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- Sitting suspended, pursuant to Standing Order No. 10 (Wednesday sittings), till half-past Two o'clock.
Oral Answers to Questions
WALES
The Secretary of State was asked--
National Health Service
1. Mr. Desmond Swayne (New Forest, West): When he last met representatives of the National Health Service Confederation in Wales to discuss the funding of the national health service. [85155]
The Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Alun Michael): I plan soon to meet representatives of the NHS Confederation in Wales. I have had meetings with representatives of all the NHS trusts and health authorities in Wales, to address the very real problems that we inherited from the previous Government.
Mr. Swayne: Audit Commission figures show that the NHS in Wales is running an in-year deficit of £9 million, as compared with a mere £700,000 deficit in 1996-97. In the coming year, there will be additional cost pressures, in the form of 5 per cent. medical inflation, £30 million in increased drugs bills and £5 million in medical negligence claims. The NHS Confederation has said that, this year, tough decisions will have to be taken. Will the Secretary of State tell us what those tough decisions will be?
Mr. Michael: The NHS Confederation is right that tough decisions will have to be taken, because of the state of chaos--the absolute disgrace--in which the NHS in Wales was left by the previous Government. In a briefing on the matter dealt with in the hon. Gentleman's question, the NHS Confederation welcomed the extra £193 million in funding for the health service in Wales, and noted the high level of contributions being made by the current Government.
The hon. Gentleman needs to understand both the state of chaos left by the previous Government, and the very positive action that the current Government are taking to deal with that chaos, which includes providing an extra £1 billion over the next three years for the NHS in Wales. Perhaps he would like to take a more informed interest in the health service in Wales.
Mr. Win Griffiths (Bridgend):
In my right hon. Friend's preparations for the meeting with the NHS Confederation, what consideration has been given to specialist regional health services? I believe that some of those issues have to be re-examined.
Mr. Michael:
My hon. Friend is right about that. An expert has been appointed to head up the commissioning of specialist services in Wales, to try to ensure that we direct the finances of the NHS in Wales to where they are most needed: to patient care and to dealing with our priorities, in both health care and health gain.
Mr. Cynog Dafis (Ceredigion):
Does the Secretary of State agree with the NHS in Wales that there is a funding crisis of the utmost severity, and that only one of the consequences of the crisis is a block on the capital
Mr. Michael:
The real crisis is one of financial management at both the health authority and trust level. The hon. Gentleman's old area of Dyfed Powys is one that gives me particular concern, and he will know of the action that I am taking to try to deal with that concern. As for finance, I underline the fact that I have promised £1 billion extra for the NHS in Wales. I have announced new spending for this year of £240 million for the NHS in Wales, which will give health authorities £193 million more in their discretionary allocations. That is a 10.3 uplift, which is unprecedented.
The problem is that resources in the NHS in Wales are not reaching the places that they need to reach. I have made it quite clear that the new Assembly Secretary for Health and I will show leadership and work with everyone who is willing to co-operate in trying to clear up an undoubtedly unacceptable situation. However, expressing unjustified fears on matters such as specific closures will not help the situation. Nevertheless, we have to engage with the situation, which is very serious.
Mr. John Smith (Vale of Glamorgan):
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the extra funds are not being used to provide orthopaedic beds at Llandough hospital, with which I know he is familiar? Constituents of mine are waiting ever longer for standard orthopaedic operations. Some elderly constituents are going through the cruel experience of being allocated a time for an operation only to have it cancelled at the last minute. The Government provided extra funds to meet emergency admissions to the hospital, but those admissions are now going to orthopaedic beds, so my constituents are waiting. Will he intervene before 1 July to try to do something about the problem?
Mr. Michael:
The situation is unacceptable. An additional consultant is being appointed and additional beds are being made available. My hon. Friend has illustrated another aspect of the chaos in the NHS in Wales. I said in my statement in December and in my comments on NHS finances in 1 April that the situation was unacceptable. People should be able to depend on the services being there when they need them and on the NHS as a whole operating in a co-operative and positive way to provide those services. I accept his point about orthopaedic services; it is under review.
Dr. Liam Fox (Woodspring):
One of the problems facing the health service in Wales and elsewhere is junior doctors' hours. Hon. Members on both sides will welcome the plans being put forward by the Welsh Assembly to reduce junior doctors' hours, but we are all appalled by the Government's plans to seek the freedom to increase the average number of hours that junior doctors are allowed to work.
Junior doctors' hours were substantially reduced under the Conservative Government. Does the Secretary of State believe that it is sensible or safe for junior doctors in Wales or elsewhere to work for 65 hours a week? Does he agree with the Secretary of State for Health, who wants an increase in junior doctors' hours, or with the Health Secretary of the Welsh Assembly, who plans to reduce those hours?
Mr. Michael:
It does not help if the Conservatives repeat old inaccuracies. There is no difference between Government policy and what the Assembly Health Secretary has said. She corrected some of the old rumours and misapprehensions about what the Government are doing and what is being done by Europe. Her statement was accurate and was consistent with what my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has said. She gave the position as it is. It would be helpful if the hon. Gentleman studied what has been said and understood it.
