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Teachers
Mr. Dafis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what additional resources are to be made available to him to implement the Government's proposals for the future of the teaching profession. [80441]
Mr. Hain: We announced in December last year that education and training in Wales will receive a total of £844 million extra over the next three years. This includes resources for the new pay and performance management arrangements proposed in the Green Paper on the future of the teaching profession in Wales. The costs of these will be over and above the cost of normal pay increases which have been taken into account in plans for the local government revenue settlements for 2000-01 and 2001-02.
Decisions on education funding for 2000-01 onwards will be a matter for the National Assembly.
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Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will ensure that future percentage changes in the level of the salaries of members of the National Assembly will be linked to changes in the level of (a) the national minimum wage and (b) the basic state pension. [80587]
Mr. Michael
[holding answer 13 April 1999]: This will be a matter for the National Assembly to determine. The Review Body on Senior Salaries has recommended that the salaries of Members of the National Assembly for Wales be uprated each year in line with Senior Civil Service pay, specifically by the same percentage as the average of the movements in the mid-points of the nine Senior Civil Service pay bands below Permanent Secretary.
Mr. Keetch:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he plans to publish the report of the Inquiry into Navigation on the River Wye; and if he will make a statement. [80263]
Mr. Jon Owen Jones:
Exchanges of correspondence are presently taking place between the Environment Agency, the applicants for the Wye Navigation Order, and an objector who has made post inquiry representations. This, together with the complexities involved in considering this case, means that the report is unlikely to be published prior to the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales.
Mr. Mitchell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list each of the new responsibilities which he will assume when the signed Treaty of Amsterdam takes effect and for each (i) the likely effect on departmental staffing, (ii) the bodies or persons in the European Union principally concerned and (iii) the relevant sections of that Treaty and the consolidated treaties of European Union and European Community. [80403]
Mr. Hain:
The Treaty of Amsterdam is not expected to add to the range of policy areas for which the Welsh Office is responsible. We recognise, however, the need to implement the provisions of the Treaty so far as they relate to current areas of responsibility, the majority of which will transfer to the Welsh Assembly from 1 July 1999.
Ms Julie Morgan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what percentage of the total NHS budget in Wales was allocated to mental health services in each of the last three years. [80194]
Mr. Jon Owen Jones:
The figures are as follows:
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authority strategies (representing 1.3 per cent. of the NHS Total) was transferred recurrently into the local authority revenue settlement. In addition to these amounts, Health Authorities will commission mental health services from within their discretionary funding allocations.
Following the transfer of functions, this issue will be a matter for the National Assembly.
Ms Julie Morgan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of inequalities in mental health treatment affecting members of the (i) black and (ii) other ethnic minority communities in Wales; and if he will make a statement. [80189]
Mr. Jon Owen Jones:
There has been no specific assessment and there is some doubt as to whether the numbers of ethnic minority mental health patients in Wales gives a sufficient base for robust findings. We shall consider the needs of ethnic minority patients when drawing our plans for future Strategies on both child and adolescent and adult mental health services.
Following the transfer of functions, this issue will be a matter for the National Assembly.
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Ms Julie Morgan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the rates of (a) schizophrenia and (b) depression among (i) Afro- Caribbeans and (ii) the population other than Afro-Caribbeans in Wales. [80190]
Mr. Jon Owen Jones:
Reliable data are not available centrally on the ethnic group of patients treated in Wales. It is not sufficiently complete and consistently coded to be used for assessing differences between incident rates across ethnic groups. There is also doubt as to whether the numbers of ethnic minority mental health patients in Wales gives a sufficient base for robust findings.
Following the transfer of functions, this issue will be a matter for the National Assembly.
Ms Julie Morgan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many mental health patients were treated on the NHS in Wales over the last five years. [80191]
Mr. Jon Owen Jones:
The available data, held centrally, are given in the following table. They do not, however, represent the numbers of individuals treated by the NHS over this period as one person could be included in more than one category or be discharged more than once from an NHS hospital during a year.
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1996-97: 4.7 per cent.
1997-98: 3.4 per cent.
1998-99: 3.3 per cent.
These figures represent the funds specifically allocated from within the NHS Total to mental health services which includes mental illness and learning disability services. In 1997-98, some £30 million spent on local
| Mental illness | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NHS hospitals: | |||||
| In-patient cases | 17,033 | 18,182 | 18,376 | 17,841 | 17,588 |
| Out-patient first attendances | (9)-- | 18,552 | 18,624 | 18,545 | 21,589 |
| NHS day hospitals--first attendances | 5,670 | 7,127 | 4,846 | 5,705 | 5,580 |
| Persons seen by community psychiatric nurses(10) | 24,230 | 26,419 | 26,801 | 32,681 | 33,932 |
(9) Not available
(10) First contacts in the financial year
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Following the transfer of functions this will be a matter for the National Assembly.
Wind Turbines
Mr. Opik: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will set out the reasons for his decision to approve six additional wind turbines at Cemmaes B; and if he will make a statement. [80452]
Mr. Jon Owen Jones: The reasons for the decision are set out in the Welsh Office letter of 16 March 1999, a copy of which has been placed in the House of Commons Library. Once a decision has issued it is final; in these circumstances it would not be appropriate for further comment to be made on the merits of the decision or the reasons for it.
Following the transfer of functions, this issue will be a matter for the National Assembly.
New and Renewable Energy
Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the impact in Wales of the proposals in the Government's consultation paper, "New and Renewable Energy--Prospects for the 21st Century". [80242]
Mr. Jon Owen Jones:
The Government intend working towards a target of renewable energy providing 10 per cent. of UK electricity supplies, cost effectively, as soon as possible. We hope to achieve this by 2010.
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The review document seeks views on a number of issues to enable the Government to frame future policies to meet their objectives of supporting renewables while they are reaching market prices and considers both the costs and benefits of moving towards greater use of renewables. In particular, the paper looks at options for a revised Non Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO) in the competitive energy markets of the future.
The paper identifies key issues and challenges which the Government and industry would need to pursue.
Wales already has rich reserves of renewable energy resources, especially wind and biomass. It is important, in terms of generating jobs and developing future industries, that it continues to build on this.
I would encourage all interested parties in Wales to submit their views on the proposals so that they can play their part in framing future renewable energy policy.
Mr. Wigley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the planning appeals in Wales since May 1997, in regard to which the Secretary of State for Wales has overturned the recommendation of the inspector; and if he will he make a statement. [80493]
Mr. Jon Owen Jones:
There have been no planning appeals in Wales under Section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, decided since May 1997, where the inspector's recommendation has been
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overturned. On two occasions since May 1997 the recommendations of inspectors on applications called in for determination under Section 77 of the 1990 Act have been overturned.
These were:
an application for a detached dwelling at Trefil, Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent where the application was refused contrary to the recommendation of the inspector
an application for six wind turbine generators at Cemmaes Wind farm, Mynydd y Cemmaes, Machynlleth, Powys where planning permission was granted for six turbines contrary to the recommendation of the inspector that only four be allowed.
Following the transfer of functions, this issue will be a matter for the National Assembly.
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