bodies and (b) the Central Office of Information for relevant work carried out for his Department. [71034]
Mr. Michael: (a) NDPB's expenditure cannot be broken down into categories requested. The total expenditure up to January 1999 is £10,382,005. Expenditure by CADW is not readily available. I will write to the hon. Member as soon as possible and place a copy of my reply in the Library of the House.
(b) Expenditure incurred through the Central Office of Information on public opinion research, advertising and direct mail is included in the figures given for the previous answer.
The total spent through COI during the period May 1997-November 1998 was £1,448,809. This includes the expenditure on the above, plus other forms of publicity work undertaken by my Department during the period.
Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 17 December 1998, Official Report, column 690, if he will list the expenditure not included in his answer incurred (a) by task forces and review bodies, (b) by focus groups, (c) on market research and (d) for publications and publicity; and if he will list the bodies which incurred the expenditure. [71035]
Mr. Michael:
No additional expenditure had been incurred by (a) task forces and review bodies, (b) focus groups, or (c) on market research.
(d) In addition to the expenditure on public opinion research, TV, radio, press advertising and direct mail given in my previous answer, my Department has spent £2,713,930 on publications and other forms of publicity in the period May 1997-November 1998.
15 Feb 1999 : Column: 566
Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the expenditure incurred by his Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies on (a) the setting up and (b) the operation of web sites, indicating the cases in which the expenditure has been above that budgeted; and if he will list for each web site (i) the topics covered, (ii) the current average number of hits per month and (iii) the estimated expenditure on each web site for each of the next three years. [70962]
Mr. Michael:
I will write to the hon. Member as soon as possible and place a copy of my reply in the Library of the House.
Mr. Gray:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the parliamentary constituencies which he has visited in an official capacity in the past 12 months. [71345]
Mr. Michael:
Since my appointment I have visited the following parliamentary constituencies in Wales:
Ms Lawrence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if additional funding in the form of a ring-fenced grant will be made available to Welsh local authorities to provide the means for carers to have a break from their caring responsibilities. [70954]
Mr. Jon Owen Jones:
The Welsh local government revenue settlement is not hypothecated. We are consulting widely with carers, their representatives and local authorities about how the National Strategy for Carers, announced by the Deputy Prime Minister on 8 February 1999, should be implemented in Wales. Final decisions will be taken by the National Assembly for Wales.
15 Feb 1999 : Column: 567
Following the transfer of powers, this issue will be a matter for the National Assembly.
Mr. Swayne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many whole-time equivalent teachers were employed in Wales on 31 January 1999. [71152]
Mr. Hain:
Information on teachers employed in schools is collected annually in January. Results for 1999 are not yet available. As at January 1998, there were 26,135 whole-time equivalent qualified teachers employed in schools in Wales.
Following the transfer of powers, this issue will be a matter for the National Assembly.
Alyn and Deeside CC
Blaenau Gwent CC
Cardiff, Central BC
Cardiff, South and Penarth BC
Cardiff, West BC
Carmarthen, West and South Pembrokeshire CC
Ceredigion CC
Clwyd, South CC
Conwy CC
Cynon Valley CC
Delyn CC
Islwyn CC
Montgomeryshire CC
Neath CC
Newport, East CC
Newport, West CC
Pontypridd CC
Preseli Pembrokeshire CC
Rhondda CC
Swansea, East BC
Swansea, West BC
Torfaen CC
Vale of Clwyd CC
Vale of Glamorgan CC
Wrexham CC
Ynys Mon CC.
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