Mr. Gareth Thomas (Clwyd, West):
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the health service in Wales faces many challenges that Assembly Members need to address in a coolheaded and workmanlike manner? Does he share the sense of dismay that many people in Wales feel at the fact that Plaid Cymru and Conservative Members engaged in the childish tactic of walking out of the National Assembly for Wales yesterday? That tactic was condoned by the right hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley) and by the Conservatives.
Mr. Michael:
My hon. Friend should not stir the right hon. Member for Caernarfon up, because he might disappear from this Chamber as well, and we would not want that. My hon. Friend is right to point out that the NHS in Wales faces major challenges. When the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) was Secretary of State for Wales he withdrew many of the checks and balances from the Welsh Office management of the NHS. We are paying the price for his mistakes. I hope that we shall have co-operation from all parties to re-establish the NHS as a dependable service that provides care when it is needed. As my hon. Friend suggests, that requires a positive and reasonable approach from everybody.
2. Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham):
If he will make a statement on the prospects for the small business sector in Wales. [85156]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Peter Hain):
There is a revival of small business confidence in Wales, supported by many Welsh Office initiatives. Following the transfer of functions, the issue will be a matter for the National Assembly for Wales.
Mr. Bercow:
I am afraid that that answer wins a gold medal only for complacency. In the first quarter of 1999 there were 444 business failures--an increase of more than 40 per cent. on the equivalent period last year--and 3,000 jobs were lost in manufacturing industry alone. Business optimism has fallen faster in Wales than in any other part of the United Kingdom. Does the hon. Gentleman not
Mr. Hain:
I have lost count of the number of times I have met my ministerial colleagues in the Department of Trade and Industry to discuss concerns from business in Wales and other matters. [Hon. Members: "What have you achieved?"] Our achievement has been to take seriously the burden of red tape and over-regulation that was heaped upon the business community by the previous Government. As the Member representing Buckingham, the hon. Gentleman does not have a clue about what is going on in Wales. That is shown by the fact that the Welsh Federation of Small Businesses recently issued a statement expressing the small business sector's confidence in the future of the Welsh economy. That is because interest rates are at a 33-year record low, corporation tax for small businesses is at a record low of 10p, and tax for self-employed business men is also at a record low, starting at 10p. That is why the small business sector trusts Labour to look after its interests.
Ms Jackie Lawrence (Preseli Pembrokeshire):
I wonder whether my hon. Friend has seen the business survey conducted by the Federation of Small Businesses in March 1999 which precisely countered what was said by the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow). It showed that 33 per cent. of small businesses in Wales are more optimistic than they were last year and that 20 per cent. have increased their work force. Does my hon. Friend agree that that is in part due to the increased consultation process that is now available to small businesses as a result of the Government of Wales Act 1998?
Mr. Hain:
Yes, I agree with my hon. Friend. What is more, in the past two years during which I have been the Minister responsible for industry, the Welsh Office has had more of an open door to small businesses than ever before. There has been a series of initiatives, including an 18 per cent. increase this year in spending on small business support, which will help 6,000 companies. In addition, we are establishing an entrepreneurship action plan and making Wales an enterprising country in which people want to expand and invest. The small business sector is a vital part of that.
Mr. Elfyn Llwyd (Meirionnydd Nant Conwy):
Bearing in mind the fact that over 90 per cent. of employment in Wales is in the small and medium-sized enterprise sector, what recent plans have there been to assist the small business sector to expand its work force, particularly to make it more economically viable and attractive to do so, and to bring in youngsters?
Mr. Hain:
In addition to the measures that I have already described, we have revamped Business Connect Wales, giving it a new business-led management board, to ensure that it is able to supply the support and advice often needed by small business people. The sole trader initiative, by which a self-employed individual is able to take on his or her first worker, has been a great success
Mr. Huw Edwards (Monmouth):
Has my hon. Friend seen the list of the fastest growing firms in Wales which was published by the Western Mail this morning in conjunction with KPMG? May I share my wonderment and pleasure at the fact that six of those happen to be in Monmouthshire? Does my hon. Friend agree that the last thing needed by small firms exporting in Wales is the anti-European posturing of the Conservative party?
Mr. Hain:
I very much agree with my hon. Friend and I am sure that the wonderful success of those companies in Monmouth is due to the excellent representation from their Member of Parliament. Every small business in Wales has a great deal to fear from the Tory objective, expressed in the past few days, of wanting to leave Europe instead of wanting to lead Europe.
Mr. Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley):
I see that the Minister is wearing his rose-tinted spectacles. Does he accept that in the first three months of this year the number of bankruptcies among Welsh businesses rose by 40 per cent. and is rising at three times that rate among smaller companies? Smaller companies are creating jobs, but the Government are putting them in a straitjacket as a result of costly extra domestic legislation and the fact that they will sign up to any directive from Brussels. Is it not the case that our Welsh businesses want to be in Europe, but do not want to be ruled and governed by Europe?
Mr. Hain:
Welsh businesses want a Government who stand up for them, support them and represent them strongly in Europe instead of standing on the fringes pursuing extremist policies that would result in Britain leaving Europe, as it would do under a Conservative Government. In respect of small business problems, it really takes the biscuit to recall that the hon. Gentleman speaks for a party that presided over record bankruptcies among small businesses in Wales and right across Britain. In each of the last five years of Conservative Government there was an increase in the number of closures and VAT deregistrations among small businesses in Wales. It is a shabby record that we are reversing.
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